The late great Broadway legend Stephen Sondheim (“Into the Woods”) will be honored once again with a new revue “Old Friends.” It will star multi-Tony winner Bernadette Peters (“Annie Get Your Gun,” “Mozart in the Jungle“) in her West End debut, and Tony winner Lea Salonga (“Miss Saigon,” “Les Misérables”). This revue was devised by Cameron Mackintosh, and will be the third such devoted to Sondheim’s work. Fortunately, Mackintosh was able to consult with the late composer during the Covid shutdown.
The show “was Steve’s idea, born during lockdown, when he suggested it was time (and we had plenty of it!) we put together a third [revue] of his work, to follow from the worldwide hit Side by Side By Sondheim in 1976 (my first!) and Putting It Together (which Julia McKenzie directed at the Manhattan Theatre Club starring Julie Andrews in 1993),” Mackintosh said about “Old Friends.”
“Though we had started work,” Mackintosh said, “very sadly on Thanksgiving 2021 Steve moved on. So, a few weeks later over the Christmas holidays I collated all our notes and, drawing on material from all the other shows Steve, Julia and I had worked on over the years, completed ‘our farewell show.’”
Developing “Old Friends”
“In May 2022, we staged a star-studded Gala in London’s West End at the Sondheim Theatre (which I had rebuilt and renamed after him) to celebrate Steve’s work and raise funds for his new Foundation. It was a sensational success that sold out within hours, screened simultaneously at the nearby Prince Edward Theatre, and was subsequently broadcast on TV on the BBC. The material held together so brilliantly that I decided to press ahead and give Old Friends the full stage life Steve and I had always planned. The show opened in September 2023 at London’s Gielgud Theatre,” Mackintosh explains. “it received rave reviews and nightly standing ovations during its 16-week run.”
Musical staging and choreography for “Old Friends,” is done by Matthew Bourne and Julia McKenzie, with choreography by Stephen Mear. With additional cast, creative team, and other details to come.
“Old Friends” will begin previews on March 25th, 2025 in a Manhattan Theatre Club production at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. It will debut in North America at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles, before premiering on Broadway.
