Some of you may be familiar with the Stephen Sondheim musical Company. In a non-linear, often confusing, frequently confusing, and altogether engaging fashion, it tells the story of Bobby, a New York bachelor who has five pairs of married couples as his best friends, as well as an endless series of one-night stands.
The “story”* occurs on the eve of Bobby’s 35th birthday; Bobby’s friends throw him a party, for which he does not show up. Some fans of the show opine that Bobby–who, though a lothario, is profoundly lonely and unfulfilled–misses the party because he commits suicide. I don’t care for that interpretation, but I’m interested if anyone Dopers have any thoughts on the subject.
*I put story in quotes because the story’s plot is deliberately non-linerar–as incoherent as candlelight, as I once said about something else entirely.
Are you in London or New York? In one of the London productions, he killed himself. In New York he just smiled and blew out his candles(which had been burning for two hours in a feat of super-candle performance). I don’t think he missed the party because he killed himself, I think he was just in hiding because he was re-thinking his life and didn’t feel up to a party. How he resolved that “thinking about his life” bit seemed to generally end with him just ducking the one party, but in the notable exception of the production in London, he offed himself. As far as I know Sondheim hasn’t come out and said he intended it to end one way or another and left it up to the producer/director to make that call. I think Sondheim intentionally left the character vague for a couple of reasons, firstly because he wanted a chance for the actor to make it their own, and secondly because it highlights the message that a human being who can’t form real meaningful interpersonal relationships isn’t a whole person. This may or may not be a good message, but that’s what I’ve always gotten out of Company.
I think (and I very well may be misremembering), the last time I saw it the interpretation was that he was late to the party and the entire story took place inside his mind while his hand was on the doorknob … or something very much like that. And it worked. (Unlike some where it ended up an incoherent mess by trying to impose a more realistic timeline)
I see “Being Alive” ending on a positive note. So he ends by going into the party determined to change.
Either that or he and one of the wives run off together.