FEBRUARY 13, 2025—LOS ANGELES
Manhattan Theatre Club – Lynne Meadow, Artistic Director and Chris Jennings, Executive Director – announces Cameron Mackintosh’s production of Stephen Sondheim’s OLD FRIENDS.
The production, starring Tony Award winners Bernadette Peters and Lea Salonga, is presented by Manhattan Theatre Club in association with Cameron Mackintosh and Daryl Roth. OLD FRIENDS will open April 8, 2025 in New York at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre (261 West 47th Street).
Throughout her illustrious career, Bernadette Peters has dazzled audiences and critics with her performances on stage, in film, and television, in concert, and on recordings. She has garnered numerous accolades including three Tony Awards (seven nominations), three Drama Desk Awards (nine nominations), a Golden Globe (three nominations), four Emmy and Grammy nominations, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Her career spans Broadway, television, film, and recordings, including four Grammy-winning cast albums.
Regarded by many as the foremost interpreter of the works of Stephen Sondheim. She is particularly noted for her roles in the musicals "Mack and Mabel" (1974), "Sunday in the Park with George" (1984), "Song and Dance" (1985), "Into the Woods" (1987), "The Goodbye Girl" (1993), "Annie Get Your Gun" (1999), "Gypsy" (2003), "A Little Night Music" (2010), "Follies" (2011), and "Hello Dolly!" (2018). She has recorded six solo albums as well as many cast albums, and performs regularly in her own solo concert act.
Lea Salonga is a multi-award-winning actress and singer known for her powerful voice and perfect pitch. A Broadway and Disney icon, she's best known for her Tony Award-winning role as "Kim" in Miss Saigon, which she originated in both the West End and on Broadway. In addition to a Tony, she has won an Olivier, a Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and Theatre World Award from Time Magazine, and the Gold Legend Award from Gold House for her performances. She was conferred with the Presidential Medal of Merit in 1990 and the Order of Lakandula in 2007; she was honored as a Disney Legend in 2011.
Before moving to Broadway, Stephen Sondheim’s OLD FRIENDS will have its North American premiere at the Ahmanson Theatre from February 8 through March 9, 2025 with opening night on February 13, 2025. Center Theatre Group is under the leadership of Artistic Director Snehal Desai, Managing Director / CEO Meghan Pressman, and Producing Director Douglas C. Baker.
OLD FRIENDS is a great big Broadway show born out of Cameron Mackintosh and Stephen Sondheim’s lifetime of friendship and collaboration. The two of them came up with the idea during the pandemic, drawing on the many shows that they had done together in collaboration with their good friend Julia McKenzie. Once theatres reopened in London and New York in the fall of 2021, Mackintosh was able to visit Sondheim again and this new show remained something they continued to discuss.
Sadly, shortly after that visit, Sondheim passed away (November 2021). It then fell to Mackintosh to pick up where he and Sondheim left off, collating their notes, and structuring the show that would initially become a spectacular star-studded gala at the Sondheim Theatre in London’s West End in May 2022 to celebrate Sondheim’s life and work, and also raise funds for the newly formed Stephen Sondheim Foundation. The gala won Best Theatre Event at the 2023 WhatsOnStage Awards and was subsequently broadcast on TV by the BBC.
Mackintosh, who both produced and devised the evening, directed by his long-time collaborator Matthew Bourne, was encouraged by how brilliantly the material held together. They decided to rework the show for a run at the Gielgud Theatre from September 2023 with an all-star ensemble cast headed by legendary Broadway stars Bernadette Peters and Lea Salonga, alongside a dazzling array of West End co-stars drawn from many of Mackintosh’s old friends who had been featured in his productions.
The OLD FRIENDS company performed some of the greatest songs ever written for musical theatre by one of theatre’s greatest geniuses. OLD FRIENDS at the Gielgud became an instant legend and an unforgettable evening that earned a bevy of five-star raves and was hailed by The Times as “unmissable musical theatre.”
Joining Ms. Peters and Ms. Salonga onstage are Jacob Dickey, Kevin Earley, Jasmine Forsberg, Kate Jennings Grant, Bonnie Langford, Tony Award winner Beth Leavel, two-time Tony Award nominee Gavin Lee, multiple Olivier Award nominee Jason Pennycooke, two-time Olivier Award winner Joanna Riding, Jeremy Secomb, Kyle Selig, Maria Wirries, and Daniel Yearwood. The company will also include Paige Faure, Alexa Lopez, Greg Mills, and Peter Neureuther.
