The drumbeat of Sondheim productions continues to be strong as 2024 heads into its final months.
Sondheim’s dear friend and Broadway star Bernadette Peters has kicked off a short series of concert performances, starting with Carnegie Hall on Monday, Oct. 28. On Nov. 1-2, she’ll be with the the Pacific Symphony at Segerstrom Concert Hall in Costa Mesa, California. She be at Ann Arbor’s Michigan Theatre on Nov. 16, and she’ll head back to the West Coast again on Nov. 23 for a one-night stop at the McCallum Theatre in Palm Desert, CA. Ticket information: https://tinyurl.com/BernadetteConcerts. In late October she appeared on “Late Night with Seth Meyers” where she talked about her performance next spring in Sondheim’s Old Friends on Broadway (March 25-June 1, 2025) as well as her Carnegie Hall performance. Meyers also got her talking about how she met Sondheim — and her devotion to rescuing dogs. She’s always a delightful guest.
Even in the far reaches of Scotland — at the Edinburgh Fringe — Sondheim has been represented. For the legendary festival’s recent iteration in August Summoning Sondheim was a one-hour, cabaret comedic theater development piece channeling Sondheim’s spirit. Grace O’Keefe and Jordana Belaiche conducted a musical seance to revive Sondheim — and seek his aid in saving musical theater. We can all get on board with that, I imagine. It was reportedly a witty success.
Another big Broadway name is headed to Broadway with six-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald playing Rose in a revival of Gypsy at the Majestic Theatre (previews begin Nov. 21, with the production opening on Dec. 19). Visionary director George C. Wolfe will stage the production. Rose is a legendary role that’s been played by some of the biggest stars of musical theater — Ethel Merman (for whom the role was written), Angela Lansbury, Tyne Daly, Bernadette Peters and Patti LuPone. An important feature of this revival is that it will use a fully restored version of Jule Styne’s score for Gypsy — led by musical supervisor and conductor Andy Einhorn — which hasn’t been heard since the show’s debut in 1959. In addition to McDonald, Tony Award winner Danny Burstein will play Rose’s long-suffering “boyfriend,” Herbie. Joy Woods will be Louise, and Jordan Tyson plays Dainty June.
Ethel Merman in the original production of Jule Styne and Stephen Sondheim’s Gypsy (1959)
Photo by Marc J. Franklin
Speaking of Ethel Merman, check out this 27-minute blast from 1961. From the Studs Terkel Radio Archive, the legendary Chicago radio personality talks with Merman about her experiences as an actor and a singer. She confesses that she was never scared on opening night. Hear about her early performance in George and Ira Gershwin’s Girl Crazy in 1930 as well as other memorable moments from her long career. … Speaking of past interviews, here’s one more that’s worth dialing up online: Astute Boston reviewer Eliot Norton chatted with Angela Lansbury and George Hearn while they were touring in the first national tour of Sweeney Todd in 1981.
If you missed Josh Groban and Annaleigh Ashford as Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett in the recent Broadway revival of Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, it’s worth tuning in to their performances on an interation of the NPR Tiny Desk Concert. In a cramped NPR office with several castmates and musicians they perform “My Friends,” “By the Sea,” the Johanna quartet from Act II, and —especially delicious — “A Little Priest.” You’ll also be able to catch a glimpse of Alex Lacamoire conducting; he was the production’s music director, the same job he had with Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton.
If you find yourself in London in April you can catch the second production of Sondheim’s final musical Here We Are by the National Theatre at its Lyttelton Theatre on London’s South Bank. It will feature two versatile members of the Broadway cast — Tracie Bennett (as a surly maid, a French waitress, and more) and Tony Award winner Denis O’Hare (in an array of hilarious, acerbic roles as a waiter and a revolutionist). Also announced for the cast is two-time Olivier Award winner Rory Kinnear.
All of this Sondheim production inspired Gerard Alessandrini to resurrect his “Forbidden Broadway” franchise for an off-Broadway run at Theater 555 in Hell’s Kitchen in New York City. Merrily We Stole a Song features a four-person cast who perform an array of clever parodies and satires. Cast member Jenny Lee Stern takes on Patti LuPone, Hillary Clinton and Shaina Taub, including a self-aware line as LuPone: “Forbidden Broadway? They’re still doing that?” Yes, they are — and it’s still an evening of rollicking fun.
If you have comments or questions about Sondheim, feel free to drop me an email at pender.rick@gmail.com.