Why Have So Many Gay Actors Played The Role Of "Bobby" In Company?

company is bobby gay

The qutn of whether the lead character Stephen Sondheim&#39;s semal 1970 mil&nbsp;<em>Company</em>&nbsp;is gay has been hoverg over the show for years. Now, Sondheim, along wh director John Tiffany, is reworkg the show to make explicly clear.&nbsp;

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DO BOBBY NEED TO BE OPENLY GAY STEPHEN SONDHEIM’S REVISED ‘COMPANY’?

* company is bobby gay *

Yterday afternoon was revealed that Stephen Sondheim (along wh director John Tiffany) has reworked his classic mil edy, Company, wh a major plot twist: Bobby, the central, sgle character, who spends the urse of the show alg wh his own abily to m, is gay.

STEPHEN SONDHEIM REWORKG SEMAL 'COMPANY' TO MAKE LEAD GAY

One newly lnched pany is releasg &quot;Gay Water&quot; a rponse to the backlash Bud Light suffered after partnerg wh trans TikTok star Dylan Mulvaney. * company is bobby gay *

” It’s an tertg revisn, as crics have long argued that Bobby was a closeted homosexual the first place. There’s not much the text that suggts Bobby is gay, although people have certaly wonred: why else uldn’t a handsome sgle man settle down?

“We don’t al wh gay marriage as such, but this versn lets explore the issu of mment a h way. ”Perhaps that’s why Sondheim is on board wh this openly gay productn — which will see a readg at Roundabout Theater Company this week, featurg Daniel Evans, Bobby Steggert, Michael Urie, and Alan Cummg, who will liver Joanne’s famo 11 o’clock number.

It’s promisg that this Company will be actually reworked to ment, possibly, on the gay experience; while marriage is an optn, ’s not the only optn, and generatns of men who were told was not a possibily have surely seen their social and romantic sensibili affected by what mastream society saw as the norm. To be homosexual surely meant somethg different 1970 than do today, too, which cric Jam Jorn poted out when he reviewed the New York Philharmonic’s all-star stagg of the mil 2011 (Neil Patrick Harris starred as Bobby) for Capal New York. When discsg a major lyril change the song “You Can Drive a Person Crazy, ” sung by Bobby’s three jilted lovers — “I uld unrstand a person if a person was a fag” turned to “I uld unrstand a person if he happened to be gay” when Roundabout revived the show 1995 — Jorn suggts that Bobby, who very well might be homosexual, wouldn’t be seen as such bee of the many layers of stigma attached to beg queer:Back the 1960s, the nventnal wisdom was that some men had sex wh other men ocsnally, and other men maybe fantasized om time to time about same-sex actn, but none of the guys were what you would ll homosexual.

STEPHEN SONDHEIM LOVED HOW GAY BROADWAY’S ‘COMPANY’ REVIVAL IS, SAYS STAR MATT DOYLE

The show was wrten for Anthony Perks, who at the last mute had to drop the list of gay actors who played "Bobby" CompanyLarry KertGee Chakiris (Natnal Tour)John BarrowmanRl ... * company is bobby gay *

A homosexual, on the other hand, was seen as a pletely different breed, a “boy the band” hairdrser or an terr signer or an opera queen wh some sort of twisted secret sire to be a woman, or at least to be treated like a woman by some big, butch (preferably workg-class) straight du. That kd of homosexual was a “fag, ” a mp joke, and a woman chasg after such a creature was obvly ridiculo, bee, the words of an early Sondheim lyric, “his troers [are] vern….

But the revisn “happened to be gay” isn’t really a joke bee ’s non-judgmental.

The ia here is, y, some guys who don’t appear effemate do turn out to be gay sometim, not that there’s anythg wrong wh that. A quarter century of enlightenment reveals that gay sexualy is somewhat more plex than we first place Company a more morn ntext, then, wh openly gay characters alg wh their mment issu, seems to take away om what mak the show so nuanced and plited: now we have a new reason for Bobby’s fear of mment, and prov that the heterosexual mols for uplg no longer shape his view of marriage.

COMPANY GO FULL-ON BUD LIGHT WH ‘GAY WATER’ RELEASE

After all, Bobby’s possible queerns never turned gay dienc away om the show before. A third uple learns the meang of votn while smokg pot; a fourth uple — now nfigured as two gay men — experienc hiccups on the way to the, as stng together by Sondheim’s diamante songs, “Company” offered a groundbreakg way of lookg at s subject, ls through a microspe than a kaleidospe. One volv the gay uple, Jamie (formerly Amy) and Pl.

