Matt Doyle Is Getting Married Eight Times a Week…TONY WINNER!!!

“Every night is a thrill just because I still get to do it. It’s still happening.” What does Matt Doyle get to do? He gets to have a complete and utter nervous breakdown onstage while singing the music and lyrics of Stephen Sondheim in the Broadway revival of the musical Company.

The show, which is now playing at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, has made significant changes starting with the usually-male role of Bobby being played as Bobbie by Tony Award-winner Katrina Lenk (The Band’s Visit). This evening, Doyle received a Tony Award for his performance. The show also received Tony Awards for Best Revival of a Musical, Best Director and Best Featured Actress (Patti LuPone)

As you might imagine that has ripple effects on the show. In Marianne Elliott’s production the characters of Amy and Paul are now a gay couple, Jamie and Paul. Doyle (Spring Awakening, War Horse) plays Jamie, the man absolutely convinced he’s unable to go through with his wedding to Paul (Etai Benson). This leads to one of Sondheim’s monster tongue-twisters of a song: Getting Married Today.

In this production of Company Doyle stops the show cold with his pitch-perfect patter, his brilliant comedic timing and his ability to infuse it all with the pathos the number requires. (If you’ve never seen or heard the song, check out these versions by Julie Andrews, Madeline Kahn and how difficult a song it is by watching this clip from the recording sessions for the original cast album with Beth Howland.)

All of which gave me plenty to talk to Doyle about last week when we met via Zoom. His comments have been edited for lengthy and for clarity.

In his book Finishing the Hat: Collected Lyrics (1954-1981) Sondheim said of Getting Married Today that the faster you do the song the easier it gets. Really?

I think there’s a lot of truth in that and I agree with that in some ways because it’s freeing to focus on the speed. I think a lot of that just comes from the more you work on speed we’re working on muscle memory and it stops you from overthinking the lyrics and getting caught up in it, getting overwhelmed by them and overwhelmed by the task of the lyrics. So I can understand where that’s coming from. That being said, one of the things that really made it easier for me in this version, and I think one one of the reasons that it’s so successful in this version, is also Marianne’s kind of diligence of making sure that every single thought and every single line was broken down. We worked really, really slowly on that song at first because as long as the intention of each line is always there, it’s very hard to trip up on the words. 

This is a very traumatic moment for Jamie. Yet the audience is doubled over because they’re laughing so hard. You’ve got to really stay focused to not let the audience response impact the journey the character is having in the song.

This was a really hard character to rehearse because the other scene partner in this scene is the audience. With comedy you throw something out to the audience and you feel the energy from them and it bounces back to you. That’s the thrill of theater in general. So it was a hard thing to do because the comedy is not necessarily punchlines in this scene. We’re laughing at someone who is very, very human. We were laughing at something that we relate to, that we recognize. I didn’t know where the laughs were going to land. In a lot of ways the frenzy that I get from the audience actually helps feed the frenzy within the song. The most kind of explosive nights that I’ve had with the song are also the most successful in terms of audience response because it just helps to to feed that kind of hysteria that it builds to at the end.

Without giving anything away you have to be intensely surprised at several moments in the song. So that’s three times a show, eight times a week.

I have a lot of experience in being incredibly anxious over general anxiety disorder and panic disorder. And I know the feeling very well of the surprise and the fear that Jamie experiences during that song. Also the staging is so smart and so brilliant. I think half of what you’re seeing on stage is me turning that kind of delight and excitement and thrill of what I get to do and what the audience gets to see every night into something that is coming off as surprise.

Sondheim was always intensely involved with productions of his musicals, particularly on Broadway. What did he have to say about your work or this production?

He was there several times a week giving us notes. I think he always appreciated the amount of brilliant comedians in the room on this piece. Marianne really has put together a ridiculous ensemble. I just was happy to soak it all in and be around it. It’s definitely a broad comedy and it’s, I think, the funniest version of Company that I’ve seen. He was just delighted by that. He said over and over again – and right before he passed – it was the most entertaining production of any musical he’d ever seen.

After I saw this production it occurred to me that what Sondheim had done with several of the songs in Company is created three-act plays as songs. Whether that’s Marry Me a Little and Being Alive for Bobbie or The Ladies Who Lunch for Joanne (Patti LuPone) or Getting Married Today for you.

That’s such a really incredible observation. It’s a full story in these songs. We talk about this a lot backstage that it’s one of the scariest things that we’ve ever done as actors. Every single night that I’m backstage I’m just going over the points that I want to hit in the scene: protecting Paul, making sure that I’m heard and and making sure that I allow myself to reach the level of hysteria needed for the emotional comedown at the end of the scene as well. It’s a really daunting task.

Your first preview was on November 15th and Sondheim showed up. We’ve seen how the audience responded to his attendance. What did it mean to you and the cast?

It was the most overwhelming and profound night of my life. I think it always will be; honoring Stephen Sondheim who we knew was in his last years. I don’t think we expected to lose him as quickly as we did. That whole night was so unbelievably emotional. I knew I would be overwhelmed and I knew that it would be a momentous moment. But you can’t really understand it until until you’re in that moment. I remember looking at him as he stood up and waved to the audience. I don’t think I’m ever going to really process how truly profound all of this is. I don’t think anything will ever top that. How could it possibly?

Equally emotional must have been the first performance after his death.

That was really, really tough. We’ve been through so much and there’s been a lot of obstacles in the way. We were finally finding our footing and that joy again of being together. Marianne had just been with him. He had just given us notes a couple of nights before and we were so thrilled that he got to be a part of this chapter as well. 

I think we take a lot of immense pride in how much he enjoyed the production and how much he celebrated this production. He celebrated new visions and new artists and new artistry until the day he died. He never became a museum piece. He wanted his work to grow and he wanted his work to continue to reach new generations constantly. That was up until his very last breath. 

You appeared in the 2017 off-Broadway production of Sweeney Todd at the Barrow Street Theatre. What has performing Sondheim’s work meant to you personally and professionally?

He was very involved in Sweeney Todd and a huge champion of that production. That was my first time working with him. Ultimately he gave me the go ahead on Company. The main reason I’m in the company is because of my experience with him and him saying “yes” to me. So he’s changed my life multiple times. The first time being Sweeney and working on that incredible production and getting to really dive deep into his his material and understand it from his perspective, which was something I never anticipated. Gifting me this role and giving me permission to take it on – it’s completely reshaped who I am.

For tickets to Company please go here.

Photo: Matt Doyle as Jamie in Company (Photo by Matthew Murphy)