On Broadway: Sondheim, laughs and history make for new theatrical adventures

Fans of Stephen Sondheim can have a field day in New York with three of his shows playing on and off-Broadway – the hit production of “Sweeney Todd,” a successful revival of his one-time flop “Merrily We Roll Along,” and his final musical, “Here We Are,” which is getting a first-class production. Even with flaws, anything Sondheim deserves to be seen, heard, discussed and dissected for years to come.

“Merrily” and “Here We Are” were part of my busy November week of theater-going. I saw eight different productions, some of the newest offerings and a few holdovers, while in New York for a conference of the American Theatre Critics Association. Here’s a roundup of what you can see if you’re traveling soon to New York. Keep in mind that some of the shows are limited runs and are closing soon.

‘Here We Are’

There is something wonderfully familiar and also confounding about “Here We Are,” the final musical for which the late Broadway legend Stephen Sondheim wrote the music and lyrics. Audiences are attending like a pilgrimage for one last chance to hear the kind of smart melodies and lyrics that distinguished his career since his debut in the 1950s. In that regard, it’s something of a disappointment.

In an interview with Stephen Colbert, just months before he died in 2021, Sondheim spoke about hoping to see the show produced in the coming season. It took two more years before director Joe Montello’s elegant production opened at the off-Broadway venue The Shed in Hudson Yards, but a viewer can only wonder what more time would have allowed in his collaboration with playwright David Ives.

The show is based on two films by Luis Bunuel – “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie” and “The Exterminating Angel” – about mostly unpleasant upper-class people in absurd situations. A wonderful and varied cast brings out the frailties and ironies of the characters.

In the first act, the characters spend an hour trying to figure out where to go for an unexpected brunch. None of the restaurants are up to their standards. The Everything Cafe has nothing available (aside from a surly waiter) and another spot is dealing with the death of its chef. In the second act, they are trying to escape from an ambassador’s home where they are trapped by some unexplained force while the world is falling apart outside the doors.

The story leaves a lot of unanswered questions, and Sondheim’s score, while engaging in spots, is unexpectedly reflective of songs we have heard before. There are few outright “numbers” in the first act and only three or so in the second. It usually takes more than one viewing or listening to fully appreciate the range and depth of Sondheim’s work in any new show and we can only hope a cast recording will be produced for further exploration. While the story leaves something to be desired, there is a thrill in hearing new Sondheim music for the first time.

The cast makes it more engaging than you might expect, including Bobby Cannavale as a shady businessman, Rachel Bay Jones as his naive wife, Dennis O’Hare and Tracie Bennett as a variety of servants, Michaela Diamond as a revolutionary, Jin Ha as a soldier, Steven Pasquale as an ambassador to a fictional country and David Hyde Pierce as a priest looking for a new line of work.

Who knows if this show will have a life beyond this premiere production, which offers a promise of something more than the musical is able to deliver.

“Here We Are” runs through Jan. 21 at The Shed, 545 W. 30th St., New York, in Hudson Yards. Herewearemusical.com 

‘Merrily We Roll Along’

Sondheim’s 1981 flop “Merrily We Roll Along” has come full circle, becoming one of the biggest hits on Broadway at the moment. (Premium seats are now going for $899 for some performances.) I saw the original production, which featured one of his most tune-filled scores and a book by George Furth about the fractured friendships among the composer Franklin Shephard (Jonathan Groff), his lyricist partner, Charlie Kringas (Daniel Radcliffe) and the writer Mary Flynn (Lyndsey Mendez).

Sondheim and Furth tried to rework the show in different ways over the years, but director Maria Friedman has polished the script and score in a way that makes the characters more likable. The musical, like the original play by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart on which it is based, is told backward in time, so at the start we meet Frank at his most successful and obnoxious, as he is shedding his friends in favor of the glories that hit films bring him.

Friedman softens some characters and strengthens others. Groff is such a naturally appealing and charming performer that it is hard not to like Frank even when you should hate him. That makes it easier to understand why people want to be in his orbit and why Charlie and Mary stick by him through so many disappointments. The story travels back in time to reveal marriages, births, Frank and Charlie’s first hit and their audition for that musical. It ends at the beginning, on the night they forged their friendships on a rooftop, sharing the dreams that talented but undiscovered people may bring to the world.

Radcliffe is a joyous anxious wreck as Charlie, who delivers a riveting version of “Franklin Shephard Inc.,” a musical nervous breakdown in which he shares with a national television audience all the problems he has with his business partner. Mendez, taking on the role originated by Sarasota’s Ann Morrison, is less brittle than previous Marys, but still cutting and wise and someone you want to have a drink with. I can’t imagine a better combination of leads, and the large ensemble, which also includes Reg Rogers as a producer, Krystal Joy Brown as Frank’s second wife and Katie Rose Clarke as his first, is vibrant and personable.

