Theater

Watch Patti Lupone and Katrina Lenk in the gender-bent Company opening number

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Published on February 14, 2022 01:00PM EST

Broadway is back, and nothing makes us feel more like being alive.

In that spirit, EW has an exclusive look at the opening number of Company, the Marianne Elliott-helmed revival of Stephen Sondheim's concept musical now playing on Broadway.

This production of Company began in the West End before transferring to Broadway with the aim of opening only weeks after what ultimately became a year-plus shutdown of professional stages in New York. Notably, the production is gender-bent, replacing the male Bobby of the original with a female Bobbie, played by Tony winner Katrina Lenk (The Band's Visit).

The only holdover from London, Broadway icon Patti LuPone, steps into the role of Joanne, a boozy, audacious dame originated on stage by the legendary Elaine Stritch.

The opening number features all Bobbie's married friends, including Joanne, inviting her over for dinner or inviting themselves to her place. It sets up their concern for Bobbie's perpetual singledom and Bobbie's complicated relationship with her friends and intimacy.

The scene also introduces us to Bobbie's three on-again, off-again suitors, setting us up for the series of vignettes that define the show.

"When we looked at it, it was clear that I wanted to refresh it and make it modern, make it say something for today," Elliott previously told EW. "And if you're going to do that, then the issue of the protagonist being 35 and having everything in their life they could possibly want, but not with a partner, becomes much more relevant if it's about a 35-year-old woman as opposed to a 35-year-old man."

She added, "It's very, very familiar as a piece because everybody knows the music. But it's also seeing it with a different lens, it's like watching it through different spectacles — and it's refreshing, I think."

Company is now playing at the Bernard R. Jacobs Theatre. Watch the opening number above.

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