Sondheim and Ives' HERE WE ARE at The Shed — Page 57

Does anyone know what the very first line of the show is, spoken by the female housekeeper? It's what's uttered before the music plays.

It sounded to me like she was speaking in a different language (maybe Polish?) but the start of the show took my audience by surprise as we were the first preview so there was still some audience murmurs.

Loved the first act. Was jet lagged so couldn't concentrate wholly on the second. Rachel Bay and David Hyde for the win, however! I should see it again...

Saw the show tonight. It was so very weird but so very good. I found it very affecting. I echo some above posters who felt the book was stronger than the score. I think it’s a very dynamic play, most of the songs didn’t stick with me but I think they worked within the piece.


I couldn’t help thinking while watching how much I want to see Michaela play Dot in Sunday.


Forgive me if this was discussed—the fire over David and Rachel’s scene? Is there something to it I’m missing or was it just to add to the chaos end of the world ness of the moment?

Overall, really glad I got to be here. Design was gorgeous, direction and acting sharp, Dennis O’hare has such a command of the stage.

binau said: "I know some may roll eyes but I'd love to see Michael Arden direct Sunday with Ben Platt & Diamond."

I for one would go to anything Michael Arden helmed and this sounds excellent.

I finally saw this today as last minute rush ticket. $40 dead center. Very happy.


Loved the first act. Weird. Absurd. Loved the music and the book.


Act 2 was insufferable. I wasn’t bored just not engaged.


I don’t see any reason why this would ever go to Broadway. To me it was fun but it just didn’t say anything

Have many of the understudies gone on? How have they been? Attendance seems to have been quite strong in this.

RippedMan said: "I finally saw this today as last minute rush ticket. $40 dead center. Very happy.


Loved the first act. Weird. Absurd. Loved the music and the book.


Act 2 was insufferable. I wasn’t bored just not engaged.


I don’t see any reason why this would ever go to Broadway. To me it was fun but it just didn’t say anything"

I think it says something, it just doesn't hit you over the head with its message like a show such as Jagged Little Pill. I went in thinking I would hate the piece, but I didn't.

Updated On: 12/17/23 at 08:36 PM

I feel bad for anyone who for some bizarre reason chooses to miss this. It doesn’t feel like the event everyone is talking about that I’d imagine it would be. But it is so special and so singular beyond being Sondheim’s last show. I feel really lucky I’ve gotten to see it twice.

TotallyEffed said: "I feel bad for anyone who for some bizarre reason chooses to miss this. It doesn’t feel like the event everyone is talking about that I’d imagine it would be. But it is so special and so singular beyond being Sondheim’s last show. I feel really lucky I’ve gotten to see it twice."

Tickets seem reasonably easy to get at this point. Even if people find it flawed, it’s still such a terrific production with wonderful direction, set design, and acting. Rachel Bay Jones gives a wonderful performance and it’s worth seeing just for her. There’s plenty to mull over afterward, including whether it’s actually a really good show or just a very well-presented one. My reaction after seeing Here We Are was to feel a bit envious of people like you who could see it again.

As a transfer seems unlikely, and even a cast recording - much less a professional taping - is uncertain, everyone near New York City should get a cheap ticket and check it out while they still can.

There’s definitely going to be a cast album. Denis O’Hare said it bluntly at the stage door, totally unsolicited, on 10/27. I told him how much I enjoyed the show and his performance and he said, “We’re going to record it.”

The idea of this not receiving an album is hilarious. Patience, my dears.

berniesb!tch said: "I won the lottery for the Saturday matinee and went for the 4th time. As with all of Sondheim shows, it grows on me more and more every time I see it (and I liked it a lot the first time). The cast is just so damn good and the production so flawless. This past time was the funniest time I had seen it. I had always found it humorous, but this was the first time I was actually laughing out loud.

Between rush and lottery being much easier to get now, I definitely plan on seeing it once or twice more.

Also I have done a full 180 on Bobby Cannavale. I was not into him my first few times, but his performance has really grown on me."



Couldn't agree more. The audience was absolutely eating it up when I saw it Saturday (in particular, a certain fourth wall-breaking joke in the first act brought the house down in laughter). The first act is really one of the most funny things I've seen in a long time (and I saw Spamalot the night before!). I thought Bobby Cannavale was good. Honestly not a single weak link in the bunch. For an unfinished, Surrealist film-based Sondheim musical, this production was the absolute best possible outcome. Taking a friend to see it again in January before it closes, and I am super excited.

There is (almost) never a reason to tell anyone to relax. No one is freaking out. And you "hearing" it's forthcoming is no different then anyone else saying it's coming.