{"id":3473,"date":"2025-04-09T17:24:54","date_gmt":"2025-04-09T17:24:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/2025\/04\/09\/review-sondheims-old-friends-brings-star-power-and-uneven-pacing\/"},"modified":"2025-04-09T17:25:03","modified_gmt":"2025-04-09T17:25:03","slug":"review-sondheims-old-friends-brings-star-power-and-uneven-pacing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/2025\/04\/09\/review-sondheims-old-friends-brings-star-power-and-uneven-pacing\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: \u2018Sondheim\u2019s Old Friends\u2019 Brings Star Power and Uneven Pacing"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Jasmine Forsberg, Beth Leavel, Bernadette Peters, Kate Jennings Grant, Bonnie Langford, Lea Salonga, Maria Wirries and Joanna Riding perform \u201cBroadway Baby\u201d Stephen Sondheim\u2019s Old Friends<\/em>. Matthew Murphy<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Since the death, at 91, of historic songwriting genius Stephen Sondheim<\/a>, dozens of concerts, cabaret shows, television specials and Broadway \u201crevues\u201d have honored his memory and celebrated the passion, talent and versatility of his musical heart and soul. The latest contribution to that astounding body of work is <\/span>Sondheim\u2019s Old Friends, <\/span><\/i>a pleasant if uneven collection of the maestro\u2019s sometimes hollowly directed but nearly always unforgettable repertoire. To perform 40 overwhelming, hard-to-sing songs of varying lengths, tempos, styles, range and volume is a monumental task, but with a dynamic cast headed by Bernadette Peters<\/a> and Lea Salonga<\/a>, there\u2019s no room for anxiety. You go away sated.<\/span><\/p>\n

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There\u2019s enough drama and excitement here to elevate the production above and beyond the status of a cabaret act, but sometimes you wonder how long it will take for the show to ignite. It\u2019s two acts divided into very different levels of accomplishment, and Act One on the night I saw it was slow as Christmas getting started. The entire exercise, devised by British producer Cameron Mackintosh<\/a>, is restricted only to excerpts from the shows he personally supervised. This explains the absence of anything from such estimable Sondheim favorites as <\/span>Saturday Night, Anyone Can Whistle <\/span><\/i>and <\/span>Pacific Overtures. <\/span><\/i>Those were not important scores, you might argue, but in my opinion, great songs such as \u201cWith So Little to Be Sure Of,\u201d Lee Remick<\/a>\u2019s tender solo ballad \u201cAnyone Can Whistle,\u201d as well as\u00a0 \u201cA Parade in Town\u201d and \u201cMe and My Town,\u201d Angela Lansbury<\/a>\u2019s two showstoppers from <\/span>Anyone Can Whistle, <\/span><\/i>and the great <\/span>\u201c<\/span><\/i>Someone in a A Tree\u201d from <\/span>Pacific Overtures<\/span><\/i> would be far more fabulous inclusions than the minor distractions \u201cEverybody Oughta Have a Maid\u201d from <\/span>A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum <\/span><\/i>and the forgettable filler from <\/span>Into the Woods. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Worse still, the group numbers suffer from the uninspired and totally predictable direction by Matthew Bourne<\/a> that encourages the cast to time every lyric, and emphasize every key word down to precise movements. The three girls who sing \u201cYou Could Drive a Person Crazy\u201d (from <\/span>Company<\/span><\/i>) emphasize the word \u201ccrazy\u201d by rolling their fingers around in circles next to their temples, and on the word \u201cgay,\u201d they go limp-wristed. Ouch. <\/span><\/p>\n

Smoking references are illustrated by simulated puffing and sex by actual genital grabbing. So much exaggeration in the endless grinning and eye rolling is corny and obvious, not to mention redundant and amateurish. Musically, you\u2019re prevented the joy of discovering any semblance of surprise in your own special way, and if Sondheim was praised for constantly reaching new heights of discovery, it was always in the discovery of fresh new ways to hear and think about words. Still, in spite of its hackneyed and irritating cliches, Act One manages to fill a lot of voids with the Bernadette Peters-Lea Salonga duet \u201cChildren Will Listen,\u201d and although nobody comes anywhere close to Angela Lansbury\u2019s definitive characterization of Mrs. Lovett in <\/span>Sweeney Todd, <\/span><\/i>Lea Salonga\u2019s hilarious spin convinced me she made \u201cThe Worst Pies in London.\u201d By the end of the first act, the highlights were outnumbered by blandness, one notable exception being a tremendous spot by Joanna Riding<\/a>, who owns the stage with \u201cI\u2019m Not Getting Married Today\u201d and conquering the tongue-twisting lyrics with minimum hand gestures and maximum cleverness. The songs are wonderful, as always, but the delivery otherwise disappoints. Even Bernadette Peters, not the best voice when I saw the show, appears to deliberately avoid her usual perfection, singing \u201cSend in the Clowns\u201d with a pinched nasality and delivering \u201cHello Little Girl,\u201d one of the mediocre fairytale songs from <\/span>Into the Woods, <\/span><\/i>with a boop-boop-a-doop squeak that sounds more Betty Boop than Little Red Riding Hood.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Then something miraculous happened. It\u2019s as though someone went backstage during intermission, informed the cast the show was wandering off into dull, uncharted territory, and pleaded with everyone to pick up the pace. Whatever occurred, the result was an astonishing second act, bringing down the house with one show-stopper after another. Bernadette knocked \u201cBroadway Baby\u201d out of the park, then knocked the audience out of its socks as one of the three strippers in <\/span>Gypsy\u2014<\/span><\/i>bumping, grinding and playing the trumpet to a standing ovation. The <\/span>Follies <\/span><\/i>section happily resurrected the seldom-heard \u201cWaiting Around for the Girls Upstairs.\u201d Gavin Lee<\/a> is no Alexis Smith<\/a>, but he milked every complex, passionate emotion out of <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/i>her \u201cCould I Leave You,\u201d and although after the unsurpassed Polly Bergen<\/a> in the Broadway revival nailed it for good and always, \u201cI\u2019m Still Here\u201d benefitted from Bonnie Langford<\/a>\u2019s personal interpretation in a way I never unexpected. <\/span>Stephen Sondheim\u2019s Old Friends\u2014<\/span><\/i>especially the second act\u2014<\/span>is a musical evening to cherish.<\/span><\/p>\n

My advice: Give up the idea of trying to over-analyze any and every Sondheim revue (there will be more to come) and just sit back and let the songs wash over you. Best of all, pour yourself a glass of vintage port, re-visit the superb recordings that distinguish the world of theatre music and marvel at the myriad ways he <\/span>intended <\/span><\/i>to be interpreted. Sondheim lives forever on vinyl.<\/span><\/p>\n

Stephen Sondheim\u2019s Old Friends <\/i><\/strong>| 2hr 45mins. One intermission. | Samuel J. Friedman Theatre | Last Show: Sun, June 15, 2025 | 261 West 47th Street | 212-399-3000 | <\/b>Buy Tickets Here<\/i><\/a><\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"\u2018Sondheim\u2019s<\/p><\/div>\n