'Company Has Every Intention of Coming Back,' Says Cast Member Matt Doyle
Matt Doyle, who plays Jamie in Company, shared a confident message when he appeared on #LiveAtFive: Home Edition on March 23: “Company has every intention of coming back,” he told Broadway.com's Paul Wontorek. Like the rest of Broadway, Company has suspended performances while the coronavirus continues to spread across New York. But Doyle said he's more than confident the hotly-anticipated Broadway revival starring Katrina Lenk and Patti LuPone will make its way back to the Great White Way. “I really fully believe that Company is coming back,” he said. “We have incredible producers who are behind it and who are in for the long run. If this lasts several months, they’re prepared for that.”
The Marianne Elliott-directed revival, which transferred to Broadway after an Olivier Award-winning premiere in London, was intended to open on Broadway Sunday, March 22. Doyle said it was a tough day for the cast, not because they didn't get to perform. “It was going to be such an amazing event having Stephen Sondheim there,” said Doyle. Sondheim turned 90 on March 22, and the show’s opening was timed with that milestone. “It was [supposed to be] a birthday party for Steve...There was a lot of grieving around that. But obviously a birthday party for a 90-year-old man is probably not the smartest thing to do in New York right now.”
In Company, Doyle plays Jamie, a character in keeping with the revival’s gender-bending conceit. In the original production, Jamie was Amy, the panicked and doubtful bride who sings Company’s famed tongue twister, “Getting Married Today.” Even without the work of updating his character to a contemporary gay man, mastering “Getting Married Today” makes the role a challenge.
Doyle, a five-time Broadway alum who made his debut as a replacement in Spring Awakening (2005), said he’s had a big supporter backstage: LuPone, who reprises her Olivier Award-winning role as Joanne. According to Doyle, the two-time Tony winner had some sage advice to offer him after Company’s first preview, when he had a fit of nerves. “Patti smacked me across the head the next day,” he recalled. “I was like, ‘Well, I felt okay about it, but I think I can do better tonight.’ And she said, ‘What? You stopped the show for like two minutes. What are you talking about?'” That backstage encouragement wasn’t unique. “Patti’s our ring leader,” he said. “Everything you hear is probably true, bu she’s a fierce leader, and she’s got our back at every single turn.”
Doyle said he and the cast have been holding rehearsals over Zoom to varied success—an attempt to sing “Happy Birthday” to Sondheim didn’t sync up so properly—but getting back on stage is the ultimate goal. “Anything that is petty or small about this business really gets pushed aside,” he said about these trying times. “I want my job when this is all said and done—and the opportunity to be back in that room.” Plus, there’s an upside to having a legend like LuPone in the cast: “To have Patti LuPone usher Broadway back would be pretty incredible."
Watch the rest of Doyle's #LiveAtFive: Home Edition interview below.
