I experienced an extraordinary evening of theater yesterday . It was opening night at the Ahmanson for Old Friends, a musical of Stephen Sondheim’s’ greatest hits (or some of them anyway) performed by actors of a ‘certain age’ with credentials up the ying-yang. The name draws were Bernadette Peters and Lea Salonga but they were first among equals on that stage. These people know what they’re doing. One problem; Ms. Peters was having a rough night. She must have had a cold or something because her voice wasn’t reliable. But even being not at the top of her game, she still sold a song. Her rendition of “Send in the Clowns” brought teats even though there was no lead-up. She sat and emoted. Very moving. Lea Salonga was in great form. She has an amazing voice and her version of Mama Rose in Gypsy was powerful. I think somebody should do a revival of Gypsy and just let her run with it. It’d be amazing.
Everybody was wonderful but a special shout-out should go to Beth Leaval for “Ladies who lunch’. I think that’s the most nuanced version of that number I’ve ever seen. Wisdom and experience show. And Bonnie Langford tore the place up with “Still Here’. Lots of fun. Oh, and Gavin Lee was great in every song he performed. They all did. The audience went nuts. At the end we kept standing and applauding and cheering and the actors just kept going. I felt good coming out of the theater. And it’s been a long time since that’s happened. Go see if. It’s a treat.
