Stephen Sondheim bids a dreamlike farewell in this colourful posthumous musical
Are the couple sweeping the stage part of the show or management making sure it’s spic and span for performance, I wonder. So convincingly diligent yet laid back were the pair that it took me time to realise they were Tracie Bennett and Denis O’Hare, designated in the programme simply as ‘Woman’ and ‘Man’ – the staff of the wealthy couple about to take their friends for lunch.
The title of Stephen Sondheim’s final musical is apt. He died in November 2021 and it took nearly two years to make it to the stage when it opened in New York in 2023. In fact, it was more than four decades since he'd first mentioned being taken with the idea of adapting Luis Buñuel's surreal films The Exterminating Angel (1962) and The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972) into a musical. So, ‘here we are’ at last, thanks to director Joe Mantello and book writer David Ives, who have made it their business to bring the show to fruition in this European premiere.
‘Bourgeois’ aptly describes the group of friends and acquaintances who are invited for a rather upmarket brunch by hosts Marianne and Leo Brink (Jane Krakowski and Rory Kinnear). The Discreet Charm… does indeed take place en route to a restaurant table, where the journey becomes the story. Here, it certainly starts out that way as the quirkily, but impractically dressed party get progressively more exhausted on their search for the right eatery. The recent death of the chef is just one of the reasons they wind up in a restaurant without food. Eventually the (now rather bedraggled) group find themselves a delicious meal but, to their horror, the realisation dawns that they are trapped (somewhat aping the plot of The Exterminating Angel).
Owing to the death of Sondheim before the score was complete, the first half is replete with numbers to savour, whereas the second has almost none, for no one took on the task of completing his score. A musical only half-filled with music is certainly unusual.
At least in the second half our motley crew gets to eat and, albeit briefly, they are content. So much so, they decide to retire for the night, but it quickly becomes apparent that they are mysteriously and scarily unable to leave the room.
The cast is excellent, delighting in the curious plot twists and relationships formed. Krakowski’s fey Marianne is particularly arresting, in a frock like a nightgown, as is Chumisa Dornford-May as Fritz, a right-on left-wing student and younger sister to Marianne. Kinnear clearly relishes the foibles of these entitled folk, including Leo himself. Martha Plimpton’s Claudia Bursik-Zimmer perfectly fits the bill of loud career woman. And, among the posh guys, are Ambassador Raffael (Paulo Szot) of fictional country Moranda (who invites everyone to his Embassy just as they're all on the point of collapse) and Harry Hadden-Paton’s tense fugitive Bishop.
David Zinn’s set is bold and surreal, somehow creating a road to travel, a dinner table, extravagant interiors and a merry-go-round of a cafe in one space. His costumes are just as sumptuous and idiosyncratic, which is fitting for a story that's both puzzling and dazzling. A gratifyingly sweet swansong that Sondheim would surely have been proud of.
By Judi Herman
Photos by Marc Brenner
Here We Are runs until Saturday 28 June. 7.30pm, 2.15pm (Wed & Sat only). £25-£110. National Theatre, SE1 9PX. nationaltheatre.org.uk