When Bernadette Peters first appears, it’s jarring. She’s visibly trembling. Her voice is uncertain. You worry. It’s a long show. Are we about to spend two and a half hours bracing for heartbreak?
But then the Into the Woods medley arrives. You start wondering at the juxtaposition of her playing Little Red Riding Hood, and then it hits you: she knows. She knows she’s shaking. She knows this is likely the last time she’ll do eight shows a week. And she’s giving it to us anyway, vulnerable, fierce, completely present. She doesn’t hide from her fragility. She offers it.
Old Friends. Courtesy of Adam Josephs
Old Friends may bill itself as a revue, but it’s less a greatest-hits compilation than a theatrical wake in the best sense. The show began as a celebratory gala in 2023, 18 months after Sondheim’s death. This Broadway production feels different. It doesn’t ask us to remember. It invites us to witness. On paper, it looks like a nostalgia play: a roster of Broadway grande dames and seasoned male leads singing songs they’ve lived with for decades. But in practice, Old Friends becomes a handoff. A shared space between generations. A night of grief and joy braided so tightly together that it can hurt to applaud.
Let’s be honest: the surface read isn’t wrong. This cast is, in many cases, past its prime. Voices wobble. Entrances are shaky. And if you squint, it can look like a time capsule cracked open too late. But that’s not a bug—it’s the point. The show lives in the tension between what these performers were and what they are now. It’s not for everyone. I know of at least two people who walked out during the performance I attended.
We are seeing new interpretations of the old standards by the old folks. A special shout-out to Bonnie Langford, whose “Ladies Who Lunch” was brilliantly physical and comedic. Kate Jennings Grant was out that night, and Bonnie just killed with “The Boy From…” (Tacarembo la Tumbe del Fuego Santa Malipas Zacatecas la Junta del Sol y Cruz), a deep-cut satire of “The Girl from Ipanema,” an esoteric Mary Rodgers song that Sondheim wrote lyrics for under the pseudonym “Esteban Ria Nido.”
The greatest expression of the uniqueness of the moment comes when three leading ladies deliver “You Gotta Have a Gimmick” from Gypsy. You’ll never see such on-point performances—or such age-appropriate actors. This is the way we always needed to see it.
It’s not all coming up roses. Both the cast and the runtime could be reduced by 10%. There’s a reason why remembrance services are typically short.
That being said, the show wants us to feel that Sondheim’s treasures are in great hands with the next generation. The cast performance of West Side Story’s “Tonight,” Jeremy Secomb and Lea Salonga’s Sweeney Todd, and Jason Pennycooke’s frantically fun “Buddy’s Blues” bring that home. The kids are alright.
Still, the arc of the show belongs to Bernadette Peters.
Her “Send in the Clowns” is a performance from someone who has earned the song, not just the applause. You suddenly hear it the way it was always meant to be sung: not wistful, but gutted. Devastated. And by the time she sings “Losing My Mind,” from inside the ache, and leaves it all on the stage, we know she is singing about her Stephen.
There’s a line I couldn’t stop thinking about all night. Not from this show, but from The Boy From Oz, where Peter Allen (played by Hugh Jackman) sings about Judy Garland:
Quiet, please, there’s a lady on stage.
She may not be the latest rage.
But she’s singing, and she means it.
By the end, when “Old Friends” arrives, you realize what’s been happening all along. This hasn’t been a concert. It’s been communion.
Put your hands together, help her along.
All that’s left of the singer’s all that’s left of the song.
Those words, originally written for Judy Garland, now belong to Stephen Sondheim and everyone brave enough to carry him forward.
🎭 Now Playing
Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends is currently running at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, located at 261 West 47th Street, New York, NY 10036. The production began previews on March 25, 2025, officially opened on April 8, 2025, and is scheduled to run through June 29, 2025 .
🎟️ How to Buy Tickets for Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends
Official Tickets:
- Manhattan Theatre Club (MTC):
Purchase directly from the production at:
👉 manhattantheatreclub.com - Telecharge:
Tickets are also available through Telecharge:
👉 telecharge.com/Stephen-Sondheims-Old-Friends-Tickets
TodayTix App – Digital Rush:
- A limited number of $53 digital rush tickets are released at 9:00 AM on the day of the performance via the TodayTix app.
👉 todaytix.com/nyc/shows/40572-stephen-sondheims-old-friends-on-broadway
30 Under 35 Program:
- MTC offers a “30 Under 35” program, providing discounted tickets for theatergoers under the age of 35. Availability may vary.
👉 manhattantheatreclub.com/30-under-35
TKTS Discount Booths:
- Same-day discounted tickets may be available at TKTS booths. Check current listings at:
👉 tdf.org/discount-ticket-programs/tkts-by-tdf/
© Adam Josephs, 2025
