Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends Broadway Reviews

There are glimpses of Sondheim onscreen, but this isn’t another biographical show. It’s an overstuffed yet always stylish homage. While no substitute for the musicals themselves, the production will be cherished by those fans who need to worship regularly at the altar of their Broadway god.

While Peters and Salonga are top billed, there are also plenty of remarkable performances from the rest of the singular cast. Beth Leavel drops the mic and the martini glass with her interpretation of Company’s “The Ladies Who Lunch,” while Gavin Lee gives us a bitingly savage gender-bent take on Follies’ “Could I Leave You?” Bonnie Langford, a star of British stage and screen, also gets a Follies feature with her rousing, extremely personal rendition of “I’m Still Here.”

While the show may be daunting to those unfamiliar with Sondheim, it is not all inside baseball. Every element of the show feels cohesive; it is not a plot-driven show but a true celebration of the late musical theater legend’s body of work. Even if one walks in knowing nothing about the show, over the course of the evening, every audience member will learn the breadth and depth of his work and the lasting legacy he created.

So concludes SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE, a musical that many consider to be Stephen Sondheim’s masterpiece. For the record, that musical’s closing number, “Sunday,” does make it into SONDHEIM’S OLD FRIENDS, the latest Broadway-bound revue of the composer’s music in its U.S. premiere at the Ahmanson Theatre. In fact, it’s the only song from SUNDAY that makes the cut. Some of the Sondheim faithful will invariably take issue with what’s in and what’s out of this Cameron Mackintosh-produced “great big Broadway show” that is OLD FRIENDS. Overheard on opening night during intermission was an attendee expressing his disgruntlement over the total omission of any songs from ASSASSINS.  Yeah, tough choices need to be made when you’re dealing with a musical catalog this vast.