Stephen Sondheim Old Friends - Sondheim / TV / Gielgud

[richleeds]

May 3, 2022 22:45:09 GMT mrbarnaby said:

May 3, 2022 22:38:31 GMT TheOneOnTheLeft said:

A bit too much of Michael Ball for my taste - with so much other talent present.
And the Webber/Sondheim video repeat from Hey, Mr. Producer was not a good idea IMO, given the present situation.
Not a day goes by moved me to tears.

Yes looking at the song list there was WAYYYY too much Michael Ball.

Was surprise at how much Bernadette did - thought she’d turn up, do being Alive, throw her head back- arms stretched wide, and then sashay off stage. Good for her

I was amazed at how much Bernadette did, really didn’t expect her to be involved in so many numbers. A great night but could definitely have done without the sondheim/ALW video from Hey Mr Producer. Also not quite sure why Helena Bonham Carter was there!

[pomegranate]

Agree with most of the above - fabulous night but felt like I saw a lot of the same performers. I was so excited to see which diva would tackle “Could I Leave You?” and was left cold by Michael Ball’s rendition.

Also, sadly no songs from Anyone Can Whistle which is has some of my favourites!



Thought the slip on the way out was a nice touch!

[mrbarnaby]

May 3, 2022 22:52:53 GMT richleeds said:

May 3, 2022 22:45:09 GMT mrbarnaby said:

Yes looking at the song list there was WAYYYY too much Michael Ball.

Was surprise at how much Bernadette did - thought she’d turn up, do being Alive, throw her head back- arms stretched wide, and then sashay off stage. Good for her

I was amazed at how much Bernadette did, really didn’t expect her to be involved in so many numbers. A great night but could definitely have done without the sondheim/ALW video from Hey Mr Producer. Also not quite sure why Helena Bonham Carter was there!

She was in the Sweeney Todd movie

[richleeds]

May 3, 2022 22:58:43 GMT mrbarnaby said:

May 3, 2022 22:52:53 GMT richleeds said:

I was amazed at how much Bernadette did, really didn’t expect her to be involved in so many numbers. A great night but could definitely have done without the sondheim/ALW video from Hey Mr Producer. Also not quite sure why Helena Bonham Carter was there!

She was in the Sweeney Todd movie

I know she was in the film but she just didn’t really do anything tonight.

[druthers]

Really enjoyed it- Hayden’s Ladies Who Lunch was fantastic- as was Bonnie’s splits! Would have preferred Maria to sing Loving You and Janie to sing Would I Leave You- and Daniel Evans should have been given more to do!

[anthony40]

Wow! I am speechless; completely without speech trying to process this all.

That was so good I would have flown over from Australia for it!

[alece10]

I don't have any words!
Tomorrow I will give my views when my brain settles down to normality.

[couldileaveyou]

Yeah, way too much Michael Ball. Loving You loses so much of its beauty and power when you sing it like that, and I assume Could I Leave You? was originally intended for Hannah Waddingham, who would have been superb in it. A great evening with some true highlights – particularly Judi Dench's Send in the Clowns, Broadway Baby, Gotta Get a Gimmick, Not a Day Goes By, Ladies who Lunch (Haydn Gwynne should be a bigger name), Sunday. Jenna Russell was criminally underused and Rosalie Craig was criminally shrill even in the two lines she sang. I also wish people accepted that Buddy's Blues doesn't work as a solo. Not everything was top rate, but the whole was better than the sum of (some of) its parts. The duet between ALW and Sondheim was SO out of place, especially since it wasn't Cameron's memorial.

[mrbarnaby]

May 3, 2022 23:11:54 GMT couldileaveyou said:

Yeah, way too much Michael Ball. Loving You loses so much of its beauty and power when you sing it like that, and I assume Could I Leave You? was originally intended for Hannah Waddingham, who would have been superb in it. A great evening with some true highlights – particularly Judi Dench's Send in the Clowns, Broadway Baby, Gotta Get a Gimmick, Not a Day Goes By, Ladies who Lunch (Haydn Gwynne should be a bigger name), Sunday. Jenna Russell was criminally underused and Rosalie Craig was criminally shrill even in the two lines she sang. I also wish people accepted that Buddy's Blues doesn't work as a solo. Not everything was top rate, but the whole was better than the sum of (some of) its parts. The duet between ALW and Sondheim was SO out of place, especially since it wasn't Cameron's memorial.

I see Cameron couldnt resist putting himself front and centre for the finale.

