Peter is an Ivy League graduate, and Susan is a Southern belle; the two seem to be a perfect couple, yet they surprise Robert with the news of their upcoming divorce.

Robert meets his three girlfriends in a small park on separate occasions, as Marta sings of the city: crowded, dirty, uncaring, yet somehow wonderful ("Another Hundred People").

Robert, the best man, and Paul watch as Amy complains and self-destructs over every petty thing she can possibly think of, and then finally explicitly calls off the wedding.

She earnestly tells him of an experience from her past, involving the death of a butterfly; he counters with a bizarre remembrance of his own, obviously fabricated and designed to put her in the mood to succumb to his seduction.

As April continues to reluctantly resist his entreaties, and sleepiness retakes him, Bobby loses conviction, agreeing that she should go; that change apparently gets to her, and she joyfully declares that she will stay, after all.

She raises her glass in a mocking toast, passing judgment on various types of rich, middle-aged women wasting their lives away with mostly meaningless activities ("The Ladies Who Lunch").

When Larry leaves to pay the check, Joanne bluntly invites Robert to begin an affair with her, assuring him that she will "take care of him".

He sings, openly enumerating the many traps and dangers he perceives in marriage; speaking their disagreements, his friends counter his ideas, one by one, encouraging him to dare to try for love and commitment.

Finally, Robert's words change, expressing a desire, increasing in urgency, for loving intimacy, even with all its problems, and the wish to meet someone with whom to face the challenge of living ("Being Alive").

[11] Directed by Hal Prince, the musical opened on Broadway at the Alvin Theatre on April 26, 1970, and closed on January 1, 1972, after 705 performances and 12 previews.

[12][13] The opening cast included Dean Jones, who replaced Anthony Perkins early in the rehearsals, Donna McKechnie, Susan Browning, George Coe, Pamela Myers, Barbara Barrie, Charles Kimbrough, Merle Louise, Beth Howland, and Elaine Stritch.

The set design by Boris Aronson consisted of two working elevators and various vertical platforms that emphasized the musical's theme of isolation.

[15] In his September 2, 2015, obituary for Jones in The New York Times, Mike Flaherty reported that "he quit the production, citing stress and depression related to the recent collapse of his own marriage."

[12][18] Award-winning documentary filmmaker D. A. Pennebaker captured the making-of the original cast recording shortly after the show opened on Broadway.

His 1970 film Original Cast Album: Company earned early accolades, as well as a cult following, for its unvarnished look at a grueling recording session.

The original cast, directed by Harold Prince with choreography by Michael Bennett, featured Larry Kert, Elaine Stritch, Joy Franz (Susan), Beth Howland (Amy) and Donna McKechnie (Kathy).

Directed by Richard Wherrett, it featured John O'May as Bobby, Geraldine Turner as Joanne, with other cast members, including Tony Sheldon, Simon Burke, Terence Donovan, and Barry Quin.

[24][25] Most members of the original Broadway cast reunited in California for a concert to benefit Actors Fund of America AIDS charities and the Long Beach Civic Light Opera.

The reunion concert was repeated for two New York performances in April 1993, at the Vivian Beaumont Theater, directed by Barry Brown, with Patti LuPone as host.

[29] After 43 previews, a revival for the Roundabout Theatre, directed by Scott Ellis and choreographed by Rob Marshall, opened October 5, 1995, at the Criterion Center Stage Right, where it ran for 68 performances.

The cast included Boyd Gaines (Bobby), Kate Burton, Robert Westenberg (Harry), Diana Canova, Debra Monk (Joanne), LaChanze, Charlotte d'Amboise, Jane Krakowski, Danny Burstein (Paul), and Veanne Cox (Amy).

On Sunday, November 7, 2010, a one-off concert of Company, starring most of the 1995 London revival cast, including Adrian Lester as Bobby, was held at the Queen's Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue.

A production for the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., presented as part of a summer-long celebration of Sondheim musicals, opened May 17, 2002, for a limited run of 17 performances.

Directed by Sean Mathias, the cast included John Barrowman as Robert, Emily Skinner, Walter Charles, Alice Ripley, and Lynn Redgrave.

Kookaburra Musical Theatre mounted a production directed by Gale Edwards in Sydney in June 2007, starring David Campbell as Bobby, with a cast including Simon Burke, Anne Looby, James Millar, Pippa Grandison, Katrina Retallick, Tamsin Carroll and Christie Whelan.

[43] In April 2011, Lonny Price directed a staged concert production,[44] with Neil Patrick Harris as Robert, Stephen Colbert as Harry, Craig Bierko as Peter, Jon Cryer as David, Katie Finneran as Amy, Christina Hendricks as April, Aaron Lazar as Paul, Jill Paice as Susan, Martha Plimpton as Sarah, Anika Noni Rose as Marta, Jennifer Laura Thompson as Jenny, Jim Walton as Larry, Chryssie Whitehead as Kathy, and Patti LuPone as Joanne.

Additionally, the production featured a same-sex couple for the first time, with Jonathan Bailey as cold-footed groom Jamie (originally written as the female character Amy) and Alex Gaumond as his devoted fiancé Paul.

[73] The documentary film Keeping Company with Sondheim aired on Great Performances in May 2022, examining this production alongside the show's previous incarnations.

After Sony Music acquired the Columbia catalogues, a newly remastered CD of the original Broadway cast recording was released in 1998, featuring Kert's rendition of "Being Alive" as a bonus track.

Selections from the show were broadcast in 1979 on Musical Comedy Tonight hosted by Sylvia Fine, with songs performed by Carol Burnett, Richard Chamberlain, Sandy Duncan, and Bernadette Peters.