Arts & Entertainment
Time to settle down?
Sondheim classic explores marriage with ambivalence
Sherri L. Edelen, center, sings the classic ‘The Ladies Who Lunch,’ with costars Thomas Adrian Simpson, left, and Matthew Scott. Signature’s ‘Company’ production runs through the end of June. (Photo by Scott Suchman, courtesy Signature)
‘Company’
Through June 30
Signature Theatre
4200 Campbell Avenue
Arlington, VA
$30-$100
703-820-9771
signature-theatre.org
“Company’s” marriage-phobic Robert (better known as Bobby) is turning 35. As he slides into middle age, maybe it’s time for the perennial party boy to get serious? His married friends certainly think so. His girlfriends would appreciate a little commitment. But Bobby isn’t quite there yet.
A string of relationship-themed vignettes surrounded by out composer Stephen Sondheim’s outrageously dazzling score, “Company” premiered in 1970. Today, George Furth’s book can feel a tad dated, but in Signature Theatre’s solid production staged by Eric Schaeffer, the show’s irony and focus on loneliness and inability to commit remain as strong as ever.
Bobby (Matthew Scott) likes a laugh and a smart cocktail. He keeps things on the surface. His social circle is comprised of five couples. And while they adore their single friend, they really want Bobby to be hitched too, and tell him so repeatedly. As Bobby makes the rounds to his pals’ respective Manhattan flats on the eve of his birthday, he (and us) get a glimpse into the lives of couples at different stages of married life: the about-to-be married, the recently married, the longtime married and the often married. They insist he needs what they have, explained musically with “The Little Things You Do Together.” And still, Bobby’s not biting.
A trio of his latest girlfriends gripes about Bobby’s inability to commit in a terrific version of “You Could Drive a Person Crazy.” Bobby remains unfazed.
Neither the play nor the production ever really clarifies just why Bobby is so loath to commit. It’s been suggested that he’s gay. In a scene with the recently divorced, newly bisexual Peter (Bobby Smith), Bobby admits that he’s had more than one homosexual experience but makes it clear that he’s not gay, dismissing Peter’s advances as a joke.
Standouts in a talented cast include real life couple Erin Driscoll and James Gardiner who play husband and wife David and Jenny. She enjoys getting stoned. He likes to believe she’s squarer than she is. As boozy, acerbic Joanne (the part famously created by the legendary Elaine Stritch), Sherri L. Edelin gives a ferocious rendition of “The Ladies Who Lunch.” And Eric Weaver is a hoot as the highly nervous bride-to-be Amy who sings Sondheim’s often sung patter song “Getting Married Today.”
The show’s best moments include Bobby’s dim stewardess date April (Madeline Botteri) singing “Barcelona,” that wistful ode to the one-night-stand; and another girlfriend Marta (Carolyn Cole), a young Bohemian besotted with New York’s diversity, expressing her love for the Big Apple with “Another Hundred People.”
As Bobby, Matthew Scott brings a gorgeous voice and good looks to the role. He also affectively makes the transition from a sort of charming social automation to an actual feeling person. As the show unfolds, he becomes increasingly agitated and aware that something is lacking in his world. Ultimately he comes to life with an emotionally jarring version of “Being Alive.”
New York City figures prominently in “Company.” Rather appropriately, Daniel Conway’s set is sleek — all steel and glass like a skyscraper, and Frank Labovitz’s costumes are mostly gray. Despite some mod dresses and a few projected images of late model cars, the production doesn’t feel particularly moored to a specific year. It’s just a 30-something man experiencing life, loneliness and sex in the city (with great music). And that’s timeless.
Celebrity News
Fashion icon Bob Mackie dead at 87
Designing legend to all the divas, gone but not forgotten
To those still reeling from the loss of Dolly Parton and Tim Curry, we have another queer icon to add to the In Memoriam of 2026: Bob Mackie. A designer known for being extra, before that was even a thing, has left us with a legacy of looks and an indelible mark on fashion.
The news broke on his Instagram account Monday, Sept. 14, with the message:
“It is with a heavy heart that we share the news that Mr. Bob Mackie passed away today. He lived his 87 years to the fullest, fulfilling his dream of being a fashion and costume designer, which is all he ever wanted to do. His genius and extraordinary designs will live on forever, continuing to bring beauty into this world.” According to People magazine, he passed away in Palm Springs, Calif., due to pneumonia.
At 87, Mackie is the definitive designer for divas. Mackie has literally dressed them all, including Diana Ross, Whitney Houston, Barbara Streisand, Dolly Parton, Tina Turner, Bette Midler, Bernadette Peters, and even RuPaul. He’s dressed film and television icons like Raquel Welch, Lynda Carter, Goldie Hawn, and Jennifer Lopez. It’s not just female divas; he’s also done many of Elton John’s famous costumes as well as David Bowie’s.
His first major mark was drawing the first design of Marilyn Monroe’s famous “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” dress. Next, he was an assistant to costume designer Ray Aghayan on “The Judy Garland Show.” The two would carry on a professional and romantic partnership for 50 years until Aghayan’s passing in 2011.
