My Experiences at "Here We Are" - The New Stephen Sondheim Musical Playing at The Shed.
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- Опубликовано: 29 сен 2023
- I was lucky enough to get to see the first preview performance of the world premier of the last new Stephen Sondheim musical, "Here We Are," currently playing at The Shed, off-Broadway. This is a collection of my experiences and observations of the show--not a review, as the show has not officially opened yet.
Are you going to see "Here We Are?" Let me know in the comments!
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Instagram: @jacob4broadway
I'm so glad you mentioned the pre-show! I found it fascinating too! All around me everybody was asking "Is this part of the show," and kept talking without trying to figure out why they might be doing it! It's really cool that you paid attention and learned something from it!
Thanks for sharing your experience!
P.S. Yeah, I agree with the other commentor here - don't bring back the background muzak.
I'm going next week! Looking forward to it :)
Great job. Looking forward to more from you. I leave for NYC Thursday. Seeing Here We Are, Merrily We Roll Along, Sweeney Todd, and Back To the Future. Can hardly wait.
Plus, I'm a huge Sondheim fan. Showing my age, but I have been venturing to Broadway, MANY years now, but anything Sondheim.
I’m going on December 13th
🎉 Sharing your video in the Denis O’Hare Appreciation Group 🎭
Thanks for explaining a bit about the venue. I am going next month.
Your video was brilliant. Thank you. Did you see that the producers included Lin Manual Miranda & his dad, as well as Stephen Spielberg & his partner. So it was probably a labour of love from people who may not need a return on their investment.
Thanks Jacob for sharing your historic experience. It sounds like "art in progress" .. so I appreciate how respectful you are of the material. The Shed sounds like an extraordinary venue.
would love to hear your take on the performance after the official opening, after all the last minute changes have been made.
Interestingly, there are quite some singing and music in act two, but it just happens along the way - and it might, of course, have been added subsequently, as the show supposedly is developing from night to night.
How very interesting. As a massive fan of both Luis Bunuel and Stephen Sondheim (for wildly divergent reasons, in different media) for over 60 years, I very much appreciated the highly detailed rundown. Thank you so much for this, and for being so conscientious and circumspect not to spill all the beans. You're so young! How does a 12-year-old get interested in Stephen Sondheim, for goodness sake? Maybe you can tell us the next time, when you come back with your final review? You didn't mention the source material. Do you happen to know that both "The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie" and "The Exterminating Angel" are highly regarded classics of world cinema (which, in case you didn't, they're both available for streaming on Amazon)? Since you obviously like doing your research, it would be good to know what you thought about how Sondheim and his collaborators managed the transition to the stage. How do they compare? What does music add to them? Since the films were made 10 years apart, does it matter that the show adapts them in reverse chronological order? What was emphasized for the stage or de-emphasized? Or did they just use the films as a convenient taking-off point to create something that has little to do with the originals? Should we disregard the source and treat the musical on its own terms? But then, what could have inspired Sondheim to pick these two particular films? What did he mean by it? Of course, I'm dying to see show but will wait until after it's been locked. Did you read Frank Rich's exhaustive interview with David Ives and Joe Mantello on the show's protracted on-again and off-again evolution process? It would be interesting to know how that process bears on the show you saw at the Shed. Looking forward to your review.
I was 12 when I became a hard-core Sondheim fan. In fact when he passed away I went through my dozen letters from him, and they were all when I was 12. (He did comment in one of them that he wasn't used to having such young fans.)
Wow! How great. I was pretty young myself - 17 - when I got hooked but not quite precocious as you. A dozen letters from the Master - how cool. Hang on to them for dear life. They are worth a fortune already, not to mention decades from now.@@EricMontreal22
I was also 12 when I became hooked 😄 Into the Woods was the first musical I ever got to see a live production of (October 2009), and soon after I went down the Sondheim (and other MT) rabbit hole. By the next year I had the OBCRs of shows like A Little Night Music and Gypsy downloaded onto my iPod nano (2gb) and hauling my copy of Finishing the Hat to middle school to read about the details of Sweeney Todd during lunch!
I'm much older than you ;) but it wasn't all that different an experience-- I came across a PBS airing of Into the Woods when I was 11 (I only caught Act II in fact--and that was the last time my PBS was going to air it, I even phoned them, and at the time it still wasn't on video) and immediately found the cast album at my library (London cast, in fact.) But by 12 I pretty much had spent all my allowances collecting all his cast albums, reading the scripts that my library had, etc... And yes, like you, hooked!@@anabritelora
Jacob, thank you so much for sharing your insights. I just subscribed, and enjoy your thoughts and opinions. You are very gracious and professional in what you present. I am curious where it goes from here.
Hi
Please lose that annoying music - it’s reminiscent of being tortured by It’s a Small World.
the idea to make this into a musical was a terrible one to begin with and I think Sondheim knew this....fasten your seatbelts for the reviews..it isn't going to be pretty...
Have you seen the show? Was there anything in it you enjoyed?