Stephen Sondheim, a celebration
“Sondheim’s ‘Old Friends’” at the Ahmanson Theatre
by Bondo Wyszpolski
Musical theater aficionados may never let us forget the contributions of the late Stephen Sondheim, especially as “Old Friends” is the third major revue devoted to his legacy, following “Putting it Together” and “Side by Side.”
This particular revue was in the works at the time of the lyricist and composer’s death in 2021. His friend Cameron Mackintosh picked up the slack and curated this production, now onstage through March 9.
It is a carousel of tunes, about 40 altogether, culled from Sondheim’s better-known and successful musicals, drawing heavily from “Follies,” “Company,” “Into the Woods,” and “Sweeney Todd,” as well as “A Little Night Music,” “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” “West Side Story,” Merrily We Roll Along,” “Gypsy,” “Passion,” “Sunday in the Park with George,” and even “The Mad Show” and the film “Dick Tracy.”
Bernadette Peters and Lea Salonga headline the remarkable cast of singer/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.
Okay, great, a variety show; so what? Fortunately, it’s much more than that, and it’ll either prove by example, or remind you if you already knew, that Sondheim was a master craftsman, a first-tier wordsmith and songwriter.
Nor is this a concert in the usual sense, but a succession of colorful vignettes, with direction and musical staging by Matthew Bourne, who has thrilled Music Center audiences with his productions of “Swan Lake” (with an all-male cast), “The Red Shoes,” and “Romeo and Juliet.” So, yes, there are set changes, costume changes, and lighting effects; all of this in front of a medium-sized orchestra at the back of the stage conducted by Annbritt duChateau.
“Old Friends” ups the entertainment factor, and there’s quite a bit of razzle-dazzle. Like many other tribute revues, whether an homage to songwriters like Carole King or Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, it gushes a little, emphasizing the highs more than the lows, but all the better I say to reel us in. Like a Greatest Hits package that’s to be expected. And, again like a “best of” album, one of the goals is to nudge us to go out and buy the other albums, or, in this case, to seek out the full-length musicals from which this show has borrowed.
Among the themes that Sondheim was able to address and flesh out was that of midlife angst or uncertainty, which we find in “Company” and “Follies,” and to do so in a literate sense that, for this reviewer, recalls the upper-middleclass husbands and wives in the short stories and novels of John Updike and John Cheever, circa the 1950s and 1960s. And so we have, for example, “The Little Things You Do Together” and “Ladies Who Lunch” from “Company” and “I’m Still Here” and “Losing My Mind” from “Follies.” In short, these are “high-brow” musicals and geared to an audience that’s endured a few knocks in the game of life.
So, what are the highlights? There are highlights, aren’t there? Yes, and quite a few. Salonga’s somber rendition of “Loving You” (from “Passion”) and her wickedly thrilling duet with Jeremy Secomb in “A Little Priest,” Beth Leavel’s “Ladies Who Lunch” and the pleasantly naughty “You Gotta Get a Gimmick” (from “Gypsy”) sung by Bernadette Peters, Beth Leavel, and Joanna Riding. However, to leave out several others (such as Gavin Lee’s “Could I Leave You?”) seems unfair. One of the more popular tunes is “Send in the Clowns,” from “A Little Night Music,” and Bernadette Peters delivers it in a mournful, weathered style, and to some extent calling to mind, mine at least, Marianne Faithfull and “Broken English.” Whether or not Peters was in fine form on opening night, she’s just shy of 77 (she looks 40ish) and it would be appropriate if she injected a little world-weariness into this lovely, wistful composition.
I’m generally not a fan of these kinds of musical smorgasbords, but this lavish buffet lays out the best dishes and offers a little of everything. It didn’t fail to remind me that Stephen Sondheim’s contributions to the theater are priceless gifts that should be returned to and cherished for years to come.
Sondheim’s Old Friends is onstage through March 9 at the Ahmanson Theatre, located in the Music Center, 135 N. Grand Ave., downtown Los Angeles. Performances, Tuesday through Friday at 8:00 p.m.; Saturdays at 2:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m., and Sundays at 1:00 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Tickets seem to start at about $52 and then go up much higher. Available at the box office, by calling (213) 628-2772, or visiting centertheatregroup.org/tickets. ER
