Following the loss of the legendary multi-award-winning composer, lyricist, and Pulitzer Prize recipient Stephen Sondheim on November 26, 2021, at the age of 91, producer Sir Cameron Mackintosh – a longtime friend and collaborator with whom, during the pandemic, he was planning a new musical revue of numbers from the many shows they had done together – conceived the project as a one-night-only gala concert celebration at London’s Sondheim Theatre in 2022, to honor him and his legacy with a selection of the extraordinarily expressive character-defining songs he wrote. That tribute concert was further developed into the 2023-24 London stage revue Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends, which then ran in LA and is now making its Broadway debut in a limited engagement with Manhattan Theatre Club at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, featuring more than three dozen of his iconic songs from the musicals that Mackintosh produced and a cast of fifteen musical-theater talents, half of whom appeared in the London production, led by Tony winners Bernadette Peters and Lea Salonga.
The songs are not presented in chronological order or within the format of a single narrative structure but are grouped in segments based on the moods, themes, or the specific musicals from which they came: Company, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Merrily We Roll Along (which contains the revue’s eponymous song), A Little Night Music, Follies, Into the Woods, Gypsy, Sunday in the Park with George, Passion, Sweeney Todd, and West Side Story, along with the lesser-known Bounce (later called Road Show) and The Mad Show. There’s also one from the movie Dick Tracy, which was later included in another Sondheim revue, Putting It Together. While the Playbill program contains the full song list, it doesn’t identify which show each is from (there’s another page of “musical credits” for the fourteen productions), so if you’re not a fully versed Sondheim aficionado upon entering the Friedman, you won’t necessarily know, or learn about, the sources of the songs or their context from his extensive canon of musicals here.
Under the direction and musical staging of Matthew Bourne, the show (devised in collaboration with Julia McKenzie, a good friend of both Sondheim and Macintosh, who served as artistic consultant), transitions smoothly from one number to the next without pause, the in-character performers – Jacob Dickey, Kevin Earley, Jasmine Forsberg, Kate Jennings Grant, Bonnie Langford, Beth Leavel, Gavin Lee, Jason Pennycooke, Joanna Riding, Jeremy Secomb, Kyle Selig, Maria Wirries, and Daniel Yearwood, co-starring with Peters and Salonga – embody the personalities, thoughts, and feelings inherent in the songs, and their vibrato-filled deliveries are enhanced with apropos gestures and facial expressions, movements and dance (choreography by Stephen Mear), from the parodic bumping and grinding of Peters, Leavel, and Riding as the seasoned strippers in Gypsy’s “You Gotta Get a Gimmick” to the impeccable Vaudevillian stylings of Daniel Yearwood in “Buddy’s Blues” from Follies.
The artistic design likewise reflects the situations of the songs, with frequent changes of dazzling sequined gowns and tuxedos, vintage-style and character-identifying costumes and telling accessories (by Jill Parker), and wigs, hair, and make-up (by Stefan Musch), dramatic shifts in color and intensity in the marquee, spot, and neon lighting (by Warren Letton), and evocative sound (by Mick Potter) that supplements the distinctive tones of the segments. An active bi-level set (by Matt Kinley) transports us into the musical numbers, with illuminated staircases framing the rich fourteen-piece orchestra, conducted by music director Annbritt duChateau, on a central platform behind, side sections of balconied buildings that slide in and out, descending proscenium arches and curtains that set the locales, and projection screens that display background cityscapes, personal photos of Sondheim throughout his life, and an evolving black-and-white sketch of Sunday in the Park with George that ultimately bursts forth in full color (projections by George Reeve). This is no minimalist presentation of a concert of Sondheim’s songs, it’s a fully realized Broadway production.
Among the highlights – all with lush musical arrangements by Stephen Metcalfe – are the uplifting and vibrant “Comedy Tonight” from A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” sung by Peters, Salonga, Pennycooke, Lee, and cast; Riding’s comically angst-ridden rapid-fire “Getting Married Today” from Company (with Earley, Wirries, and the company); the six consecutively enacted selections from Into the Woods (“Into the Woods,” “On the Steps of the Palace,” “Agony,” “I Know Things Now” in a medley with “Bounce,” Hello, Little Girl,” and “Children Will Listen”) and five from Sweeney Todd (“The Ballad of Sweeney Todd,” “The Worst Pies in London,” “My Friends,” “Pretty Women,” and “A Little Priest,” with an almost unrecognizable Salonga assuming the character of the crazed Mrs. Lovett); Peters’ deeply felt, mature, and affecting “Send in the Clowns” from A Little Night Music; Salonga’s powerhouse rendition of the Gypsy blockbuster “Everything’s Coming Up Roses;” and the company, with their backs to the audience, singing “Old Friends” from Merrily We Roll Along to a monumental projected photograph of Sondheim.
Whether you’re a lifelong fan or are just discovering this celebrated catalogue for the first time, Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends has something for everyone, from laugh-out-loud humor to psychologically penetrating and emotionally compelling songs that affirm the range, depth, and artistry of the beloved composer and lyricist, in a wholehearted lavishly staged homage to one of the greats in the history of Broadway. It will leave you happy to have revisited your personal favorites or wanting to see and to hear more of his acclaimed work.
Running Time: Approximately two hours and 25 minutes, including an intermission.
Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends plays through Sunday, June 15, 2025, at Manhattan Theatre Club, performing at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, 261 West 47th Street, NYC. For tickets (priced at $134-397, including fees), call (212) 239-6200, go online, or find discount tickets at TodayTix here.