Following the triumph of Old Friends at the 2023 WhatsOnStage Awards where it won the Best Theatre Event Award, and the unforgettable all-star gala performance to celebrate the life and work of the great Stephen Sondheim at the theatre named after him in May 2022, Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends, devised and produced by Cameron Mackintosh, will open for 16 weeks only from 16 September 2023 - 6 January 2024 at the Gielgud Theatre with many of that Gala cast.
Old Friends all-star cast will again include Bernadette Peters who is appearing in a West End run for the first time in her legendary career and Lea Salonga who is appearing for the first time in 27 years. Co-stars include several of the fabulous Gala company, including Christine Allado, Janie Dee, Bonnie Langford and Jeremy Secomb, joining them will be Beatrice Penny-Touré, Joanna Riding, and Jac Yarrow with further exciting casting to be announced soon.
The thrilling, joyously staged Gala of Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends sold out within a couple of hours last year leaving thousands of disappointed fans unable to get tickets, so a simultaneous screening took place at the Prince Edward Theatre. Now by popular demand, audiences will have another chance to see the never to be forgotten and one of the most talked about theatrical events of the year.
__Assisted Performances__
Audio Described: 2.30pm - Saturday 11 November 2023
Captioned: 2.30pm - Saturday 18 November 2023
Lea Salonga’s pure voice brings resonance to “Loving You” from Passion, and Bonnie Langford wrests every ounce of humour out of Follies’ “I’m Still Here”, that great tribute to theatrical resilience which mirrors her own trooping career. Janie Dee, meanwhile, walks off with several shows in “The Boy From..”, her eyes flashing with understanding as her lips wrangle the unpronounceable words. Jason Pennycooke lends remarkable energy to “Buddy’s Blues”. But the younger singers shine as well, with Christine Allado, Beatrice Penny-Touré and Bradley Jaden all exceptional in a notably strong ensemble.
To answer that question, Old Friends really is bliss. It’s less a reprise of the one-off gala concert that caused a sensation some 18 months ago than a deepening of material. The director-choreographer Matthew Bourne, working with Britain’s leading Sondheimian, Julia McKenzie, has given this cavalcade of song a fluidity matched only by the elegance of the design and the astonishing clarity of conductor Alfonso Casado Trigo and his orchestra. (The Merrily We Roll Along entr’acte is itself nearly worth the price of admission.)
2023 | West End |
West End |
2025 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
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