What friends, what a night. What fun!
Halloween at the Gielgud, to see Sondheim’s ‘Old Friends’ – compiled and produced by Cameron Macintosh in honour of his old friend Sondheim, and made up extensively of excerpts from Cameron Macintosh’s Sondheim productions.
This is not the ‘best’ of Sondheim – that would take a week or more – but it is an excerpt of the best, performed by a peculiarly strong ensemble cast (but not, very sadly the late Haydn Gwynne, who actually appears in the video trailer linked here!) , many of them Sondheim favourites and proteges.
It is also very well presented, with excerpts from some of the musicals fully staged, whilst some solo songs are presented cabaret style. Janie Dee, by the way, a great comic musical actress excels, as does Bonny Langford whose voice is as strong as ever.
The set seems simple, but it has its moments. The orchestra sits high at the back, and is mo
re than competent. It closed on 3 – well deserved - standing ovations (and two prepared encores which triggered the latter two standers).
Overall a great evening (but you have to love Sondheim, of course) – sadly the theatre was not full – maybe there is too much going on in the West End at the moment – another great Sondheim Diva has a one person concert show in the theatre next door. We got moved into expensive seats to help dress the audience, a win for us but not, really, for the production.
However, if you’re a Sondheim fan – a great chance to go. It’s booking now till 6th January 2024. But may close after that as many of the cast will have commitments in 2024.