HERE WE ARE heads to the recording studio — Page 3

It sounds wonderful!

I do kinda wish that they'd released a song with lyrics (maybe the Soldier's song?). But, the exit music is beautiful.

All I can think about listening to this is that, if this show somehow had transferred, it would probably be the frontrunner for Musical, Score, Book, and Lead Actress at the Tonys, along with noms for director and every technical category.

jkcohen626 said: "I do kinda wish that they'd released a song with lyrics (maybe the Soldier's song?). But, the exit music is beautiful.

All I can think about listening to this is that, if this show somehow had transferred, it would probably be the frontrunner for Musical, Score, Book, and Lead Actress at the Tonys, along with noms for directorand every technical category."

I would think that Rachel Bay Jones and David Hyde Pierce would both have good chances at Tonys just for their scene together in Act II.

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "In what world was this slept on at the Shed?? It was the theatrical event of the fall for anyone serious about theatergoing."



You're acting like it was a sold out hit. Many people had an "it's not finished so I'm not seeing it" attitude, similar to the poster above.

willep said: "What I saw was finished."

I agree with this. Both technically and semantically, it's finished. Sondheim had his lawyer approve the show for production prior to his death, and he agreed with Mantello and Ives' argument that the second act should be light on music. Long Day's Journey Into Night was written just as Eugene O'Neill started to suffer from tremors that made him unable to write for the last decade of his life, and it wasn't performed until 3 years after his death, and no one argues that it's an unfinished work.

• The lengthy New York Magazine piece put to bed any good-faith argument of the show not being "finished" (though I hope that poster is enjoying their first week on the message board)
• It had some of the best reviews of any Broadway or Off-Broadway musical this season.
• The first half of the run sold incredibly well, the second half was softer but still decently-sold. I don't know if it recouped, but I doubt the commercial investors behind it had much expectation of recoupment considering the nature of the venue and the limited run. It was always a prestige project for the bragging rights to say "I worked on Sondheim's final show."
• It was a must-see show for serious fans of musical theatre. It was never going to appeal to the casual buyer who doesn't care about Sondheim.
• It is, anecdotally, viewed as a better show than Road Show/Bounce (the previous "final" Sondheim musical).

Sounds like a success to me and not something that was slept on!

Updated On: 4/26/24 at 03:31 PM

chrishuyen said: "I think one of the main reasons it could be called unfinished is because Sondheim famously made big changes over the course of previews in a lot of his shows, and since he never saw it performed with an audience, we don't know what things he might've adjusted had he been around."

This is exactly how I think of it. It is both a finished work and a tantalizing "What if?" Did I like what I saw and feel satisfied by it? Yes. Do I believe that perfectionist Sondheim, had he been there to see it put up, would have made revisions? Also yes.

To think that in seventy years (or whenever depending on what becomes of copyright law), Here We Are could very well become Sondheim's Turandot.

I thought it was a complete night of theater with a compelling story that resolved in a way in which I was satisfied. I *do* think that last moments seemed to want a song, but I don't think one was necessary. I just didn't think the running around the stage was the solution.

Charley Kringas Inc said: "The show's second half is definitely diminished by the lack of a score. I don't think it's technically unfinished, and the creators have a lot to celebrate, but it shifts from being one of the most thrilling musicals I've seen in yearsto being "just" a good stage adaptation of the movie. The way Sondheim was able to musically embody and expandon the picaresque surreality of Discreet Charm blew me away and the what-if element cast a long shadow."

It's kinda what I imagine it was like to see Sunday In the Park With George back at Playwrights Horizons, when the 2nd act didn't have "Children and Art", "Lesson Number 8", or "Move On." A blank canvas... so many possibilities.