[couldileaveyou]

Also, Judi Dench and Siân Phillips (another criminally underused grande dame) were the CUTEST during the curtain call.

[callum]

Completely superb… MULTIPLE standing ovations up in the Grand Circle.

Strongest performer was Bernadette… wow what a complete legend this woman is. Hard to think of two more different Sondheims than You Gotta Get a Gimmick and Losing My Mind - she brought the house down and got standing ovations for both.

Dench incredibly moving doing Send in the Clowns; as was Petula Clark singing I’m Still Here, the number rang so true for her considering the longevity of her career but never achieving mega-stardom.

It’s hard to think of a more stunning triple whammy than the Act I closer of A Little Priest (Friedman bliss), The Ladies Who Lunch (Haydn Gwynne going full pelt) and Sunday (completely breathtaking).

Minor quibbles in that I would have preferred Imelda to do Rose’s Turn over Everything’s Coming Up Roses though everyone will have their preferences… (and at least we were spared Ball doing Somewhere from WSS).

The biggest cheer was Julia McKenzie, Bernadette, HBC, Gwynne, Friedman, Bonnie and Jenna Russell all doing a kick line to Broadway Baby… yes, THAT camp!!!

I was half expecting Cameron to do some mega surprise at the curtain call such as ‘ladies and gentlemen… Angela Lansbury’ but no big surprise names!

Overall an absolutely exhilarating evening and one I wouldn’t have missed for the world.

[n1david]

Agree with much of what has been posted before, Broadway Baby was beautifully done with so many Babies. Ball's Could I Leave You really didn't work, played for comedy rather than bile, like couldileaveyou I assume that was meant for Waddingham, but sad that they couldn't find someone better to take it on. Dench's Send in the Clowns had people sniffling all around me, Bernadette's Losing My Mind affected me more than I expected it to; I'd have liked more Daniel Evans; Haydn Gwynne's Ladies Who Lunch stood up to Patti's that I saw on Broadway last week. My only cringe was the clip from Hey Mr Producer which was an homage to CmK - if they wanted to show Sondheim performing there are loads of recordings of him workshopping stuff, but that clip was really bigging up Cameron and felt out of place. In terms of star-spotting, Matthew Bourne was a couple of rows in front of me and I'm sure that it was Ed Sheeran in the bar at the interval but it seems so unlikely...

But bottom line, one of my most fabulous nights in the theatre. Hope that it is coming to TV so I can experience it again.

[lonlad]

LOL, the Ed Sheeran lookalike was/is Dame Judi's grandson Sammy, who was there with Finty (his mum) and Finty's boyfriend, the actor Joe Timms
An incredible evening --- Bernadette beyond extraordinary. Not sure why Gary Wilmot did Buddy's Blues, which is a dance number *and GW has zero Sondheim connection. More Jenna Russell and Rosie Craig would have been nice but hey ho: a fab night.

[tal]

Oh what an evening! So many memorable moments and nice little surprises. I shouted when Bernadette Peters revealed herself, and I was very happy seeing Imelda repeating her Gypsy performance. Dame Judie Dench’s number was absolutely beautiful, and Michael Ball singing Could I Leave You was just wrong.

[actorsinger]

Maybe he’s angling for a gender swapped Follies…

[lonlad]

Interesting to hear MB singing about burying rage with a "boy half your age in the grass / bet your ass" .... ok .....

[theatreian]

A brilliant night. Highlights Broadway Baby, Ladies Who Lunch , I'm Still Here and Send In The Clowns amongst others. Petula really is a legend taking on that song, she really did it justice with her acting skills. Wonderful night all round.

[tommy]

What a memorabele evening that was on a Tuesday night! Bernadette Peters indeed had a big part in the concert, which was nice and there we're so many surprises and highlights!

[bwayboy22]

What a fantastic evening! I loved that Bernadette was in so many songs! My highlights were Broadway Baby, Gotta Get a Gimmick, You Could Drive A Person Crazy, Everybody Ought to Have A Maid, Hello Little Girl (who knew Damian Lewis could sing???), The Boy From....., and Losing My Mind! Would have liked more Jenna Russell and Rosalie Craig. Would have liked less Michael Ball.

[BurlyBeaR]

[ryhare]

Such a glorious night. I do have to agree that the choices of who sings what seemed odd - Anna Jane Casey who was in the ‘West End All Stars’ supporting cast sang far more numbers than Jenna Russell/Bonnie Langford.