Mackie then went on to do all of the costumes for “The Carol Burnett Show,” creating an estimated 17,000 costumes for her show’s 11-year run. This gave him much critical acclaim and notoriety, making him a permanent fixture in the variety show market.
He became a frequent collaborator of Cher, having made her famous midriff-revealing Oscar gown, her “If I Could Turn Back Time” costume, and being her designer for her various television shows, including “The Sonny and Cher Show.” He even designed costumes for her Farewell Tour. The two are synonymous with him having lent his artistic sensibilities to give her a distinct look. Cher even said in 2024, “He helped me create a different me.”
Mackie has left his mark on fashion with a distinct style of glamorous, over-the-top looks. He received the monikers the “Sultan of Sequins,” the “Rajah of Rhinestones,” and the “Guru of Glitter” for challenging the line between costume and fashion with lots of fringe, flash, and over-the-top eye-catching elements. He’s managed to retain a presence not just in entertainment but in the fashion industry for decades. Most recently, one of his outfits was a major plot point for the final season of “Hacks.”
Mackie has received his share of awards and acknowledgments. In addition to dressing many people for the Oscars, he received three nominations, including dressing Diana Ross for “Lady Sings the Blues.” He won a Tony Award for “The Cher Show.” He won nine Emmy Awards and received 30 nominations for his prolific television work.
Luckily, Mackie’s life was celebrated before his passing, receiving various Lifetime achievement awards including the Geoffrey Beene CFDA Lifetime Achievement Award, being honored by the Television Hall of Fame, and receiving “RuPaul’s Drag Race”‘s Giving Us Life-time Achievement Award. He was the first guest judge on the popular series.
It’s clear that not only was Mackie talented, he was magical. He gave a bit of stardust to countless celebrities, luminaries, and public figures with looks that not only defied expectations but managed to be truly spectacular. He’s part of the glitz we think of when we think of Hollywood, and while often elaborate costumes, the shrewd fashion sense and elegance cannot be denied. Mackie will be missed, but his work lives on in the countless pieces still in circulation and forever captured on film and in media.
The 29th annual SMYAL Fall Brunch was held at the Marriott Marquis on Sunday, Sept. 13.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
Books
Dolly Parton biography puts her hardships into context
‘Ain’t Nobody’s Fool’ a highly researched tome not to be missed
‘Ain’t Nobody’s Fool: The Life and Times of Dolly Parton’
By Martha Ackmann
c.2026, St. Martin’s Press
$30/304 pages
Not too bright.
That’s what people once thought about you. Your language didn’t conform, you had your own sense of style, and you were ignorant about modern things and places and foods. But you were no dummy. You were different, and you had a secret: as in the new biography, “Ain’t Nobody’s Fool: The Life and Times of Dolly Parton” by Martha Ackmann, you knew exactly where you were going.
When Avie Lee Owens and Lee Parton first married, they had the very basics: “two knives, two forks, two spoons, a skillet, a butcher knife, and an old iron kettle.” He was 17; she was 15. Babies came quick. The fourth one was named Dolly, after two great-aunts.
Almost from the time she could walk, Dolly sang. Before she was old enough to attend school, she wrote poetry, and she’d begun to notice rhythms and beats she could make with her fingers. As a schoolchild, she created her own musical instruments out of scraps, and she was eager to perform whenever anyone asked her – and they asked often, because Dolly Parton was a nice girl, and her sense of humor conveyed a warmth that drew people in.
Growing up in the Tennessee mountains, Parton was independent, shunning marriage and child-raising, instead focusing on a dream of being a star. By the time she was in high school, she’d had a regular gig on local television but she recognized that there were few opportunities for fame in the mountains, so she left for Nashville the day after high school graduation, with the snickers of naysayers ringing in her ears.
She stayed with an aunt and uncle there, and she beat the streets, dined on grocery store samples to get by, and missed her family and friends. And they worried about her, but they knew nothing would derail her plans. They knew Dolly would be fine.
As a friend said, “’She had her head on pretty good.’”
Chances are that if you’ve listened to music any time in the last 60 years, you’ve heard Dolly Parton through her words or her music or both. Now you need to learn more about her, and “Ain’t Nobody’s Fool” is where to do it.
Here’s a biography that grabs you on the first page with the tiniest bit of family tree, but not so much that you get bored with it. Author Martha Ackmann writes about Dolly Parton’s early life, putting hardships and experiences in context, both personally and historically. There are name-drops, but not overly so, as Ackmann takes you through Parton’s career, her heartbreaks, her marriage, and her years with Porter Wagoner, in detail but not dramatically embellished or outrageously told. It’s a biography that’s just right, sourced well and written with a fresh take that, like its subject, tells a good story.
Fans, of course, will want this highly researched book but music lovers of any age or type will eat it up. That means you, so use up that Christmas gift certificate. “Ain’t Nobody’s Fool” just shines.
The Blade may receive commissions from qualifying purchases made via this post.
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Historiography with heart
