Here We Are,
book by David Ives, music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim.
National Theatre until 28th June, 2025.
The production of a new work by Stephen Sondheim is a significant event in any cultural calendar. Sondheim, undoubtedly the best composer of musical theatre during the last sixty years, can also be considered one of the greatest artists in any genre during this period. Because Sondheim, in addition to exquisitely memorable tunes and incisive and very witty lyrics, provides insights, both positive and negative, into the most important aspects of human behaviour. Love, marriage, divorce, ambition, imperialism, hatred, murder, assassination, art, pretention, and the dark impulses lurking in our fairy tales have all been subject to his forensic and intelligent scrutiny. “Every day a little death,” sings Charlotte, the abused and neglected wife of boorish Count Carl-Magnus in A Little Night Music. “No-one is Alone,” sings the recently-widowed baker to young Jack, whose mother has just been killed, in Into the Woods. Hauntingly beautiful songs which capture perfectly the emotional state of three-dimensional characters and which encourage us to reflect on the pain as well as the joy of being alive.
All of which is to say that this new show, Here We Are, comes as a considerable disappointment. The piece is loosely based on two films by Luis Bunuel: The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972 – a group of middle class people unable to find anywhere to eat) and The Exterminating Angel (1962 – a group of people, having eaten, unable to leave the room they are in). Unfortunately the satire and surrealism concocted by a master film-maker does not translate well onto the stage: here the plot seems awkwardly contrived and preposterous.
Worse than that, the amount of spoken dialogue versus musical numbers is excessive, especially in the second act, and very surprisingly, there are no memorable songs at all. Even worse, the characters here (well-heeled New Yorkers – easy to poke fun at) are more caricatures than characters, and one doesn’t warm to any of them. Amongst them is an obnoxious hedge fund manager, a lecherous foreign ambassador, a plastic surgeon who has just completed his thousandth nose job, and a non-binary leftist rebel (such a tired cliché) who, of course, falls head over heels with the first macho soldier she lays eyes on. It’s as if Sondheim has taken the types of people featured in Company – flawed but understandable – and removed all their redeeming features. For good measure, a daft bishop on the lookout for more meaningful employment has been added to the mix.
We do have some of Sondheim’s perennial virtues. His brilliant word play is still here. For instance the hapless waiter in Cafe Everything sings:
“We do expect a little latte later
But we haven’t got a lotta latte now.”
Also Sondheim’s great ability of sharing a song between several characters, and having a song dive in and out of dialogue, is on display. But the melodies, unfortunately, feel borrowed from previous Sondheim outings.
How did this unsatisfactory piece come into being? It was started in earnest in 2013 and was worked on by Sondheim, the playwright David Ives and director Joe Mantello, progressing in fits and starts up until Sondheim’s death, at the age of 91, in late 2021. Its development was plagued by delays, procrastination, illness, the COVID pandemic and what seems to have been lapses in Sondheim’s own enthusiasm for the project. After Sondheim died Ives and Mantello continued shaping the piece, not touching a note or word that the composer had written. It received its premier Off-Broadway in October 2023.
This London production is well cast and slickly presented, with striking sets and very good lighting. Amongst the actors are Broadway and Sondheim veterans Martha Plimpton, Jane Krakowski and Denis O’Hare. Notable Brits are Rory Kinnear and Tracie Bennett.
British critics and the British public (including this writer) have had a long love affair with Sondheim and all his works. What a shame that with his last completed piece that affection is severely tested. It is true that sometimes an initial encounter isn’t sufficient: sometimes the shows grow in stature with further acquaintance. Here, however, one has severe doubts.
© Graham Buchan 2025.
Here We Are,
book by David Ives, music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim.
National Theatre until 28th June, 2025.
The production of a new work by Stephen Sondheim is a significant event in any cultural calendar. Sondheim, undoubtedly the best composer of musical theatre during the last sixty years, can also be considered one of the greatest artists in any genre during this period. Because Sondheim, in addition to exquisitely memorable tunes and incisive and very witty lyrics, provides insights, both positive and negative, into the most important aspects of human behaviour. Love, marriage, divorce, ambition, imperialism, hatred, murder, assassination, art, pretention, and the dark impulses lurking in our fairy tales have all been subject to his forensic and intelligent scrutiny. “Every day a little death,” sings Charlotte, the abused and neglected wife of boorish Count Carl-Magnus in A Little Night Music. “No-one is Alone,” sings the recently-widowed baker to young Jack, whose mother has just been killed, in Into the Woods. Hauntingly beautiful songs which capture perfectly the emotional state of three-dimensional characters and which encourage us to reflect on the pain as well as the joy of being alive.
All of which is to say that this new show, Here We Are, comes as a considerable disappointment. The piece is loosely based on two films by Luis Bunuel: The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972 – a group of middle class people unable to find anywhere to eat) and The Exterminating Angel (1962 – a group of people, having eaten, unable to leave the room they are in). Unfortunately the satire and surrealism concocted by a master film-maker does not translate well onto the stage: here the plot seems awkwardly contrived and preposterous.
Worse than that, the amount of spoken dialogue versus musical numbers is excessive, especially in the second act, and very surprisingly, there are no memorable songs at all. Even worse, the characters here (well-heeled New Yorkers – easy to poke fun at) are more caricatures than characters, and one doesn’t warm to any of them. Amongst them is an obnoxious hedge fund manager, a lecherous foreign ambassador, a plastic surgeon who has just completed his thousandth nose job, and a non-binary leftist rebel (such a tired cliché) who, of course, falls head over heels with the first macho soldier she lays eyes on. It’s as if Sondheim has taken the types of people featured in Company – flawed but understandable – and removed all their redeeming features. For good measure, a daft bishop on the lookout for more meaningful employment has been added to the mix.
We do have some of Sondheim’s perennial virtues. His brilliant word play is still here. For instance the hapless waiter in Cafe Everything sings:
“We do expect a little latte later
But we haven’t got a lotta latte now.”
Also Sondheim’s great ability of sharing a song between several characters, and having a song dive in and out of dialogue, is on display. But the melodies, unfortunately, feel borrowed from previous Sondheim outings.
How did this unsatisfactory piece come into being? It was started in earnest in 2013 and was worked on by Sondheim, the playwright David Ives and director Joe Mantello, progressing in fits and starts up until Sondheim’s death, at the age of 91, in late 2021. Its development was plagued by delays, procrastination, illness, the COVID pandemic and what seems to have been lapses in Sondheim’s own enthusiasm for the project. After Sondheim died Ives and Mantello continued shaping the piece, not touching a note or word that the composer had written. It received its premier Off-Broadway in October 2023.
This London production is well cast and slickly presented, with striking sets and very good lighting. Amongst the actors are Broadway and Sondheim veterans Martha Plimpton, Jane Krakowski and Denis O’Hare. Notable Brits are Rory Kinnear and Tracie Bennett.
British critics and the British public (including this writer) have had a long love affair with Sondheim and all his works. What a shame that with his last completed piece that affection is severely tested. It is true that sometimes an initial encounter isn’t sufficient: sometimes the shows grow in stature with further acquaintance. Here, however, one has severe doubts.
© Graham Buchan 2025.
By Graham Buchan • musicals, theatre, year 2025 • Tags: Graham Buchan, musicals, theatre