Here’s a bit of a “Company” preview on “Great Performances” from the people who know it best. Airing tonight at 9 p.m. on PBS:

 

Stage director John Doyle says he’s “delighted with it. I think Lonny Price who directed it for TV has done a beautiful and truthful job. He has really respected the production.”

 

The show’s star Raul Esparza agrees completely, but goes on to say “I probably shouldn’t be saying this, (but)I don’t think the show was ever better than it was in Cincinnati.” No, he’s not just making nice. Esparza, a total theater guy, embarks on a lengthy, wonky and enthusiastic discussion of Doyle’s original staging on the Playhouse thrust stage, and the singular effects of Thomas Hase’s columns of light, and the “swirling diagonal” the thrust stage allowed, all of which created a sense of “incredible isolation.” 

 

Doyle beautifully adjusted the show to a proscenium setting for Broadway; and it swept musical revival awards last season. Doyle adds, “I think of Ed Stern as a real friend and I’m proud that he could take home a Tony Award for our production.”