If you happen to’re in want of somebody (or one thing) to make you conscious of being alive, look no additional than the Broadway certain manufacturing of Outdated Pals, which is now enjoying at Heart Theatre Group’s Ahmanson Theater in Los Angeles (it opens in New York in March).

Direct from London’s West Finish, the present is the third revue of legendary Broadway composer Stephen Sondheim’s work after Placing It Collectively and Facet by Facet. As with these, producer Cameron Waterproof coat and Sondheim conceived of the present collectively, although sadly Sondheim handed away earlier than they’d the possibility to deliver it to fruition. A bittersweet flip of occasions as that has allowed Outdated Pals to change into a celebratory memorial for the late musical genius and the legacy of his work.

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The present is headlined by two theater greats, frequent Sondheim collaborator Bernadette Peters and the enduring Lea Salonga (a.okay.a. the singing voice of Disney’s Princess Jasmine and Mulan). Nevertheless it’s a testomony to Sondheim’s attain and the vary of his work that they’re backed up by an ensemble bursting with expertise that beneath different circumstances can be headliners in their very own proper, together with Beth Leavel, Gavin Lee, and Bonnie Langford. Every member of the solid is a supreme interpreter of Sondheim’s phrases, a deceptively troublesome job for even probably the most gifted performers.

There’s no plot or narrator right here, merely a set of songs that thread from one memorable efficiency to the following. A lot of the consideration goes to Sondheim’s best-loved works, although it spans the breadth of his profession from his days as a lyricist on Gypsy and West Facet Story to his breakout as a composer with A Humorous Factor Occurred on the Approach to the Discussion board, to his all-time classics, together with Firm, Follies, A Little Evening Music, Merrily We Roll Alongside, and Sweeney Todd.

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It’s onerous to think about there’ll ever be extra definitive interpretations of those numbers than lots of the variations introduced right here. At instances, the present subverts expectations, casting Salonga because the Into the Woods witch whereas Peters prances about in a pink cloak as Little Pink Using Hood. However there’s equally a success of what followers of those stars have doubtless come for, most notably Peters’ wrenching, breathtaking supply of “Ship within the Clowns” from A Little Evening Music and “Dropping My Thoughts” from Follies. Peters had beforehand carried out the songs in 2009 and 2011 Broadway revivals of each exhibits.

With these two ballads, Peters reminds audiences that Sondheim’s reward was not merely the unforgettable music, however the veritable feast he provided actors throughout the narrative arcs of his songs. Peters has a particular, haunting voice and he or she delivers each songs impeccably, however it’s her heartbreaking performances — the ache and palpable craving of affection and heartbreak that set them aside. In her interpretation, these songs change into transcendent, soul-shattering meditations on life and loss.

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Salonga is equally mesmerizing in her standout moments. Her humor is so sharp, so deft as Mrs. Lovett in a sequence of numbers from Sweeney Todd that we want the 2023 Broadway revival was nonetheless working if solely so we might see her full tackle the function. She dives into the present’s piercingly darkish humor with verve, capturing Lovett’s wild mixture of unhinged grande guignol and infinite practicality. And it’s not merely her humor that wows, but additionally her sheer vocal energy on numbers like “Loving You” from Passions, “Someplace” from West Facet Story, and a barn-burner of a tackle “All the pieces’s Coming Up Roses” from Gypsy.

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Whereas Peters and Salonga are prime billed, there are additionally loads of outstanding performances from the remainder of the singular solid. Beth Leavel drops the mic and the martini glass together with her interpretation of Firm’s “The Women Who Lunch,” whereas Gavin Lee provides us a bitingly savage gender-bent tackle Follies’ “May I Go away You?” Bonnie Langford, a star of British stage and display screen, additionally will get a Follies function together with her rousing, extraordinarily private rendition of “I’m Nonetheless Right here.”

For what is actually an elevated live performance, one would possibly anticipate minimal units and costumes, significantly with the orchestra on stage behind a metallic balcony that options Sondheim’s looping signature wrought in metallic. However Matt Kinley’s scenic design evokes the settings of the musicals featured with aplomb, granting the solid ranges to create the balconies of Into the Woods and West Facet Story, closing in for the claustrophobic horror of Sweeney Todd, and providing a false, vaudeville-worthy proscenium for the present individuals tales of Follies and Gypsy. Equally, Jill Parker’s costumes evoke the worlds and eras of every present whereas nonetheless giving a touch of that putting-on-a-show, pulled from a trunk vitality.

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The admiration and love for Sondheim’s work bursts from each side of Outdated Pals, all coming to a head in Peters’ and the ensemble’s heart-rending rendition of “Not a Day Goes By” set to a slideshow of photos of Sondheim spanning from childhood to outdated age. Outdated Pals isn’t merely a celebration of Sondheim’s life’s work, but additionally his life — the friendships he solid, together with these with this present’s producer and solid members; the love and tenacity he at all times confirmed up with; the fervour; the frustrations; the heartbreak; and above all, the vulnerability that allowed him to show his innermost ideas into musical genius.

Regardless of his lengthy and full life, Sondheim left an unlimited gap along with his passing. Outdated Pals is an excellent, lovely, ecstatic reminder of that reality — one destined to degree its audiences with its emotional influence. However largely, it’s a testomony to the truth that for many who love the theater not a day goes by the place Sondheim is just not in some way nonetheless part of our lives. And thank god for that. Grade: A

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