Jacob Dickey's credits include Broadway's "Aladdin," "Company," and the 1st National Tour of "Aladdin." Kevin Earley's Broadway credits include "Les Misérables," "Thoroughly Modern Millie" and "A Tale Of Two Cities." Jasmine Forsberg is an actor/songwriter from Orlando, Florida and performed on Broadway in "Six," "Here Lies Love," the in the First National Tour of "Six." Kate Jennings Grant's Broadway experience included Belinda "Noises Off," "The Country House," and "The Lyons," "Guys and Dolls" and "Proof."
Bonnie Langford starred in Stephen Sondheim’s OLD FRIENDS at the Gielgud Theatre in London’s West End and as Madame Thénardier in the "Les Misérables" World Tour Arena Spectacular. Tony Award winner Beth Leavel was most recently seen on Broadway in "Lempicka." She also has received Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and L.A. Drama Critics Awards for her performance in "The Drowsy Chaperone."
Gavin Lee is currently in the World Concert Arena tour of Les Misérables. Before this he was part of the London company of Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends and is returning to the show in LA and NYC. Jason Pennycooke has three Olivier nominations for "Hamilton," as well as three affiliate Olivier nominations for West End shows "Porgy & Bess," "Soul Sister" and "The Big Life."
David Harris joins Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends directly from his Broadway run as The Duke in Moulin Rouge! after originating the role in the first national tour. British five-time nominee and two-time winner of the Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical Joanna Riding's credits include National Theatre's "Carousel" and "My Fair Lady." And Jeremy Secomb's resume includes the World Tour of "Les Misérables" and the "Sister Act" at the Apollo & UK Tour.
Kyle Selig's Broadway credits include "Water for Elephants," "Mean Girls," and "The Book of Mormon." Maria Wirries was on Broadway and the 1st National Tour with "Evan Hansen," along with an Off Broadway revival of "Kinky Boots." And Daniel Yearwood boasts credits for Broadway's "Sweeney Todd," "Hamilton" and "Once on This Island."
Paige Faure's credits include Broadway's "A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical" along with the Tony Award-winning revival of "Company." Alexa Lopez most recently originated the role of April in the world premiere of "Falcon Girls" at Yale Repertory Theatre. Regional credits include "Ride the Cyclone," "The Great Comet of 1812" and "Rent."
And Peter Neureuther will enjoy his Broadway debut with OLD FRIENDS. Regionally, Mr. Neureuther has performed with "Les Misérables" and "Beauty & The Beast."
For tickets to this amazing show, visit: CENTERTHEATREGROUP.ORG
MANHATTAN THEATRE CLUB, CAMERON MACKINTOSH AND DARYL ROTH ANNOUNCE BROADWAY LEGENDS BERNADETTE PETERS & LEA SALONGA IN STEPHEN SONDHEIM’S OLD FRIENDS ‘A GREAT BIG BROADWAY SHOW.’ A NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE ENGAGEMENT PRIOR TO BROADWAY, PLAYING NOW AT THE CENTER THEATRE GROUP AT THE AHMANSON THEATRE, FEBRUARY 8 THROUGH. MARCH 9, 2025. OPENING FEBRUARY 13, 2025. BROADWAY ENGAGEMENT SAMUEL J. FRIEDMAN THEATRE; PREVIEWS BEGIN MARCH 25, 2025; OPENING APRIL 8, 2025
Directed and Musically Staged by Tony-Award winning MATTHEW BOURNE, side by side with JULIA MCKENZIE (Brdwy/West End: Promises, Promises; On the 20th Century), with choreography by STEPHEN MEAR. Musical supervision is by ALFONSO CASADO TRIGO and 3x-Olivier Award winner STEPHEN BROOKER (Mary Poppins), musical arrangements by STEPHEN METCALFE, and conducted by ANNBRITT duCHATEAU. Set design by MATT KINLEY, projection design by GEORGE REEVE, costume design by JILL PARKER, lighting design by WARREN LETTON and sound design by MICK POTTER. Casting is by TARA RUBIN CASTING. Production Stage Manager is DAVID LOBER.
Performances are Tuesday through Friday evenings at 8:00 p.m.; Saturdays at 2:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.; Sundays at 1:00 p.m. and 6:30 p.m; Center Theatre Group Box Office (at the Ahmanson Theatre) at The Music Center, 135 N. Grand Avenue in Downtown L.A. 90012
Chris Daniels
Arts & Entertainment Reviewer
The Show Report
Photo Credits: © Matthew Murphy
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