He may have been the greatest composer of musicals in history, but Stephen Sondheim’s final musical was, appopriately enough, too arty for Broadway: the posthumously produced Here We Are debuted at major NYC arts centre The Shed in 2023, where its mash up of two disturbing arthouse classics by Luis Buñuel received warm if not uncritical notices, with the general consensus being that in terms of songs, the first half – based upon The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie – felt a lot more finished than the second – based upon The Exterminating Angel.
Nonetheless, the imminent arrival of new Sondheim is a furiously exciting and sadly never to be repeated experience and what a coup for Rufus Norris to score it as the centrepiece of his final season running the NT.
Directed by Joe Mantello in what has been billed as a new production likely to be different fron his original NYC one, it has a formiddable cast headed by Tracie Bennett, Rory Kinnear and Denis O’Hare. The plot follows Leo and Marianne Brink, who think they”ve dicovered the perfecrt new brunch spot – but things start to get very weird.
