Stephanie, Francesca, and I saw Here We Are at The Shed on Jan 3, 2024. It's the final show by Stephen Sondheim, the man generally thought of as the most innovative creator of musical theatre in the second half of the 20th century. Jerry Herman (*Hello, Dolly!* etc) might argue that he was more popular or more successful, but without a doubt Sondheim pushed the form forward. Sondheim's shows examine real issues, they're stimulating intellectually, and yet they're also entertaining and full of showbiz know-how and moments of pizzazz. He is without a doubt my favorite musical theatre figure and I cried a few tears when he died in 2021.
It was announced in 2012 that he and David Ives were working on a new musical together. I knew Ives from his brilliant play Venus in Fur and thought that he and Sondheim would have an interesting partnership, they'd stimulate each other in good ways, they'd create something truly unique. They were hush hush about their subject matter and then in 2014 they announced that their show would be based on two films by Luis Buñuel: The Exterminating Angel and The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie. I was over the freaking moon - - this was starting to sound like a project that was custom-made for me! I'm huge Buñuel fan, have seen The EA a number of times and am genuinely in love with The DC of the B, it's been one of my favorite movies for a long time.
Sondheim and Ives worked on the show for nearly ten years. They had a workshop production in 2016 with a few big name performers, to see how it was looking. Nathan Lane revealed in Sept 2021 that he and Bernadette Peters were involved in a reading of the piece. Sondheim died in Nov 2021 - - a few weeks before his death he authorized that Here We Are move forward with a production after his death.
I have friends who saw the show earlier in the run and though I forbade them from telling me anything about it I could tell that they weren't wild for it. I heard mixed reviews in general, mostly people unnerved by how surreal the show was. But of course that's exactly what you should expect from something based on Buñuel. He started his film career working with Salvador Dalí, fer chrissake.
I was crazy for the show, so were Francesca and Stephanie. Part of the thrill was being in a theater with a sold-out crowd of musical theatre junkies, clearly people who had been anticipating this for months or years, probably Sondheim fans from way back. Loaded for bear, as a friend would say. The stakes were high but it felt like the audience was up for a good time, something challenging and thought-provoking.
The show was brilliantly constructed and pairing of the films was genius. The first act was based on The DC of the B. The central couple are a super wealthy Manhattan couple. The wife's non-binary sibling is there with them. Another couple and the woman's Latin Lover (my two capitals are meant to convey irony) show up. The central couple is surprised, they weren't aware or had forgotten that they had a brunch date. They decide to go out to a restaurant.
The first act is about them going to various restaurants but never getting any actual food. I was struck by how faithful they were to the source. Over and over again there was a precise reference to The DC of the B. That made me smile each time.
The first restaurant is Cafe Everything. Their menu is the size of a phone book (Google that if you're too young to understand that reference). The six patrons place their orders but then the server informs them that they have no food. This was a thrilling number performed to the hilt by Denis O'Hare as the server, for me the high point of the show. Here's an audio-only recording, which captures the delight of the song:
Let me go through the other performers. Rachel Bay Jones was the wife in the central couple. She sang with a breezy, pinched, somewhat Dumb Blonde voice (again, capital letters for irony). Her character was grounded and humanized in the second act - - actually, they all were. Her transformation was the most rewarding. Bobby Cannavale was her husband. Stephanie and I both have a letch for him so it was a thrill to see him onstage, even playing a shlubby asshole. He did very little singing but what he sang he sang well. Sondheim was expert at writing for someone who's not such a stellar singer.
The non-binary sibling was played by Micaela Diamond. I said to Francesca that I had the feeling that Sondheim felt liberated with this character, clearly he wrote it for someone who can really SING. And she delivered, beautiful singing, big range and loads of expression. Hers was one of the standout performances of the night, especially for me because I'd never seen her in anything before. Now I really wish I had seen her in Parade last year, which I hear was fantastic (and she was reportedly great in it). We all make choices!
The secondary couple was played by Amber Gray and Jeremy Shamos. Again, not a lot of singing required but a fantastic sense of engagement in their performances. The Latin Lover was played by Steven Pasquale, who I've seen onstage more than anyone else in the cast. He did a good job in a two-dimensional role - - he had a seduction song that was effective. I would have preferred to have seen the role played by someone with a genuine accent. Am I being narrow-minded?
Tracie Bennett was another stand-out, playing multiple roles of servants and servers. I saw her as Judy Garland in End of the Rainbow years ago, a performance full of kapow. I was excited to see her in this show and she totally delivered. Her song as the French server in the first act was marvelous.
Three other members of the cast: Francois Battiste played an army colonel who interrupts one of the dinners in the first act. He didn't have much to do but did it well. Jin Ha played a young soldier who accompanies him - - he had quite a lot to do and did it beautifully. His love duet with the non-binary character was another high point of the show. It was a parody of a love duet but also a genuinely touching love duet. I love it when a show walks that knife edge. Here's another audio-only recording:
And finally, maybe the most famous member of the cast - - David Hyde Pierce as a bishop. He straddled the line between gravitas and goofiness. Can we call it "goofitas?" He was sublime. He was speaking at one point and someone handed him a martini in a darling little glass. He interrupted himself and sang, overcome with contained delight, "Pre-poured martini...!" Stephanie, Francesca, and I will be quoting that line for the next 40 years.
The first act was full of jazzy energy and thrilling numbers. The second act, based on The Exterminating Angel, was more low energy, with almost no breaks, comparatively little singing, even less music. The EA is about a group of people who show up at someone's house for a dinner party and for some unknown reason they're unable to leave the room. There's no barrier, no supernatural forcefield - - somehow they're held back and physically unable to cross the threshold. This goes on for days.
There was a moment of truly first-class stagecraft, I hope I'll be able to explain it. The second act is necessarily a little dull. Those poor people are stuck in the same room, no escape from each other, no external stimulation. The show needs to convey the boredom. There was a moment when I started to worry that I was getting bored and just seconds later there was an imperceptible change and it suddenly became exciting. I don't know what it was or how it was achieved but wow, it was impressive. I imagine it was the combination of the writing, maybe a bit of music, and definitely some subtle element of the staging, The show was directed by the great Joe Mantello. It could not have had a stronger production.
The ending of the show was a little bland. Sondheim's 1981 show Merrily We Roll Along was a flop in its first production and has been revived and retooled many times over the years. Francesca and Stephanie saw the current Broadway revival (Francesca twice) and raved about it. The show has gone through significant changes over the years, always (it seems) to the benefit of the show. I expect something similar will happen with Here We Are, it will be tinkered with in subsequent stagings. Future producers, take note: start with the ending!
The EA was adapted as an opera by Thomas Adès and done at the Met in 2017. At one point Here We Are was slotted for its premiere right around the same time - - Adès met with Ives and Sondheim and they all decided the two Exterminating Angel projects playing in Manhattan at the same time was a good thing, that many people would see both. That didn't end up happening, clearly. ANYWAY, Adès really nailed it with his ending. Here We Are needed a feeling of transcendence and release and we didn't get that.
I don't want to quibble but the music was, for me, too reminiscent of previous Sondheim shows, especially Sunday in the Park with George. Francesca heard a lot of Into the Woods, which is a show I don't really know. The vocal lines too often had the same contour, a lot of stacked thirds. It's not a good sign when you can predict where a melody is going, there should be a bit more innovation and surprise. That said (an expression I hate), the underlying harmonies were full of sharp turns and piquant arrivals. It's possible I could warm up to the songs more with greater familiarity and I hope there will be a recording. Stephanie hopes the script will be published, she felt like she's get a lot out of reading the text and really thinking on it. Ditto!
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