The origins of producer Cameron Mackintosh’s brand new West End tribute to composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim can be traced to a trip up the M4 in 1976. He had taken the journey to view the new revue Side By Side By Sondheim at the Cleo Laine/Johnny Dankworth-owned The Stables in Wavendon, but subsequently realised that Wavendon is, in fact, off the M1, and he’d been heading in the wrong direction.

Thankfully (despite missing the performance, but encouraged by a positive review from his friend Christopher Biggins) Mackintosh decided, sight unseen, to produce the show in London. It became a West End hit at Wyndham’s featuring the talents of Ned Sherrin, David Kernan, Millicent Martin, and Julia McKenzie.

Mackintosh, McKenzie and Sondheim would enjoy a friendship and professional collaboration which would last until the latter’s death in November 2021. At the time of Sondheim’s passing, he and Mackintosh were in the early stages of developing a follow-up to Side By Side By Sondheim, and their second revue, Putting It Together. What began as an opportunity for the two to collaborate on one final career retrospective, however, soon turned into a tribute, and the show received a one-night-only West End performance in May 2022 at Mackintosh’s West End theatre named in Sondheim’s honour.

This initial concert featured performances from a who’s-who of British theatrical talent, all with their own unique connection to the man and his work. One of the many highlights of the evening was a much-anticipated West End bow from Broadway legend Bernadette Peters who has headlined no less than five Sondheim musicals on the Great White Way.

The success of this one-off performance (and its subsequent TV broadcast) inspired Mackintosh to create a more long-running tribute to his friend and collaborator and, thus, Bernadette Peters returns to London to headline the brand new 8-performance-a-week version of Sondheim’s Old Friends, this time next door at the Gielgud.

Peters’ mere presence is, of course, a highlight of the evening, and she reminds us why she is one the world’s foremost interpreters of the master’s work, with numbers showcasing her Broadway performances – “Send In The Clowns” from A Little Night Music and “Losing My Mind” from Follies. As is expected, she brings us a number from Into The Woods. Quite unexpected, however, is the choice. Little Red Riding Hood’s “I Know Things Now”. The show she originated on Broadway, sure, but not the role. And yet, bringing her decades of experience, insight, humour and humanity to Little Red’s coming-of-age song may be one of the most effective creative decisions of the evening. She really does know things now, and she shares them with us, making the vast auditorium of a West End theatre feel like a front room.

Another surprising creative decision which resulted in brilliance was the inclusion of Lea Salonga in proceedings. Surprising, given that her name is more associated with Boublil and Schönberg than Stephen Sondheim, but one cannot deny her star power. Even more surprising is some of the material apportioned to her. One expects that she be given opportunity to show off her beautiful voice, given that is one of the finest instruments in the world, but what one doesn’t expect is that she’ll bring an equal amount of brilliance to a role not known for its singing – Mrs. Lovett in 1979’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Salonga’s detailed acting and unbelievably convincing accent, paired with Jeremy Secomb’s nightmarish Sweeney is as close as Old Friends gets to a fully staged production, with the theatrical pedigree of all involved bringing Act I to a stylish climax.

Peters and Salonga are joined by a host of names each showcasing their particular relationship to Sondheim’s work, and demonstrating qualities which justify their place in the pantheon as the very finest this country has to offer. They include Janie Dee, Joanna Riding and Clare Burt, who all bring the house down with their respective renditions of “The Boy From…” (The Mad Show – music by Mary Rodgers), “Getting Married Today”, and “The Ladies Who Lunch” (Company). Bonnie Langford (who’ll be the best known of all of the names to British audiences, and may help shift a fair few tickets) first came into contact with Sondheim fifty years ago, when she played the role of Baby June opposite Angela Lansbury’s Rose in the original London production of Gypsy (music by Jule Styne), and muses on her own career highs and lows with “I’m Still Here” (Follies), the audience rightly celebrating her legendary status.

The ladies come together in a show-stopping “Broadway Baby” in Act II, in an arrangement debuted by Julia McKenzie at Hey, Mr. Producer!, the 1999 concert celebrating the career of Cameron Mackintosh. McKenzie’s presence is keenly felt in Old Friends, even if her contribution this time around is limited to a creative one (credited with musical staging and direction alongside Matthew Bourne).

Although Sondheim is known for his brilliant writing for female characters, that doesn’t mean this production skimps on showcasing the male performers. Jason Pennycooke, Gavin Lee and Damian Humbley all give star turns in Sondheim’s more comic vein (particularly in the hilarious “Everybody Ought To Have A Maid” from A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum) but the real vocal star of the evening is Harry Apps who is tasked with the more challenging tenor roles in the canon – A Little Night Music’s Henrik and West Side Story’s Tony (music by Leonard Bernstein), and tackles them with style and ease.

Cameron Mackintosh brings together a formidable creative team – most of whom he has collaborated with on many previous occasions. They include Matt Kinley (Sets), Jill Parker (Costumes), Mick Potter (Sound) and Warren Letton (Lighting). All of this comes together under the exciting baton of Alfonso Casado Trigo (no stranger to the orchestra platform above the Gielgud stage – having taken this very podium for the All Star Concert run of Les Misérables) with the original orchestrations of Michael Starobin, Sid Ramin, Irwin Kostal and Jonathan Tunick adapted by Stephen Metcalfe.

Cameron Mackintosh set out with two intentions when he had the idea for Old Friends and the spent the subsequent years “putting it together” – to put on “a great big Broadway show” but, most importantly, to pay tribute to his friend. He succeeded on both counts.

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