Stephen Sondheim's Final Musical, “Here We Are”, Debuts with a Starry Cast — See an Exclusive First Look

The production, starring Bobby Cannavale and David Hyde Pierce, will opened Off-Broadway at The Shed in New York City Sunday

Stephen Sondheim's final musical, Here We Are, is set to make its world premiere in New York City on Sunday and ahead of its Off-Broadway opening, PEOPLE has the first look at Bobby Cannavale, David Hyde Pierce and other members of its starry cast in the anticipated production from the late theater legend. 

Inspired by director Luis Buñuel's films, 1962's The Exterminating Angel and 1972's The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, Here We Are tells the story of a surrealist dinner party gone wrong as the show satirizes the dark secrets that aristocrats hide behind glamorous facades.

The first of two acts is said to be an adaptation of The Exterminating Angel, while the second is based on The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie. 

According to Playbill, the musical is about “trying to find a place to have dinner,” Sondheim said before he died at 91 years old in November 2021, with the first act dealing with the interruptions at a dinner.

The second act focuses on the "people who have dinner and can’t leave," which was Sondheim's "cheerful view of the world today." 

Related: Stephen Sondheim, Legend of Musical Theater on Broadway, Dead at 91: Report

The musical stars Emmy winner Cannavale and Emmy and Tony winner Pierce, who are seen onstage as Leo Brink and the Bishop in PEOPLE's exclusive images, respectively.

Other images also show the rest of the cast, including Francois Battiste as Colonel Martin, Tracie Bennett as Woman, Micaela Diamond as Fritz, Amber Gray as Claudia Bursik-Zimmer, Jin Ha as Soldier, Tony winner Rachel Bay Jones as Marianne Brink, Tony winner Denis O’Hare as Man, Steven Pasquale as Raffael Santello Di Stanticci and Jeremy Shamos as Paul Zimmer.

Related: Stephen Sondheim’s Historic Manhattan Townhouse Lists for $7M - See Inside

The production features a book written by David Ives with music and lyrics by Sondheim.

Joe Mantello directs with choreography by Sam Pinkleton, set design and costume design by David Zinn, lighting design by Natasha Katz, sound design by Tom Gibbons, orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick, musical direction and supervision by Alexander Gemignani and hair design by Wigmaker Associates.

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A musical theater icon, Sondheim wrote the music and lyrics for 16 musicals, including A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Follies, Pacific Overtures, Sunday in the Park with George and Road Show, which marked his final original production while he was still alive.

He also wrote the lyrics for Gypsy and West Side Story. 

Currently, revivals of Merrily We Roll Along (starring Daniel Radcliffe, Jonathan Groff and Tony winner Lindsay Mendez) and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (with Josh Groban and Tony winner Annaleigh Ashford) are running on Broadway. Additionally, Into the Woods had a successful run in 2022 and a gender-swapped version of Company ran in 2021. Assassins, meanwhile, was revived Off-Broadway last year. 

In an extensive interview with Vulture about the making of Sondheim's final musical, Mantello said, "His shows are so deep they really demand that you grapple with them in some way. And it’s why in some sense that what the world makes of Here We Are at this particular moment in time is irrelevant, to me at least."

The director added, "I want him to be celebrated, and I would like for his work to be appreciated. But in some way I think we won’t know for 20 years where this falls in the canon of his work."

Here We Are officially opens at The Shed’s Griffin Theater on Sunday, Oct. 22. Originally scheduled to run through Jan. 7, 2024, the production's dates have been extended to Jan. 21.

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