On Broadway, ‘Old Friends’ highlights Sondheim’s genius

The aptly named “Old Friends,” now on Broadway by way of Manhattan Theater Club, is a glorious celebration of the songs of Stephen Sondheim. The “Old Friends” are not just Broadway mega-star headliners Bernadette Peters and Lea Salonga, but the 41 beloved songs that the show is built around.

Created by producer Cameron Mackintosh as a gala in the UK, then transferring to the West End and Los Angeles before landing at the Friedman, this is more than a traditional revue. Each of the numbers has been given a clever production by director Matthew Bourne. Diehard Sondheim fans, whose numbers are legion and who remember the original productions, will enjoy the winks to those stagings that Bourne has supplied. (If you’re new to this material; this is a great place to start.) Many of these songs are so baked into the world of musical theater and cabaret that even a slight sketch can trigger joy and encourage reveling in Sondheim’s artistry.

The advantage of a show like this, quite naturally, is that you can pick the best of the best, which in the case of Sondheim is a huge task, but Mackintosh has done a great job, culling the playlist from shows that he worked on with Sondheim.

That means there are a lot of big songs. Sondheim was a genius at ending a first act with powerful pieces that were a rush of theatricality. Here, we don’t get just one; we get four. The act-enders from “Gypsy,” “A Little Night Music,” “Sweeney Todd,” and “Sunday in the Park with George” create dramatic high points within the show, going from one great performance to the next.

Peters and Salonga top the bill, and they are nothing short of spectacular. Peters is forever linked to Sondheim, and this is her seventh Sondheim Broadway outing. Her unique voice is as compelling as ever with bravura renditions of “Losing My Mind” from “Follies” and “Send in the Clowns” from “A Little Night Music.” Her comic skills are on point, too, as she sings “Hello Little Girl” from “Into the Woods,” and the song even takes on new poignancy when sung by a grown up.

Bernadette Peters performs “Send in the Clowns.”Matthew Murphy

Salonga, also Broadway royalty, is a comparative Sondheim newbie, but her more traditional voice is matched perfectly with Peters. Their duets, including “Side by Side” from “Company” and “Children Will Listen” from “Into the Woods,” are breathtaking. Alone, Salonga can touch your heart with “Loving You” from “Passion” or leave you in stitches as Mrs. Lovett from “Sweeney Todd.” (Salonga played the role in a notable production in Manila.)

As one might expect from two such iconic performers, they generously share the stage with a luminous cast of 15 other singers. Another Broadway great Beth Leavel puts her own mark on the iconic “Ladies Who Lunch” from “Company.” Gavin Lee fully inhabits the anger of “Could I Leave You?” from “Follies.” Bonnie Langford stops the show with another iconic “Follies” song, “I’m Still Here.” Soprano Maria Wirries is astonishing as Maria from “West Side Story,” and as Anne from “Night Music.”

In fact, all of the singers are doing multiple duties to keep this show rolling along. Jacob Dickey, who plays the wolf to Bernadette’s Little Red, also stops the show with “Being Alive” from “Company.” Jason Pennycooke is hilarious in “Buddy’s Blues,” also from “Follies,” and Kyle Selig’s gorgeous tenor is heard throughout the evening. Selig is the definition of the young leading men who often populate Sondheim’s shows.

Lea Salonga performs "Children Will Listen." — Lea Salonga performs “Children Will Listen.”Matthew Murphy

The other members of the company Kevin Earley, Jasmine Forsberg, Kate Jennings Grant, Joanna Riding, and Daniel Yearwood, are all wonderful. This is an ensemble that’s bursting with talent, and you’re unlikely to find so many diverse and exciting voices anywhere else on Broadway right now.

That’s one of the things about Sondheim. He wasn’t so interested in the standard Broadway voices that had dominated the stage in the years before he started writing. Though he was always a stickler for technique, he was much more interested in matching voices to characters. He also very much wrote for actors serving a story. In an interview around the 2005 revival of “Sweeney,” he said that he specifically put an eighth rest in one of Sweeney Todd’s songs because he felt the actor would need an emotional adjustment at that point.

It is that level of care and the beautifully articulated humanity in the songs that have made them staples for more than 60 years. “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” the first show for which Sondheim wrote both music and lyrics, opened in 1962. It’s hard to remember that his style — and willingness to tackle “non-musical subjects” — wasn’t immediately embraced by critics or audiences. However, in the past six decades, the world has caught up to his vision. Today, it’s Sondheim’s ability to express the highs and lows, the triumphs and tragedies, and the sheer complexities of getting through life that touches our hearts and — as with “Old Friends” — propels a cheering audience to its feet at the curtain call.