Theater: “Here We Are,” Sondheim’s final musical
The middle class has come in for criticism throughout the 20th century. H.L Mencken called them the “boob-boisie.” Composer Jacques Brel once wrote “The middle class/are just like pigs.”
And to these exalted ranks we now add the late great Stephen Sondheim who, together with writer David Ives (“Venus in Fur”) has taken two mid-20th century film classics and melded them together splendidly into Sondheim’s final musical “Here We Are” (The Shed).
The two films are “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie” (1972) and “Exterminating Angel” (1962) both by Luis Bunuel. And while it’s not absolutely necessary to know the plots of these two movies, I’ll give you the quickie summary:
“Discreet” is about three upper-middle class French couples who plan to dine together but never quite get to the food. “Exterminating” tells the story of 16 Frenchies who attend a dinner party but are not able to leave the room afterwards.
What helps keep this light and fun? The hottest cast in town: Bobby Cannavale, Stephen Pasquale, Jeremy Shamos (“Only Murders in the Building”), Amber Gray (“Hadestown”), and Rachel Bay Jones (“Evan Hansen”) are among the boldfaced names. David Hyde-Pierce adds his wackadoodle charm as the bishop who inexplicably shows up at the dinner party, and Denis O’Hare (“Take Me Out”) is funny in a number of minor roles, including the stuffy English butler.
Unexpectedly entertaining play (and I emphasis play, because while there are several terrific songs in Act I, musically this isn’t “Company” or “Sweeney Todd.”) Just a supremely intelligent updating of the work of Bunuel, Spain’s most infamous surrealist. And if that isn’t surreal in itself, I don’t know what it is.
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