(“Company, wrten today, would surely clu at least one gay marriage, ” The Washgton Post’s Peter Marks wrote of a 2013 productn. ”In the years sce Company premiered, many crics, directors, and fans have duced that Bobby is gay, and that the unspoken nature of his sexualy is what ntribut to his two-dimensnaly as a character. The qutn of whether the lead character Stephen Sondheim's semal 1970 mil Company is gay has been hoverg over the show for years.

This article is om the archive of our partner qutn of whether the lead character Stephen Sondheim's semal 1970 mil Company is gay has been hoverg over the show for years.

WHY HAVE SO MANY GAY ACTORS PLAYED THE ROLE OF "BOBBY" IN COMPANY?

Patrick Healy of the New York Tim wr that Tiffany, who directed the Tony Award-wng Once and the betiful revival of The Glass Menagerie currently nng, reworked the show so that Bobby is now "a gay man wh mment issu and multiple boyiends. " He add: "We don’t al wh gay marriage as such, but this versn lets explore the issu of mment a h way.

As John Podhoretz wrote on Twter: "so all those years sayg Bobby wasn't gay were what? When Harris was st the role, Adam Feldman at Time Out New York wrote a piece about Bobby's sexualy and "whether Bobby n be effectively embodied by an actor who isn't gay.

" Jorn not that when anyone tried to put the ia that Bobby is gay "explicly" a productn, the ia was quashed by Sondheim and the tate of Gee Furth, who wrote the book of the show. "Robert’s 'problem' is not that he’s gay, " Jorn nclus, after explorg chang Sondheim and Furth had ma to qutns of Bobby's sexualy.

STEPHEN SONDHEIM WORKG ON A 'GAY' VERSN OF COMPANY

"Rather, ’s that he’s gay a society where beg gay means not havg a fair chance at timacy, if for no other reason that he himself don’t unrstand his sexualy. "If Bobby were wrten today he might be a gay man, but the lgerg qutn that hangs over the reworked versn is what the show be whout that plited ambiguy. Has anyone ever thought Bobby might be secretly gay?

I was thkg about Bobby today and realized that a lot of his characteristics make sense for a young gay guy the closet.

