51�Թ�

Arden wasn’t quite able to crack the Stephen Sondheim-George Furth puzzle that is “Merrily We Roll Along” at the Wallis in 2016.

The production, which made a believer of me in the greatness of this tricky Stephen Sondheim-George Furth musical when I saw the revival off-Broadway, had me once again basking in Jonathan Groff’s astonishing lead performance as Franklin Shepard, the hypotenuse of a friendship triangle perfectly balanced by Daniel Radcliffe’s Charley Kringas and Lindsay Mendez’s Mary Flynn.

The touring production of Marianne Elliott’s touted gender-swapped revival of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s “Company” may not have had Patti LuPone, who sang the vodka stinger heart out of “The Ladies Who Lunch” in her Tony-winning performance as Joanne.

Watch as Magdeburg and Greuther Furth both give away bizarre penalties for handball in their 2.

The inconsistencies and interpretive static never disappear, but Sondheim and Furth’s “Company” comes through where it matters most — theatrically.