It's important for us all to realize that gay relationships are no different from straight relationships. Company is a fascinating and timely musical that says so much about the way we love in today's world. Though some people would argue that throwing a gay couple into the Company mix would change the dynamics of some of the relationships, this would be the case no more than changing the race of characters, which no one would dare object to at this point in time. If Thornton Wilder, who created Dolly, had originally envisioned her as a black woman, he would have written the role very differently. Yet no one today would tell a black woman she can't play Dolly.
Company is twenty-five years old, and in many ways is timeless.
A spin around your television dial will show you gay characters popping up on sitcoms and dramas all over network and cable television. As more and more gays and lesbians come out across the country, it has become impossible to ignore them. Our request to cast one couple as two men or two women was denied, so we did not cast the show that way. The show still felt remarkably contemporary despite its age. It's widely accepted now that a director can cast an actor without regard for race, yet ignoring gender and sexual orientation is not yet fair game.