Tipping a little past the mid-point of a year-long national tour, Britney Coleman, playing the leading role of Bobbie in the gender-swapped “Company” now in its final weeks at the Orpheum Theatre, is happy to be spending the start of summer in San Francisco.
The effervescent actor with a ready laugh, was part of the world premiere of “Unbreakable” written by Andrew Lippa (“Big Fish,” “The Addams Family”) for the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus in 2018. She played the Geena Davis role in the national tour of “Beetlejuice” and her Broadway credits include the musicals “Tootsie” and the last revival of “Sunset Boulevard.”
“I think we’ve been really looking forward to San Francisco because it is June’, she says, “and because it is Pride Month.” Coleman loves to explore the city in her free time. “There’s always something to find in the Mission. I was here for Pride before, and the Castro was hopping. Also, I’m going to take a trip up to Muir Woods. I like getting some time in nature, and being near the water. Oh, Dolores Park. Yeah. I’ll get a croissant from Tartine and just walk up to the park.”
This iteration of “Company” began in London and moved to Broadway in 2020. It was scheduled to open on March 22, composer Stephen Sondheim’s birthday, but the pandemic shut Broadway down for over a year starting that week. As life opened up again in 2021, the production reassembled and finally opened Dec. 9, just two weeks after Sondheim died at age 91.
“He did get to stop by and see a run through in the rehearsal room,” Coleman recalls. “The only other time I really saw him was at that preview that he got to see before he passed.” She would have loved more opportunities to connect, but, “with him being at that age, it didn’t make sense for him to be out and about.”
The promotional campaign for ‘Company” is very actor-forward, and Coleman has adjusted to being the focus of the show’s marketing and seeing “my face all over the country. I mean, they just put up this huge campaign in LA right now. I have so many friends texting me, ‘Oh, you’re on the flagpoles lining my entire street.’ It’s really… it’s interesting.”
Flattering as it might be, she also feels it’s a bit counterintuitive to the theme of the musical. “Katrina [Lenk, Bobbie on Broadway] was everywhere, of course, but they also had a really iconic poster of her and Patti [LuPone] in the middle of all of the couples. That’s really what the show is about. I think people get confused a bit. I’m on stage the whole time, but I’m really acting as kind of a fulcrum for the company that I keep. So, while it’s cool to see my face, I also wish it was everyone.”
Coleman admits that “touring is hard” and she tries to mitigate the stresses with a certain amount of quality-of-life consistency. “I travel with my own pillow. That’s something that I can control. I have the same kind of warm up and workout routine, that I don’t have to rely on finding a gym for. Trying to find Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods chain stores to make sure that I have access to the same kind of groceries and stuff.”
She’s gone “Into the Woods” three times so far and she’s interested in the challenge of tackling more Sondheim scores. “When I was a little younger, I always wanted to play Johanna in ‘Sweeney Todd.’ I just got my tickets for ‘Merrily,’ so I’ll get to see it before they close. Maybe at some point playing Dot in ‘Sunday’ would be really fun. I’ve been asked if I want to do ‘Follies.’ I’ve been asked that a bunch, so that might be in my future at some point.”
Back to musing on being in San Francisco in June, she focuses on a particularly special, timely, and locally resonant aspect that ‘Company’ offers in this revised edition: “One of the best of all of our elements in the show coming together is the ‘Not Getting Married Today” scene. Our gay marriage scene. It’s just beautifully crafted, funny, and really moving. It’s got the best use of our sets and lighting design. When I saw it in the West End, I was like, ‘Oh, this is the takeaway!’ And we are in a perfect place to really celebrate our show and what it means to a lot of people who haven’t seen themselves on stage represented in this way. You know, just normalizing people in love getting married. I think that’s really kind of what this month, specifically in San Francisco, is about.”
“Company” runs through June 29 at the Orpheum Theatre, 1192 Market St., San Francisco. Tickets are $55 to $224 at broadwaysf.com.
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