The show, in a limited run, reveals how with time and patience, even the most troublesome musicals can come together and work beautifully.

“Merrily We Roll Along” is running at the Hudson Theatre, 141 W. 44th St., New York. MerrilyonBroadway.com. Tickets are now available through July 7.

‘Harmony’

Songwriter and performer Barry Manilow and his frequent collaborator Barry Sussman have been developing their new musical “Harmony” for nearly three decades. It’s surprising that someone with Manilow’s success and following could find it so difficult to make his way to Broadway. But “Harmony” is not an easy sell. It is not a Manilow jukebox show. It is an earnest if heavy-handed look at the real-life German musical/comedy act the Comedian Harmonists, a sextet of performers, three of them Jewish, who were international stars in Weimar Germany until the Nazi government took over, split up the group and banned the Jews.

The show features a strong cast of young men playing the Harmonists who sing a large collection of beautiful melodies sweetly arranged by Manilow. But it takes longer than expected to get a true sense of why the group became so popular – they are described as hotter than horseradish – as musical chameleons, dancers and satirists. The story is narrated by veteran actor Chip Zien, as the older version of the singer nicknamed Rabbi. They are a ragtag group of misfit artists who somehow found magic on stage together.

Sussman’s story of their rise and fall is intertwined with the changing politics in Germany and the growing anti-Semitism that some tried to ignore thinking that the difficulties would blow by.

The music reveals a different side of Manilow’s skill and is often engaging. There are some touching ballads and a few funny comedy routines, highlighted by the satirical “Come to the Fatherland” in which they pose as marionettes manipulated by unseen forces as they mock contemporary politics. But the show, well-staged by Warren Carlyle, also tries too hard to be moving, when a gentler touch might have been more impactful. Sierra Boggess and Julie Benko, as two wives of the members, are mostly wasted aside from their touching duet “Where You Go.” This is a show with much to recommend that I wanted to like more than I did.

“Harmony” is running at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, 243 W. 47th St., New York. HarmonyANewMusical.com

‘Shucked’

The new musical “Shucked” is closing in January, but a national tour is set to begin next fall and I suspect it will appeal to audiences across the country, even if it hasn’t had quite the run producers and creators hoped for on Broadway.

It’s a fun, tuneful and witty show created by writer Robert Horn and songwriters Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally. The creative team initially planned a musical version of the long-running TV show “Hee-Haw,” and you can hear that in some of the clever word-play jokes scattered throughout. Over time, it morphed into a story about the importance of corn in rural Cob County, where the stalks are fading and threatening the economy and residents. Even the pending marriage between Beau and Maizy is on hold while she tries to figure out how to solve the problem.

The songs are fun and often catchy, but I didn’t get carried away by the characters or the seemingly misplaced romantic couplings that develop and unravel over the course of the story. Even as I was enjoying much of what happened, I didn’t care about it.

Maizy winds up bringing in a huckster with ulterior motives, like a rainmaker, who offers to solve the community’s problems, though he has no idea how.

Much of the attention around the musical has centered on Alex Newell, the first non-binary actor to win a Tony Award. Newell, a powerful presence on stage, plays Lulu, a local whiskey distiller (and Maizy’s cousin). Newell has one of the show’s best numbers, the vibrant “Independently Owned,” which becomes a fierce and joyous statement by the performer. The rest of the score, including the tender “Maybe Love” and the bouncy “Corn,” will likely also find its way into your mind.

“Shucked” is running through Jan. 14 at the Nederlander Theatre 208 W. 41st St., New York. ShuckedMusical.com

‘Purlie Victorious’

Ossie Davis’ 1961 satirical comedy gets its first Broadway revival, and it remains a potent commentary about racism, simultaneously riotous, heartwarming and disturbing because so little has changed since the play’s debut. Subtitled “A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch,” it is set in the recent past on a Southern plantation run by the bigoted Ol’ Cap’n Cotchipee. The ambitious preacher Purlie hatches an idea to get $500 that was left to him by an aunt, but which ended up with Cotchipee. Purlie wants to use the money to take over a ramshackle barn and turn it into a church. He recruits a young woman to pretend to be a never-seen relative to help him win his claim.

Leslie Odom Jr., the Tony-winning actor who originated the role of Aaron Burr in “Hamilton,” plays Purlie in a vivacious, cunning performance, but it is Kara Young as the seemingly innocent but also conniving Gussie Mae Lutiebelle Jenkins who wins over everyone, on stage and in the audience. She is hilarious being grilled about the life of Purlie’s Aunt Beatrice, but there’s always someone trying to trip her up. She’s also falling for Purlie, and the feeling is mutual.

