casting

In Wonderfully Niche News, Documentary Now! Will Parody the Making of the Company Cast Album

Renée Elise Goldsberry and John Mulaney. Photo: Getty Images

Documentary Now!, a show seemingly intent on making small groups of people extremely excited about its existence, has come up with yet another hyperspecific parody. IFC announced today that the show’s next season will include an episode riffing on D.A. Pennebaker’s famous (among a specific set of people) 1970 film Original Cast Album: Company, which documented the all-night recording session for Stephen Sondheim’s most neurotic of musicals. The original documentary was intended to be part of a television series on cast albums, but only one was made. Documentary Now! will do its own version of the story with “Original Cast Album: Co-Op,†a documentary about a musical produced by Benedict Juniper (Taran Killam), Simon Sawyer (John Mulaney), and Howard Pine (James Urbaniak). The musical-within-a-show’s stars include Alex Brightman (Broadway’s School of Rock), Richard Kind, Paula Pell, and Renée Elise Goldsberry. Eli Bolin wrote the music. Expect their version of the scene where Elaine Stritch has to keep doing “Ladies Who Lunch†to be hilarious, and somehow also heartbreaking.

Documentary Now! Will Parody Original Cast Album: Company