Stephen Sondheim bids a dreamlike farewell in this colourful posthumous musical
Are the couple sweeping the stage part of the show or management making sure it’s spic and span for performance, I wonder. So convincingly diligent yet laid back were the pair that it took me time to realise they were Tracie Bennett and Denis O’Hare, designated in the programme simply as ‘Woman’ and ‘Man’ – the staff of the wealthy couple about to take their friends for lunch.
The title of Stephen Sondheim’s final musical is apt. He died in November 2021 and it took nearly two years to make it to the stage when it opened in New York in 2023. In fact, it was more than four decades since he’d first mentioned being taken with the idea of adapting Luis Buñuel’s surreal films The Exterminating Angel (1962) and The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972) into a musical. So, ‘here we are’ at last, thanks to director Joe Mantello and book writer David Ives, who have made it their business to bring the show to fruition in this European premiere.
