More casting has been revealed for the upcoming Broadway transfer of the West End's Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends, which will begin performances March 25, 2025 ahead of an April 8 opening night at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre via Manhattan Theatre Club. As previously announced, Tony winners Bernadette Peters and Lea Salonga will both reprise their performances from the concert's London bow.
Newly revealed to be joining them are Beth Leavel, Gavin Lee, Ryan McCartan, Jasmine Forsberg, Kate Jennings Grant, David Harris, Bonnie Langford, Jason Pennycooke, Joanna Riding, Jeremy Secomb, Maria Wirries, and Daniel Yearwood. The cast will also feature Kevin Earley, Paige Faure, Alexa Lopez, and Peter Neureuther, with an additional co-star still to be announced. Langford, Lee, Pennycooke, Riding, and Secomb are all reprising their work from the London bow.
The show will also get a pre-Broadway run via Los Angeles' Center Theatre Group, with performances set for the Ahmanson Theatre February 8-March 9, 2025.
As in the West End, the concert features the songs of Stephen Sondheim and is devised by producer Cameron Mackintosh. Matthew Bourne will be back to provide musical staging and direction, along with co-director Julia McKenzie. Stephen Mear will again choreograph. The production will also feature music supervision by Alfonso Casado Trigo and Stephen Brooker, arrangements by Stephen Metcalfe, set design by Matt Kinley, projection design by George Reeve, costume design by Jill Parker, lighting design by Warren Letton, and sound design by Mick Potter. Annbritt duChateau will conduct, with David Lober serving as production stage manager.
The concert began as a one-night-only affair at London's Sondheim Theatre May 3, 2022, an evening that was filmed and later broadcast on BBC Two. The evening was brought back for a limited West End run at the Gielgud Theatre beginning October 3, 2023, with Peters making her official West End debut. A live album was released of the 2022 concert last year.
READ: Old Friends and Animal Adoption: Inside Bernadette Peters' London Adventure
Manhattan Theatre Club is joining Cameron Mackintosh and Daryl Roth to present the tribute concert's Broadway bow.
“It was Steve’s idea to do a third revue of his work but sadly he died before we had pieced it all together," says Mackintosh in a statement. "I always wanted this one to be driven by his greatest melodies. To celebrate his great life and legacy I wanted to put on an all-star gala in London but first I had to finish the hat. Miraculously, in only a few days all the shows, songs, and fun we had enjoyed together fell onto the page in sequence (undoubtedly nudged from above by Steve) and the running order has hardly changed since. The gala was wonderful but more importantly, proved that the material wasn’t just a concert, but the great big Broadway show Steve wanted it to be. For our West End season, Matthew Bourne and I put together an all-star ensemble of old friends, led by Bernadette Peters and Lea Salonga, around whom we wove the material as if in a play. I am thrilled that nearly half of our rapturously received London old friends are able to join our brilliant new American friends to bring this show to Broadway. It's an added delight that I am reunited with Lynne Meadow and MTC, with whom Steve and I did our second revue, Putting it Together, starring the incomparable Julie Andrews. For all of us working on this show it is our love letter and thank you to Steve—a musical genius but also an old friend whose brilliant work and memory will last forever.”
“It's a joy to celebrate Stephen Sondheim's remarkable legacy, and I’m especially thrilled to work with the legendary Bernadette Peters, the brilliantly talented Lea Salonga, and a fantastic group of actors from Broadway and the West End," adds Roth. "Together, we're honoring a true master whose work will continue to inspire us and enrich the world of musical theatre for years to come.”
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