#87 Company

My Love of Company can be traced back to a two CD collection of great Broadway songs I had growing up. On the second Cd, wedged between Cabaret and "I Want To Be Happy" from No, No, Nanette was Elaine Stritch singing "The Ladies Who Lunch". It became one of my favorite songs even though most of the reference's went over my head (Pinter, Mahler, though not the Vodka stinger). I connected with the cynical poignant tones of the song to this day I count it among my favorite songs and use it as an emotional outlet. I even have a large picture in my room of Elaine Strich and several cocktail glasses and the words "Does anyone still wear a hat?". Years later my love of the song would lead me to trying out Follies (also by Sondheim) and then Company itself. The musical is a modern, urban, cynical look at relationships that includes a number of other songs I've fallen for (though certainly not to the same degree)many of which contain that same cleverly cynical melancholy that makes Ladies Who Lunch so powerful. Ultimately, Company matters so much to me because it served as my gateway into Sondheim a name I guarantee you haven't heard the last of on this list.