"I've looked at all that—marriages and all that—and what do you get for it? What do you get?"
Do these sound like the words of a man who is ready, let alone excited to be married? In Stephen Sondheim's 1970 musical "Company," the concepts of marriage and relationships are explored in-depth, but in a way that is not exactly unbiased. Much of the musical is spent illustrating the negative aspects of marriage—the secrets, the compromises, the annoyances—and as a result, the portrayal of marriage in the show is overtly negative. I would not call myself marriage's biggest fan, but I am not nearly as skeptical of marriage as many of this show's characters are, and this bias begs to be explored. "Company's" main character is Robert, a 35-year-old bachelor who is still searching for the silver lining of marriage. He lives vicariously through all his already married friends because he longs to be anchored by a relationship, but is fickle, much like Robin Vote from Djuna Barnes' "Nightwood." Robert's comprehension of relationships is quite voyeuristic, as he is never fully involved in the problems of marriage, but manages to temporarily experience the brunt of marital disagreements by hanging out with people who are married. Robert experiences marriage like a traveller in a foreign country with a booming tourism rate but a collapsing economy.
Robert's married friends live vicariously through him as well. They are jealous of his single lifestyle, and remember their single-hood fondly. This is a complex and dynamic link. Robert finds himself longing to be in the position of his married friends, constantly asking them questions like "you ever sorry you got married?" And his friends leave him messages on his answering machine such as "get those girls out of your bed and pick up the phone, will ya? Oh, God, I'm so envious I can't even talk. Call me." And yet, despite their fascination with and their desire for his single-bachelor life, Robert's friends are desperately trying to get him to assimilate and get married. In the number "Have I Got A Girl For You," the husbands of the show present all types of girls to Robert as potential lovers, then tell him not to settle down. Robert ponders the women in his life in the song immediately following their proposed dates called "Someone Is Waiting." Robert clearly longs for a perfect match and won't settle until he finds them- however he does feel the pressure from his friends to hurry the search. The fear of being left behind when all your friends start to settle down, get married, and have kids is certainly real and still pertains to today. There is a heavy stigma, especially for women, not to end up "the single one" out of your friends.
In the song "Poor Baby," the wives in the show explain to their husbands that they are concerned Robert is lonely. They try to brainwash their husbands into caring, and all the while Robert is at his bachelor pad talking to April, one girl he has been seeing among a handful. This scene helps the audience get a grasp on Robert when he is away from his friends, and is a bit foreshadowing—the way Robert's friends perceive him isn't exactly accurate. He has vulnerability and depth as a character, and isn't just some mindless automation for his friends to shove around and direct.
Throughout "Company," Robert quietly questions all the different examples of marriage he sees. He has a very complicated view on marriage which is surely a reason for him to approach the subject with such trepidation and apprehension. Robert spends the majority of the show trying to convince his multiple girlfriends, his married friends, and himself that he is "ready" to get married. They repeatedly ask him "then why aren't you already?" but interrogate him with "why do you even want it so badly? what do you even know about marriage?" The problem is that Robert sees very polar displays of marriage.
In "The Little Things You Do Together," Robert's friends Harry and Sarah give each other a hard time about "little things" like Harry's drinking problem and Sarah's lack of self-restraint regarding food. In "Getting Married Today," Robert's friends Amy and Paul are about to get married but Amy gets cold feet and breaks into hysterics despite how kind and loving Paul is—in fact, this is one of the main reasons for her panic. In this scene, Robert sees that even when a man offers unconditional love and sensitivity, it can still somehow result in heartbreak! Amy almost backs out of it, and in the short period before she realizes she's made a mistake, Robert anxiously and randomly asks her to marry him instead. This speaks to the overwhelming fear many people experience of ending up alone due to being too selective or hesitant.
In another scene, Susan and Peter confess to Robert that they are getting a divorce. Robert thought them to be a picturesque marriage and is extremely disillusioned. In another, Jenny, David, and Robert get stoned and Robert realizes how uptight being married has made his two friends- they have both given up their "past lives" and behaviors for a well-mannered "boring" life. In another yet, Robert hangs out with his maternal older friend Joanne, and gets a glimpse at what it's like to be married, divorced, and re-married three or four times. Joanne tells him flat out not to get married, then prepositions him. He drunkly protests—"But who will I take care of?"
By the end of the show, it is clear that Robert's views on marriage are completely skewed by his friendships! Of course he is cynical of this convention when all the couples he knows who are married have plenty of dysfunction to complain about. In his big number "Being Alive," Robert sings about all he's learned regarding the pros and cons of marriage. Robert realizes that despite all the annoyances of marriage, if he's alone he would barely have proof he's truly "alive." It's almost like his existence is predicated on his ability to get married, even if it's not a happy or "successful" marriage. The end of the show demonstrates Robert withdrawing himself from the company of his friends. He hides when they come to surprise him for his next birthday and comes out when they leave, as if to say "I can't be me when I'm with you people!" This ending seems to reach for a possibility of resolution in the future, but the fact that "Company" does not end up neatly tied in a bow speaks volumes for the many people who cannot envision themselves married.
