Sondheim and Ives' HERE WE ARE at The Shed — Page 48

Here We Are, Sondheim's Final Work, Extends Off-Broadway The new musical opens its world premiere run October 22 at The Shed with performances now continuing through January 21, 2024

https://playbill.com/article/here-we-are-sondheims-final-work-extends-off-broadway

At this stage, based on the word of mouth and current sales - and this is from people who are interested and even excited about the show not the general public - I agree it would be a mistake to transfer. They’d need a couple major stars to offset the lack of wide interest and challenges with the appeal of the material. That said, it’s possible and indeed the official party line (eg the Frank Rich article) is that they did not launch this as a pre-Broadway transfer. Given the relatively large size of the house and high prices, which are likely to be mostly sold for the entire run even if not instant, the financial plan might have been such that the off Broadway run is all they were needing to cover most of the costs with some subsidies. Rather than struggle on Broadway they could close at The Shed with a ‘successful’ run and everyone happy :).

When Sondheim was alive, the theatre they were eying was the public. According to the Frank rich article, they went with the Shed however in part because they claimed it won’t set the expectation that the show is a Broadway tryout and treated as such. I would have left it at that had it not been for this lavish production, team and cast that I could easily see on a Broadway stage (even if I don’t know how many people would buy tickets). Plus the $8 million enhancement. I was not expecting the production to be so good which is why I can’t help but feel surely SOMEONE is or was thinking about it. But maybe it’s just out of respect for the cultural event that this is and not because there are greater plans.

Do we know what nights critics are there?

There's no performance tonight, so maybe they're cramming all the critics into the final 3 previews?

binau said: "In case anyone is interested, I have attempted to notate the opening passage of "Here We Are" (which I guess we might consider a kind of theme?). Interestingly, it appears to be in F Major, despite starting with a C. If anyone plays an instrument and wants to check they agree feel free hehe.0"

This is exactly where I hear. A little Night Music. This theme sounds extremely similar to ensemble members singing in the Glamorous Life, la la la.

Eg I think they’d probably (or should) record the DHP monologue in act two (the one with shoe) as it’s quite poignant. Or maybe Tommy K from PS classics will come out of retirement and record the entire thing 😝