Bernadette Peters and Lea Salonga to Star in Sondheim’s ‘Old Friends’ on Broadway, in LA

Bernadette Peters and Lea Salonga will star in Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends at Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles before landing on Broadway next March.

The musical revue of Sondheim’s songs, devised by Cameron Mackintosh, comes to North America after a 16-week run starting last September at London’s Gielgud Theatre. Peters and Salonga also starred in that run.

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The show, with musical staging and choreography Matthew Bourne and Julia McKenzie, begins previews on Broadway at Manhattan Theatre Club’s Samuel J. Friedman Theatre on March 25, 2025. Exact dates for performances at the Center Theatre Group have yet to be announced.

Sondheim came up with the idea of doing a third revue during lockdown, according to Mackintosh. Work began on the show, but Sondheim died in November 2021. Mackintosh and McKenzie continued work on the revue in order to make it a “farewell show” to celebrate Sondheim’s work.

“It was a sensational success that sold out within hours, screened simultaneously at the nearby Prince Edward Theatre, and was subsequently broadcast on TV on the BBC. The material held together so brilliantly that I decided to press ahead and give Old Friends the full stage life Steve and I had always planned,” Mackintosh said.

Additional casting and the creative team Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends will be announced at a later date.

In the 2024-2025 season, Manhattan Theatre Club will also bring the Broadway premiere of Eureka Day, a biting comedy about an outbreak of mumps at a private school, written by Jonathan Spector and directed by Anna D. Shapiro and the world premiere Off-Broadway production of Vladimir, about a journalist who finds herself in danger after covering the Russian president, written by Erika Sheffer and directed by Daniel Sullivan.

Mary Jane, starring Rachel McAdams, is currently playing the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre through June 2. The theater will be closed from July 2024 to October 2024 for upgrades to its lighting, HVAC, fire and security systems.

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