Did I blink and miss it. - what happened to Daniel Evans singing Sunday in the Park at the beginning? Was it cut?

I wondered if Hannah Waddingham would have sung Children will Listen, im gutted for her that she was unwell.

Spotted Dawn French and Patricia Hodge in the audience. Also coincidentally needed up sitting by a forum member, Ian.

I forgave Cam Mack his opening speech as I’m assuming he was very good friends with Sondheim - though we didn’t need reminded that he ‘rebuilt’ the theatre. That video however was tone deaf and all about CM. There were a couple of (not the time or place) boos when ALW came on. It jarred with the evening added nothing.

[Deal J]

Sounds like an absoultely amazing evening, I'm glad so many of you got to see it and grateful for all your reports of how it was.

May 4, 2022 0:28:28 GMT bwayboy22 said:

[...] Hello Little Girl (who knew Damian Lewis could sing???) [...]

He played Wolf/Cinderella's Prince at the Donmar back in 1999. I didn't know who he was back then, though!

[anthony40]

I'm at work (working from home) and in truth, a little tired.

I am still trying to digest what I witnessed last night.

No I can understand why they were charging as much as they did and I was in a financial position to do so, I too would have paid the money.

I saw Gaby Roslin on the way into the theatre and on the way out.

fiyero, I turned around on multiple occasions but as I don't know what to you look like, it was just seeing faces.

[alece10]

That was such an amazing evening. As a very big Sondheim fan I have seen pretty much everything over my many years including several gala concerts and the Sondheim Proms and have to say that this concert wins hands down.
Really well staged with an orchestra of 26 and clever use of the stage (including the Les Mis baracades)the programme was so well put together and it flowed so well.
The wall of sound when everyone was singing was insane but bear in mind you had the best of the best all on stage at the same time.
As others have mentioned there were some stand out performances and mine would be, Judi's Send in the Clowns, Worst pies in London, Ladies Who Lunch, Broadway Baby, You gotta get a gimmick, I'm still here, Everything's coming up Roses and Sunday.
Bernadette Peters (as others have mentioned) was in several numbers and also AJ Casey who I feel should have been in the programme under the main cast. I was beyond thrilled to see Julia MacKenzie and to hear her sing. I only expected her to speak or introduce something but to hear her singing was a joy.
The "chorus" were sublime when they sang together and there was just a massive wall of sound. To be honest even if the concert only had what they called West End All Stars I would have been happy.
I have 4 favourite male performers Rob Houchen, Bradley Jaden, Julian Ovenden and Charlie Stemp so you can imagine my joy of seeing them all on the stage at the same time.
Minor gripe was that Daniel Evans and Jenna Russell were not used enough but looking at the programme I can see that 2 numbers at the start and 1 at the end were cut (due to time I would guess) and one of those cut would have been Daniel Evans singing Sunday in the Park.
I think someone mentioned last night that they would have liked numbers from some of the other Sondheim musicals but as Cameron said in his speech at the beginning that everyone has their favorites and it would have been impossible to put in everything but they had included shows that he had been involved with. This is why we didn't get anything from say Anyone Can Whistle.
The programme is lovely an a great idea about giving the set list at the end of the evening so as not to spoil the surprise and so we can remember who did what.
Audience was amazing and there were several standing ovations from everyone in the stalls where I was sitting and I am sure it was the same on the other 2 levels.
Others have mentioned some famous faces there. I was sitting a few seats away from Anne Reid, Biggins and Patricia Hodge were in the row in front of me and Dawn French behind.
Audience where I sat were a perfect example of well behaved audience. I didn't see a single person get up to go to the loo, no phones lighting up the theatre, no talking or scoffing sweets. It was so nice.

I'd love to hear the thoughts of anyone who went to the screening and find out how it came across and also if everyone joined in with the applause or just watched as if watching a film.

And can I finally just say - Bonnie Langford! high kicks and the splits!!!!

[fiyero]

May 4, 2022 8:14:36 GMT anthony40 said:

I'm at work (working from home) and in truth, a little tired.

I am still trying to digest what I witnessed last night.

No I can understand why they were charging as much as they did and I was in a financial position to do so, I too would have paid the money.

I saw Gaby Roslin on the way into the theatre and on the way out.

fiyero, I turned around on multiple occasions but as I don't know what to you look like, it was just seeing faces.

It was so busy I just stayed in my seat! I was in the middle of the second row from the back wearing a red polo shirt. I'll be honest I didn't try to look for people as although I'm happy back at the theatre I'm still not great in crowded spaces!