BROADWAY & ME QUICKIES

The Play: Old Friends, a revue of Stephen Sondheim’s most revered show tunes expertly sung by a cast of 19 performers lead by Bernadette Peters and Lea Salonga Devised by: Cameron Mackintosh     Music and Lyrics by: Stephen Sondheim    Directed by: Matthew Bourne One good thing: Duh; the show is filled with Sondheim songs  One not-so-great thing:   There have been so many Sondheim revues both before and after his death in 2021 and this one arrives without any fresh insights, without a concept—some numbers have costumes and sets, others don’t—and without much context for the numbers, which slightly weakens the impact even for songs as innately impactful as these  

The Play: The Last Five Years; an uneven revival of the cult musical about a failed marriage, told entirely in song with the woman, an unsuccessful actress named Cathy, looking back from its sad end to its joyous beginning; while the man, an up-and-coming Jewish novelist named Jamie, charts the relationship from its giddy start to its bitter finish  Book, Music and Lyrics by:    Jason Robert Brown      Directed by: Whitney White One good thing: It was fun to watch the audience, many of whom had turned out to see the pop star Nick Jonas play Jamie, won over by the powerhouse singing and nimble acting of Adrienne Warren, a Tony-winner for her portrayal of Tina Turner and on the surface an unconventional choice for Jamie's "shiksa goddess"  One not-so-great thing: The show’s side-by-side storylines are always tricky to navigate but the direction here, which had the two characters regularly interacting with one another, only confused things more   ...