Old Friends Reviews, Photos & Videos – Stephen Sondheim tribute gala at the Sondheim Theatre in London ★★★★

"A star-spangled, unforgettable tribute to Stephen Sondheim"

"Excuse me if I gush, but this was one of those nights where it was difficult to focus on highlights simply because there were so many. Cameron Mackintosh’s memorial concert for Stephen Sondheim, who died in November, began on a high note when the veteran Julia McKenzie, who did so much to champion the composer’s work on this side of the Pond, walked onto the stage to sing Side by Side by Side. Proof, if needed, that British artists don’t need to feel like intruders on this territory. They’ve made the music their own."

"Who else but Judi Dench could be entrusted with Send in the Clowns? If Dench’s delivery barely rose above a whisper, Haydn Gwynne powered through a version of The Ladies Who Lunch that was as potent and savage and tipsy as anything the late Elaine Stritch gave us. As ever, the elegant Janie Dee glowed in the dark, sizzling through the bossa nova parody The Boy from . . ."

"A glorious all-star memorial service"

"This was a glorious memorial service, each of the tunes a eulogy, every eulogist either a current star (Judi Dench, Bernadette Peters, Imelda Staunton, Clive Rowe) or a likely future one (the cast swelled by young actors and drama school students.)"

"In anthology shows, as in sport, selection is central. Some of the 41 songs demanded inclusion. Friedman brings piping hot comedy and vocal clarity to Mrs Lovett’s lethal recipes, A Little Priest, from Sweeney Todd. Written for a woman in early middle age, Send in the Clowns, as reprised by Dench at 87, becomes hauntingly valedictory, lines such as “this late in my career” now echoing those in I’m Still Here, in which Petula Clark, two years Dench’s senior, confirmed Sondheim’s genius in writing songs that fit a show but a standalone performer can make their own."

"Generically, it’s a concert rather than a fully staged show, but with props and costumes it feels seriously rehearsed. Rob Brydon and Haydn Gwynne find sharply fresh line readings in The Little Things You Do Together, the marital battle from Company. Among flourishes of choreography (Matthew Bourne and Stephen Mear) is reshaping the usually solo Broadway Baby for a chorus line of 10 top musical women, led by Julia McKenzie, on stage for the first time since the 1990s."

"‘Old Friends’, Including Judi Dench, Imelda Staunton, Bernadette Peters And Damian Lewis, Knock It Out Of The Park For Stephen Sondheim"

"... hey it’s not every night you get to hear Judi Dench uncover new, heartfelt meaning in Sondheim’s “Send In the Clowns” from A Little Night Music. Or, to be in the room when Haydn Gwynne (winner of Drama Desk and Theatre World awards for Billy Elliot on Broadway) redefined “Ladies Who Lunch,” from Company, and made it her own."

"Ingenious staging of “Broadway Baby,” from Follies, had Julia McKenzie appear centre stage to sing, and then be abruptly — comically — upstaged by Bernadette Peters, and so on until a lineup of 10 Broadway Babies electrified the boards.

"Take a bow Helena Bonham Carter, Rosalie Craig, Maria Friedman, Josefina Gabrielle, Amy Griffith, Haydn Gwynne, Bonnie Langford, Jenna Russell and the aforementioned McKenzie and Peters."

"The shivering sense of seeing musical history embodied"

"Judi Dench, Bernadette Peters, Imelda Staunton and more starred in the concert event"

"You could touch the emotion at this gala celebration of Sondheim, held to celebrate his achievements before his death last year at the age of 91, and to raise money for his foundation which will support the talent of young composers of the future. The people on stage had lost a friend; the people watching them felt they had lost one."

"But in the end, inevitably, it was individuals and moments that brought the house down. Julia McKenzie who did so much to introduce Sondheim to British audiences as part of Side by Side with Sondheim, which was certainly how I first began to know his iridescent songs, could barely get on the stage for the applause. Judi Dench stepped on in darkness to avoid the same problem, but still the rapture was overwhelming; to hear her utter the line "Sorry, my dear" in "Send in The Clowns", was a masterclass in expressing feeling in three words."

"Judi Dench proves the first among equals in this bravura tribute"

"From Dench to Damian Lews, Imelda Staunton to Petula Clark, this one-off charity concert was a star-studded reminder of Sondheim's genius"

"The impressive cast of 38 included luminaries such as Judi Dench and Julia McKenzie who seldom tread the boards these days – testament to the special relationship between the American musical genius and British theatre."

"Maria Friedman, who will soon reprise her exceptional Merrily on Broadway starring Daniel Radcliffe, co-directed the evening with Matthew Bourne. She also gave us a deliciously gleeful Mrs Lovett from Sweeney Todd. That was staged simply, allowing Friedman to savour Sondheim’s grisly linguistic games. But the busy group numbers lost the specificity of the lyrics. Why not just let Rosalie Craig, star of the West End’s landmark gender-swapped Company, perform Being Alive solo? And Helena Bonham Carter had an oddly tiny role."

"Although Peters was one of Sondheim’s key collaborators, she over-dominated the evening, as did the ubiquitous Michael Ball – plus Mackintosh made several cameos. But, appropriately for the composer who wrote mature women better than anyone else, the night belonged to them. Haydn Gwynne tore into The Ladies Who Lunch, Petula Clark gave I’m Still Here a wry authenticity, and Imelda Staunton reminded us just why her Momma Rose is untouchable. All captured a complex life in a matter of minutes.

"But the undoubted highlight was Judi Dench. Though she was helped on and off stage, her rendition of Send In the Clowns held us spellbound. Her voice catching with raw emotion, eyes glittering with unshed tears, it was a masterclass in acting through song."