Review: 'Company' Hits A Home Run at Barringston Stage

Aaron Tveit stars in Barrington Stage Company's production of 'Company.' (Photo by Daniel Rader"

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Hugh Jackman has it. The young Robert Redford had it – that preternatural ability to exude charisma and magnetic sexiness even when standing stone still. Aaron Tveit has it, too, in addition to his impressive singing, dancing and acting skills.

Tveit is the star of Barrington Stage's "Company," one of Stephen Sondheim's biggest hits, and he is just the tip of the talent iceberg in this simply fantastic production. "Company" premiered in April of 1970, and while it's not quite as relevant today as it was back then – when marriage was more de rigueur – it still resonates with its humor and irony. Practically the whole show is built on irony.

"Company" doesn’t have much of a plot. As Sondheim sums it up in his book "Finishing The Hat," "a man with no emotional commitments reassesses his life on his 35th birthday by reviewing his relationships with his married acquaintances and his girlfriends."

The man, Bobby (Tveit), is very guarded among his friends. He's often just an observer. But when alone and talking directly to the audience, he opens up, letting us see his vulnerability and eventually his growth. The show uses several Sondheim songs rather than George Furth's book to convey his growth. Bobby is the character who ties several comedic skits about married couples, originally written as short plays by Furth, together.

Each couple has at least one skit to reveal their married relationship. One couple goes at each other with karate moves. Another gets divorced but still live together as lovers. One husband denies that he's gay but propositions Bobby. In one older couple's marriage, the wife drinks to excess while the husband indulgently takes care of her. None of the marriages Bobby witnesses is perfect, but still he learns from them, both negatively and positively. His girlfriends sing about how Bobby drives them crazy in the beautifully harmonized, tuneful (and famous) "You Could Drive A Person Crazy." But they return to him again and again.

The entire cast of this production of "Company" is extraordinary. To name just a few who had individual, knockout songs: Ellen Harvey brought just the right amount of intense, drunken self-loathing and sarcasm to "Ladies Who Lunch." Of course, she stopped the show. Nora Schell perfectly belted out the loneliness and frenetic pace of New York City in "Another Hundred People." Lauren Marcus had the difficult task of making Sondheim's lyrics intelligible in "Getting Married Today" all the while singing at breakneck speed and being hysterically funny. Another showstopper. Mara Davi was wonderful as the ditzy, intellectually-challenged girlfriend, April.

Healey Announces Housing Development Supports at Former Pittsfield Bank

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
05:29PM / Tuesday, February 17, 2026

Gov. Maura Healey poses with the bank's old safe. The building is being refurbished for housing by Allegrone Companies. The project is being supported by a commercial tax credit and a $1.8M MassWorks grant for infrastructure improvements. 

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Gov. Maura Healey stood in the former Berkshire County Savings Bank on Tuesday to announce housing initiatives that are expected to bring more than 1,300 units online. 

"People come here from all over the world. We want them to stay here, and we want kids who grew up here to be able to afford to stay here, but the problem is that for decades, we just weren't building enough housing to keep up with demand," she said. 

"And you guys know what happens when there isn't enough supply: prices go up. We have among the lowest vacancy rates in the country, so against that challenge, we made it our priority from day one to build more homes as quickly as possible." 

Approximately $8.4 million from the new Commercial Conversion Tax Credit Initiative (CCTCI) is designed help communities transform empty or rundown commercial buildings into new homes along with $139.5 million in low-income housing tax credits and subsidies through the Affordable Housing Development grant program. 

The historic 24 North St. with a view of Park Square has been vacant for about two years, and Allegrone Companies plans to redevelop it and 30-34 North St. into 23 mixed-income units. The administration announced its Commercial Conversion Tax Credit Initiative (CCTCI) and the Affordable Housing Development grant program as ways to aid housing production, both of which Pittsfield will benefit from. 

The state is partnering with Hearthway for the construction of 47 affordable units on Linden Street, utilizing the former Polish Community Club and new construction, and Allegrone for its redevelopment of the block. 

The Linden Street project is one of the 15 rental developments the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities is supporting through $25.7 million in federal low-income housing tax credits, $32.4 million in state low-income housing tax credits, and $81.4 million in subsidies. 

Allegrone's project is supported by the commercial tax credit and was recently awarded $1,800,000 from the MassWorks Infrastructure Program. 

Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll said she fully comprehends the importance of housing and how crushing it is in communities that need it and want to build, but face difficulties with high construction costs. 

"Housing is the key to keeping people in the community in a safe way and giving them an opportunity to fill those many roles that we need throughout the Commonwealth in cities and towns, large and small, urban and rural, these are all important work. Having somebody fix your boiler, fix your car, we want those individuals to be able to live in our communities as well, particularly in our gateway cities," she said.