Here We Are by David Ives, music &lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Directed by Joe Mantello
Produced by Harriet Mackie
At The National Theatre til Saturday 28th June 2025
I had fervently hoped that Here We Are would be the legacy final production that was Stephen Sondheim’s vast output. But, having seen it in our prestigious National Theatre, I wish it had been left in his archive of unfinished work.
Back in 1982 Sondheim started to discuss the possibility of creating a musical based on two films, Luis Brunel’s The Discrete Charm of The Bourgeoisie and The Exterminating Angel. The former followed a group of friends as they travelled from venue to venue to get a meal. Each venue being unable to satisfy them for various reasons. It was mitigated by the French scenery they passed through. Exterminating Angel concerned a group of friends in a room from which they can’t escape for some reason. After several days they lose their societal pretensions and become almost feral. All under the watchful eye of the Exterminating Angel.
So, that is the germination of Here We Are. Unfortunately, while act one is quite Sondheim-like, clever lyrics, off-beat music and a less than conventional storyline, the staging is odd to say the least. The set is a white box where the actors rush around pretending to be in the car that takes them from venue to venue. A couple of prop bars drop from the ceiling but that is the extent of any attempt to dress the set. But at least there is the music. However, unlike most Sondheims, there is dialogue, spoken and at length in an attempt to convey a worthwhile narrative.
Act two gets even more bizarre as the party find themselves in a Consulate headed by one of their party and unable to leave for no discernible reason. Until suddenly they can. And there are no songs and very little music.
The whole thing comes across as self indulgent student experimentation. But on a huge budget.
The cast cannot be faulted. Lead by Rory Kinnear and Jane Krakowski as the married Binks, multimillionaires, their plastic surgeon and film agent friends (Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Martha Plimpton) and their consul friend Raffael Santello Di Santicci (Paolo Szot). Playing various servant roles is Tracie Bennett along with Edward Baker-Duly. Add to the mix the very odd guests of an American Colonel (Cameron Johnson) and his soldier (Richard Fleeshman, thankfully without a shirt for most of the time) and a shoe fetishist bishop (Harry Hadden-Paton).
It is completely bonkers but hilariously funny along the way. One for the Sondheim purists so they can say they have seen it.
Here We Are runs at The National Theatre until 28th June 2025 when, hopefully, it is rightfully consigned to the Stephen Sondheim archives.
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