Stephen Sondheim’s final musical Here We Are to make world premiere in New York
New musical Here We Are featuring a score by Stephen Sondheim is to open on Broadway.
Originally titled Square One, the show was being worked on by Sondheim shortly before passing away in 2021.
With a book by playwright David Ives, Here We Are will open in New York in September 2023 at The Shed’s Griffin Theater.
The musical is inspired by Luis Buñuel films The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie and The Exterminating Angel.
Making up the cast are Francois Battiste, Tracie Bennett, Bobby Cannavale, Micaela Diamond, Amber Gray, Jin Ha, Rachel Bay Jones, Denis O’Hare, Steven Pasquale, David Hyde Pierce and Jeremy Shamos.
The understudies are Bradley Dean, Adam Harrington, Bligh Voth, Adante Carter, Mehry Eslaminia and Lindsay Nicole Chambers.
The production will be directed by Joe Mantello..
In September 2021, Sondheim appeared on US talk show The Late Show With Stephen Colbert to discuss the project.
He explained: “I’ve been working on a show for a couple of years with a playwright named David Ives and it’s called ‘Square One’.
“And we had a reading of it last week and we were really encouraged, so we’re going to go ahead with it, and with any luck, we’ll get it on next season.”
Nathan Lane and Bernadette Peters were a part of the reading, with Lane saying in an interview with the TODAY Show at the time: “I just did a reading of a new Sondheim musical. He’s 90 and he’s written this new musical … It was very exciting. Bernadette Peters and I. A whole group of wonderful people.”
Sondheim sadly passed away aged 91 in November 2021.