STEPHEN SONDHEIM WORKG ON NEW VERSN OF "COMPANY." BOBBY WILL BE GAY!{FONT:NORMAL 800 1.2REM/1.2 "D BOLD",SANS-SERIF;TEXT-TRANSFORM:NORMAL;LOR:HER;DISPLAY:LE-BLOCK;PADDG-BOTTOM:6PX;POSN:RELATIVE;TEXT-TRANSFORM:UPPERSE;}{BACKGROUND:#89308A;BOTTOM:0;NTENT:'';DISPLAY:BLOCK;HEIGHT:2PX;LEFT:0;POSN:ABSOLUTE;RIGHT:0;-WEBK-TRANSN:ALL 0.2S EASE;TRANSN:ALL 0.2S EASE;WIDTH:100%;}{LEFT:51%;RIGHT:51%;WIDTH:0;}{FONT:NORMAL 800 1.2REM/1.2 "D BOLD",SANS-SERIF;TEXT-TRANSFORM:NORMAL;LOR:HER;DISPLAY:LE-BLOCK;PADDG-BOTTOM:6PX;POSN:RELATIVE;TEXT-TRANSFORM:UPPERSE;}{BACKGROUND:#89308A;BOTTOM:0;NTENT:'';DISPLAY:BLOCK;HEIGHT:2PX;LEFT:0;POSN:ABSOLUTE;RIGHT:0;-WEBK-TRANSN:ALL 0.2S EASE;TRANSN:ALL 0.2S EASE;WIDTH:100%;}{LEFT:51%;RIGHT:51%;WIDTH:0;}LIFEBY DAN AVERYOCTOBER 15, 2013/7:01 PMBY DAN AVERYOCTOBER 15, 2013 / 7:01 PM{"@NTEXT":","@TYPE":"NEWSARTICLE","HEADLE":"STEPHEN SONDHEIM WORKG ON NEW VERSN OF \"COMPANY.\" BOBBY WILL BE GAY!","DATEPUBLISHED":"2013-10-15T23:01:28.000+0000","DATEMODIFIED":"2013-10-15T23:01:28.000+0000","IMAGE":{"@NTEXT":","@TYPE":"IMAGEOBJECT","WIDTH":1920,"HEIGHT":1080},"URL":","THOR":{"@TYPE":"ORGANIZATN","NAME":"LOGO TV"},"MAENTYOFPAGE":{"@TYPE":"WEBPAGE","@ID":"},"PUBLISHER":{"@TYPE":"ORGANIZATN","@ID":","NAME":"LOGO TV","URL":","LOGO":{"@TYPE":"IMAGEOBJECT"}},"CREATOR":"DAN AVERY","ARTICLESECTN":"LIFE"}{BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;DISPLAY:-WEBK-BOX;DISPLAY:-WEBK-FLEX;DISPLAY:-MS-FLEXBOX;DISPLAY:FLEX;-WEBK-BOX-PACK:CENTER;-WEBK-JTIFY-NTENT:CENTER;-MS-FLEX-PACK:CENTER;JTIFY-NTENT:CENTER;} .TWTER-TWEET-RENRED, {M-WIDTH:65%;WIDTH:TO !IMPORTANT;} {WIDTH:100%;} {MARG-LEFT:TO !IMPORTANT;MARG-RIGHT:TO !IMPORTANT;} IMG{MAX-WIDTH:100%;WIDTH:100%;} > IAME{BORR:NONE;MAX-WIDTH:100%;} > *{MAX-WIDTH:NONE !IMPORTANT;}{BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}STEPHEN SONDHEIM'S COMPANY IS ONE OF HIS MOST BELOVED MILS, BUT THE SHOW IS GETTG A MAJOR FACELIFT: THE NEW YORK TIM IS REPORTG SONDHEIM IS REWORKG THE MATERIAL WH ONCE DIRECTOR JOHN TIFFANY FOR A POSSIBLE BROADWAY N. ONE BIG CHANGE: BOBBY WILL BE OPENLY GAY, AND JUGGLG MULTIPLE BOYIENDS WH A FEAR OF {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}THEATER WRER PAT HEALY REPORTS SOME CHARACTERS WILL EVEN SWCH GENRS: JOANNE, WHO SGS “THE LADI WHO LUNCH” AND WAS ORIGALLY PLAYED BY ELAE STRCH, IS GOG TO BE PLAYED BY ALAN CUMMG A STAGED READG ON FRIDAY FOR ROUNDABOUT THEATRE {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}[PTN ID="ATTACHMENT_128584" ALIGN="ALIGNRIGHT" WIDTH="220"] RAúL ESPARZA THE 2008 PRODUCTN OF "COMPANY" (JOE SNOTT, THIRTEEN/WNET)[/PTN]{BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}FANS OF THE TONY-WNG SHOW HAVE LONG NTEMPLATED BOBBY, A SGLE MAN GATHERG IENDS TOGETHER TO CELEBRATE HIS 35TH BIRTHDAY, IS ACTUALLY A CLOSETED HOMOSEXUAL—SOMETHG SONDHEIM AND  COMPANY'S BOOK WRER, GEE FURTH, AVOID NFIRMG. BUT TIFFANY'S IA THAT BOBBY BE OUT AND PROUD TICKLED SONDHEIM'S {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}“IT’S STILL A MIL ABOUT MMENT, BUT MARRIAGE IS SEEN AS SOMETHG VERY DIFFERENT 2013 THAN WAS 1970,” SONDHEIM SAYS. “WE DON’T AL WH GAY MARRIAGE AS SUCH, BUT THIS VERSN LETS EXPLORE THE ISSU OF MMENT A H WAY.”{BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}DANIEL EVANS, NOMATED FOR A TONY FOR THE 2008 REVIVAL OF SUNDAY THE PARK WH GEE, WILL PLAY BOBBY FRIDAY'S TRAGILLY PRIVATE PERFORMANCE. JOG HIM AND CUMMG ARE BOBBY STEGGERT AND MICHAEL URIE, AMONG OTHERS. SHOULD THE STAGG GO WELL, ROUNDABOUT MIGHT—MIGHT—NSIR A FULL {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}SHOULD THAT PRODUCTN E TO PASS, WHO WOULD YOU ST? NEIL PATRICK HARRIS IS ALREADY WARMG UP HIS PIP FOR HEDWIG AND HAS PERFORMED  COMPANY BEFORE. URIE ULD BE ANOTHER NTENR, THOUGH HE MIGHT NOT BE ENOUGH OF A NAME. ANYONE KNOW IF ZACHARY QUTO N SG?{BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}MAKE YOUR STG CHOIC THE MENTS SECTN BELOW!{BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;CLEAR:BOTH;}{BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;MARG:0 TO;WIDTH:90%;M-WIDTH:288PX;MAX-WIDTH:1440PX;M-HEIGHT:194PX;}LATT NEWS

But the genr of one other character has also been swapped, makg a formerly straight uple now gay. You have to live up to , ” Matt Doyle, who plays one of the gay men, told TODAY via Zoom.

The biggt thg I learned is that as long as I ntue to play my tth and play as a man and as a gay man, the further away I get om that. He was emotnal, not only when rememberg men like Furth who helped create “Company” back 1970, but also around the gay them of the piece that were created for this revival. Sondheim was gay and out for most of his life, but his inty as a gay man was often an afterthought for his work and his place the public eye.

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* COMPANY IS BOBBY GAY

Do Bobby Need to Be Openly Gay Stephen Sondheim’s Revised ‘Company’? .

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