Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends. Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Devised by Cameron Mackintosh. Direction and musical staging by Matthew Bourne. Choreography by Stephen Mear. Artistic consultant Julia McKenzie Scenic design by Matt Kinley. Costume design by Jill Parker. Lighting design by Warren Letton. Sound design by Mick Potter. Projection design by George Reeve. Original orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick. Musical arrangements by Stephen Metcalfe Music supervision by Alfonso Casado Trigo. Music director Annbritt duChateau. Music coordinator Michael Aarons. Wig, hair, and make-up design by Stefan Musch. Associate choreographer Jo Morris. Associate director Nikki Woollaston.
Cast: Bernadette Peters, Lea Salonga, 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, Daniel Yearwood, Paige Faure, Alexa Lopez, Greg Mills, and Peter Neureuther.
Theater: Samuel J. Friedman Theatre
Tickets: Telecharge.com

Jacob Dickey and Bernadette Peters Photo by Matthew Murphy

How best to classify an evening of songs that, while well performed by the excellent 19-person cast and terrific on-stage orchestra, land scattershot onto the stage, in no particular order and without a word of explanation as to where they fall within the Sondheim canon? Indeed, there is only the briefest of introductions by the event's hosts, Bernadette Peters and Lea Salonga. Peters opts for "celebration." Salonga goes with "tribute." You pays your money and you takes your choice, I guess.

The staging for Old Friends, which comes to Broadway after previous runs in London and Los Angeles, is similar to something you might see with an Encores! production at New York City Center. Matt Kinley's set and Jill Parker's costumes are minimal, designed to be only suggestive of various Sondheim shows: a cape for Little Red Riding Hood for her Into the Woods song; a veil for Company's Amy, and the like.

Matthew Bourne directs and does the musical staging for the show, which was devised and produced by Cameron Mackintosh. Decidedly, Mackintosh has the bona fides for this, having assembled two prior Sondheim revues: Side by Side by Sondheim and Putting It Together. Fans of those two are likely to enjoy this one very much. Newbies? I'm not so sure what they will get out of it without any context.

So let's address the likely audience of those who are familiar with Sondheim's career. The emphasis is assuredly on the individual songs (40 in all), which are sometimes grouped by the musical in which they appear, or simply pop up by their lonesome. That being said, there are some wonderful renditions during the two-and-a-half-hour show. If you have fond memories of seeing Peters in Into the Woods, Sunday in the Park with George, A Little Night Music, and/or Follies, you'll be very happy with her performance of songs from these, including her singular takes on "Send in the Clowns" and "Losing My Mind." It's been a long time gone, yet she still commands the stage.

Jeremy Secomb and Lea Salonga Photo by Matthew Murphy

I do not quite understand why numbers from West Side Story and Gypsy have been included, given that Sondheim contributed the lyrics but not the music to these. Still, I would not have wanted to miss Peters, Beth Leavel, and Joanna Riding deliciously bumping and grinding to "You Gotta Get a Gimmick" from the latter.

And then there is Leavel's superb take on "The Ladies Who Lunch," and Jason Pennycooke's "Buddy's Blues," where you might feel you are actually seeing snippets of Company or Follies.

For my two cents, the best performed numbers are those where I could get at least a sense of the shows in which the songs originally appeared. Not everything landed with the same oomph, of course. For instance, I wasn't crazy about the silliness that is applied to a couple of comic numbers, like "Getting Married Today," where the humor is inherent in the music and lyrics; no further padding is needed.

This is just a sense of what the evening looks like. But I'd be remiss if I did not lay praise on the orchestra, under the direction of Annbritt duChateau, which give us a glorious performance of the overture to Merrily We Roll Along for the entr'acte, using Jonathan Tunick's orchestrations. That was unexpected, at least by me (though it is listed in the program), and so beautifully done that I found myself choking up.

Ultimately, a revue like this, filled with memory-stirring songs for those who hold those memories dear, will be meaningful to different audience members in different ways. All I can say is, it's your time; breathe it in and enjoy the ride.