West End Baby: Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends, Gielgud Theatre, London

Saluting the genius and memory of Stephen Sondheim through his songs and some of his friends in performance. On the whole this is a memoralisation of one old friend by another, these are Sondheim works produced by Cameron Mackintosh. You can also play spot what’s missing as this doesn’t cover all Sondheim works.

We start with stagey royalty — Bernadette Peters and Lea Salonga, and then — cos everyone is thinking about Rome these days — move onto ‘something’ aka ‘Comedy Tonight’ from A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum in toga-esque fashion. Then lanterns at the ready, journey ‘Into The Woods’. Cue Bernadette Peters as Little Red Riding Hood! (‘I Know Things Now’ and ‘Hello, Little Girl’). Two Princes here in their ‘Agony’ are played for comedy when it could have been more yearning or indeed painful— but I appreciated Rapunzel, her super long hair and her ‘tower’ appearing from the sides. Cinderella also runs off down a staircase squealing, abandoning a sparkly shoe on the way.

Somewhere in here — and it’s only Act 1 — was a whole section of Company, including an acted out ‘Not Getting Married Today’ and a sequiny 1940’s vocal trio for ‘You Could Drive a Person Crazy’ — women who just could not understand their desired man. Enjoyed the escaping resistant bride-to-be and a weeping trio of bridesmaids. There was also the cynical lyrical fun of ‘The Little Things You Do Together’. As well as big ensemble number ‘Side by Side’.

Slickly produced and choreographed, we seamlessly move from one song to the next. Whoosh — suddenly everyone is in big hats and we’re in ‘A Weekend in the Country’ — which was delightful and I wish we’d heard more from A Little Night Music. Loved that the parties formed ‘cars’ here with parasol wheels and bowler hat steering wheels. The staging and dilemma of whether to attend a weekend in the country or not was brilliant.

Sets clapping together, we were then in the rank and dank London of Sweeney Todd for lots of songs about dubious pie content, cheering us up after Bernadette Peters mournful ‘Send in the Clowns’. Their victim (or future pie ingredients) was distracted by a song about ‘Pretty Women’, then wheeled, dispatched, off the stage. Costuming was weird though — everyone was in a different era, including some 17th-18th century stays!

Breathlessly we vroom through Act 2. There was a lot in here! The orchestra are on stage, hidden sometimes behind an ornate screen and backdrop. Stephen Sondheim’s name tops some scrollwork curved steps. Opening things up with an orchestral medley from Merrily We Roll Along, we bounced into gang warfare and love in West Side Story, ending with an impressive ‘Tonight’ quintet. Everyone was singing something different! Again I wish there’d been more West Side Story, but chasing the white rabbit of time, Bernadette Peters was being upstaged by all the cast in ‘Broadway Baby’. Bonnie Langford did high kicks and the splits in an uber overshadowing! Performed for laughs, it began with ‘Sir Cameron’ losing his piano, then having Bernadette Peters make requests for the speed and tuning of the song! (cos American). Segueing into ‘Everybody Ought To Have a Maid’, with two, then three comedic men and their large feather dusters. Though one of the men was being sex pesty — is harassment funny?

Desperate to clap along, we entered the stagey world of Follies, with ‘Waiting For The Girls Upstairs’. Not to mention the satirical version of ‘You Gotta Get a Gimmick’, with none of them taking their gimmick promotion seriously — apart from the one with wings, who demanded audience appreciation! Splendidly Bernadette Peters still had puff left for her derided trumpet blowing gimmick! All performed in an eye rolling fashion, sorry Gypsy fans.

At some point we dipped into Sunday In The Park With George, a painting formed infront of our eyes on a screen. Lacking hair up or maybe hair pins, the cast formed the painting on stage — including parasols. Singing was beautiful though. Loved, loved, loved ‘The Boy From’… so cleverly performed and delivered. Such lyrics! Such verbal dexterity. Such place names! Such exemplary pronunciation!

In a beautiful moment, the cast turned to a video montage of Stephen Sondheim moments, including him singing with and to his old friends Sir C and Sir Lloyd Webber. Succeeded by the cast singing to Stephen through ‘Old Friends’ which was incredibly moving.

Somewhere in there was a high kicking chorus line and at the end tap-less hot shoe shuffling from Side by Side’s finale, not to mention lots of high comedy — particularly from Bonnie Langford. Impeccably we and the cast moved from one song to another, with immaculate choreography and singing. So much energy! Lea Salonga got to have a verbal field day as appalling baker Mrs Lovett, and to touch our hearts with ‘Am I Losing My Mind?’

Also deserving of mention was Bonnie Langford in a sequined jump suit and victorious in ‘I’m Still Here’. The lighting was really something too, with rows of bulbs surrounding and the clever use of different colours for the different songs — such as the ‘victim’ being bathed in red light to suggest his bloody end. I ended up needing more than two eyes as found myself wanting to watch the cast, all the cast and the backdrops at the same time — and the orchestra.

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