‘Here We Are’ reviews: Stephen Sondheim’s final musical is ‘enchanting,’ ‘compelling’ with ‘exceptional’ cast

David Buchanan
·4 min read
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In the penultimate song in Stephen Sondheim’s musical “Sunday in the Park with George,” Dot implores the artist George to “give us more to see.” The late maestro has done so himself one last time with the world premiere of his final musical, “Here We Are,” which opened Off-Broadway at The Shed on Oct. 22. Written with dramatist David Ives, the musical takes inspiration from two Luis Buñuel films – “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie” and “The Exterminating Angel” – that it marries with one set of characters.

Tony Award-winner Joe Mantello played an integral role in the show’s development and directs its first production. He has assembled an unrivaled ensemble to take on the roles of the unimaginably affluent characters who spend the first act trying to find a restaurant in which to have brunch, and who in the second act find themselves unable to leave after their meal. The cast includes Tony winners Rachel Bay Jones, Denis O’Hare, and David Hyde Pierce, and Tony nominees Tracie Bennett, Bobby Cannavale, Micaela Diamond, Amber Gray, and Jeremy Shamos; Francois Battiste, Jin Ha, and Steven Pasquale also star.

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Critics reacted warmly to Sondheim’s final musical. In his Critic’s Pick review, Jesse Green (New York Times) calls the musical “inventive,” “beguiling,” and “a worthy and loving farewell” to the composer. He describes the score as “entirely worthy” of Sondheim’s past works, adding that the songs are “everything you could want them to be,” featuring “the familiar Sondheimian depth and luster to crystallize complex insights.” Ives’ structure of the show is “enchanting,” while Mantello’s production is “breathtakingly chic and shapely.” Jones and Pierce are the “standouts in an excellent cast.”

Sara Holdren (Vulture) concurs, describing “Here We Are” as a “compelling final message from the master.” She notes that it has “sharp, savage urges, springing from its sense of injustice” from a “jaunty-sinister book” by Ives. Although she doesn’t feel as if Sondheim, Ives, and Mantello perfected the tone of the piece as the material gets increasingly dark in Act II, she nevertheless exclaims, “But what an astounding set of performances! What a striking, protean mise-en-scène! What a thrill to hear the unmistakable syncopations, the spikes and leaps and the intermittent yearning silkiness of this music, one last first time.” Speaking of the “exceptional” cast, she singles out the “sublime” Jones, the “excellent” Cannavale, the “wonderful wistful” Pierce, and the “fantastic” and “marvelous” Bennett, though she emphasizes “there’s not a single performing lagging behind.”

SEE ‘Merrily We Roll Along’ reviews: ‘Exquisite’ Sondheim revival stars Jonathan Groff, Lindsay Mendez, Daniel Radcliffe

Not every critic was as effusive, though. Naveen Kumar (Variety) deems the musical “a study in overabundance,” with a book and score that feel “uneasy and disjointed,” and characters who are “not psychologically complex.” Even so, he describes the ensemble as a “pinch-me-this-can’t-be-real cast” that causes “the needle on one’s pleasure odometer” to break. He credits the design team for the “marvelous” sets and lighting and the “splendid” costumes. And despite its stumbles, Kumar says that “hearing new Sondheim… is a thrill on its own.”

The designers – just like the starry ensemble — are a who’s who of theatre talent. Two-time Tony winner David Zinn contributed both sets and costumes. Tony nominee Sam Pinkleton is the choreographer, and Tony nominee Tom Gibbons the sound designer. Eight-time Tony winner Natasha Katz, who just this June took home an award for the revival of Sondheim’s “Sweeney Todd,” did the lighting. Robert Pickens and Katie Gell created the hair design. It wouldn’t be a Sondheim musical without the help of some of his “old friends,” either, so his decades-long, Tony-winning collaborator Jonathan Tunick contributed the orchestrations and Tony nominee Alexander Gemignani, son of Sondheim’s frequent musical director Paul Gemignani, handled the music supervision.

SEE ‘Sweeney Todd’ reviews: ‘Irresistible’ revival of Stephen Sondheim masterpiece

With these overall strong notices, the star-wattage of its cast and creative team, and the allure of the final Sondheim musical, how likely is it that “Here We Are” will transfer from The Shed to a Broadway venue in time for the 2024 Tony Awards? According to the team, don’t expect to see it to find a bigger home in New York. In an brilliant piece about the development of the musical by Frank Rich, the producers relayed, “To tamp down over-the-top expectations, it was agreed that the piece should not be staged at a commercial venue or at a nonprofit theater like the Public with a track record of sending productions on to Broadway.” Only time will tell what happens to the delightfully absurdist show after it concludes its Off-Broadway run on Jan. 21.

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