Jay O. Sanders is strong and compelling as the Ol Cap’n, who thinks he’s kindly but has no idea how much he is disliked by the other characters. There are terrific performances throughout including Heather Alicia Simms, Billy Eugene Jones and Vanessa Bell Calloway. Directed by Kenny Leon, the play feels fresh and new.

“Purlie” is in a limited run through Feb. 4 at the Music Box Theatre, 239 W. 45th St., New York. Purlievictorious.com

‘Dracula, A Comedy of Terrors’

The vampire Count Dracula has been through a lot since he was created by Bram Stoker in 1897. Playwrights Gordon Greenberg and Steve Rosen bring him into the 21st century with their campy, pun-filled update “Dracula, A Comedy of Terrors.”

In their version, Dracula (played by James Daly) is a gorgeous, pansexual creature wearing sheer, lacy tops, preening, and coming on to just about anyone with a pulse, which suggests feeding time won’t be far off. He goes for both the attorney (Andrew Keenan-Bolger) who is helping him settle affairs in London and the attorney’s fiancée (Jordan Boatman). He seduces his way into London homes on the strength of his looks and charms and meets a wide variety of wealthy people and their servants.

The play is an outgrowth on a comical podcast Greenberg and Rosen created about Dracula. This stage version features a cast of five farceurs, several of them, including Ellen Harvey and Arnie Burton, who take on multiple roles, both male and female, playing around with gender stereotypes both old and new.

The result is a silly and funny play that doesn’t tax your brain while providing a few giggles.

“Dracula: A Comedy of Terror” is running at New World Stages, 340 W. 50th St., New York. draculacomedy.com

‘Here Lies Love’

I saw and loved David Byrne and Fatboy Slim’s disco-infused musical about the life of Imelda Marcos, the shoe-loving former first lady of the Philippines, 10 years ago in an off-Broadway run at The Public Theatre. I had high hopes for the new Broadway production, which sadly closed on Nov. 26. Perhaps Broadway wasn’t ready for the first show with an all-Filippino cast, or maybe there was confusion about a show that is as much a dance party as it is a commentary on the Marcos regime.

Scenic designer David Korins ripped apart the Broadway Theatre orchestra and turned it into a disco with stage platforms that are constantly on the move, as audience members are moved around the constantly shifting playing space.

The story is impactful and the music makes you want to dance, but the experience didn’t work for me as well as it had off-Broadway. I chose to stand amid the action on the dance floor (rather than in a seat in the upper levels). At the Public, I was constantly on the move, but in a more crowded Broadway Theatre, I felt a bit tripped, unable to move more than a few feet, limiting the experience.

But the musical is still captivating as it tells a story somewhat reminiscent of “Evita,” the story of Imelda’s rise from poverty to First Lady to a man who became a dictator and enriched the family while his citizens suffered. There are lessons to be learned from this musical, even as you're bopping to the beats of the catchy and rhythmic dance numbers and ballads. Jose Llana as Ferdinand Marcos and Conrad Ricamora as his political opponent Ninoy Aquino, returned to the roles they first played a decade ago, joined by the engaging Arielle Jacobs as Imelda.

‘Spamalot’

Judging by the audience screams that greeted the arrival of just about every character during a recent preview performance of “Spamalot,” Broadway is ready, and perhaps in need, of a revival of this musical that claims to be “lovingly ripped off” from “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.”

The musical marks the Broadway directorial debut of longtime Asolo Repertory Theatre director Josh Rhodes, who finds all the laughs with his large cast of comic actors in this story about King Arthur and his knights of the roundtable on their search for the Holy Grail. Along the way they meet all sorts of characters familiar to Monty Python fans, from French taunters to killer rabbits and the knights who say "Ni." They stage big Las Vegas-style production numbers and learn about (and mock) the conventions that go into Broadway musicals. It is a show filled with sight gags, clever wordplay and some nimble musical numbers by John Du Prez and Eric Idle.

James Monroe Iglehart, who created the role of the Genie in Broadway’s “Aladdin” is a vibrant Arthur, who runs around the countryside pretending to ride a horse, with wonderful Christopher Fitzgerald as his trusty aid Patsy using coconut shells to provide the clip-clopping sound of hooves.

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This production comes from the Kennedy Center in Washington, where it was presented earlier this year with most of the same cast. Taran Killam, a “Saturday Night Live” veteran, is terrific in multiple roles, including Sir Lancelot and a French taunter. (Alex Brightman, who created the role in Washington, will return to the role in January.) The cast also includes Michael Urie as Sir Robin, and Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer as the big-voiced diva The Lady of the Lake, who demands attention (and earns it) throughout the show.

“Spamalot” is running at the St. James Theatre, 246 W. 44th St., New York. SpamalotTheMusical.com

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This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: What to see on Broadway. A survey of new musicals and plays