NEW YORK (AP) — The great theater composer Stephen Sondheim loved puzzles, and when he died in 2021, he left one for his good friend, British super-producer Cameron Mackintosh. He left him an unfinished show.
The two men conceived of a revue of Sondheim's songs during the pandemic and they both began lists of tunes they wanted. But with the death of his friend, it was up to Mackintosh to make the show real.
“I did say to him, ‘I really want to concentrate on the music,’” recalls Mackintosh. “I want it to be personal, but we never really got that far with the construction of it.”
Sondheim died in November 2021. Between Christmas that year and New Year's, Mackintosh created the skeleton of what would be “Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends,” which has landed on Broadway starring Tony Award-winners Bernadette Peters and Lea Salonga.
Old friends create ‘Old Friends’
The final rundown has some of Sondheim's most memorable songs, like “The Ladies Who Lunch,” “I’m Still Here,” “Send in the Clowns,” “Losing My Mind,” “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” and “Children Will Listen.”
“I wanted the songs to reflect the fun I’d had with him,” says Mackintosh. "We’re both klutzy, we can’t dance, we can’t sing, we make terrible puns.
“We were silly together, and I think we loved being silly, making each other laugh. We never had a conversation in 45 years where we didn’t make each other laugh even when we were grumpy.”
Mackintosh had produced two Sondheim revues before — “Side by Side” in 1976 and “Putting It Together” in 1993. He wanted the third to emphasize that Sondheim, who had a reputation for brainy lyrics and complicated melodies, was actually an accessible writer.
“The great thing with 'Side by Side' is for the first time people saw the songs shorn of the books, and they were all like little playlets. And you realize, ‘Oh my God, they live in their own world’ and therefore anyone can understand it. You didn’t need to have an intellectual passport to enjoy Steve’s work.”
‘Phantom of the Opera’ and ‘Les Misérables’
“Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends” is just one of several projects the tireless Mackintosh is overseeing as one of the last great theater impresarios, one who champions Sondheim as well as Andrew Lloyd Webber.
There's a revitalized, multiyear North American tour starting in November of “The Phantom of the Opera” and two tours of “Les Misérables” — one a worldwide arena concert tour and the other a traditional staging going through North America.
A new production of “Miss Saigon” will launch a U.K. tour in the fall and there's a fresh revival of “Oliver!” — The Standard newspaper called it “exceptional” — that opened earlier this year in London, which could end up on Broadway.
Mackintosh has a knack for returning to former triumphs, stripping them down and then building them up again, adding fresh new talent and delighting a new generation.
“Most of my shows have turned out to be really good shows. They are, then, worth reinventing,” he says. “I don’t want it to ever become Madame Tussauds.”
Keeping the shows fresh
Mackintosh, doesn't do gut renovations to his revivals, just makes them more nimble with tweaks. Like the new “Phantom,” which reduced its orchestra from 27 players to 14. The speed may be quicker, too.
“If you listen to a cast album of 40 years ago — for instance ‘Les Miz’ — to modern ears, well that sounds a bit slow. We’ve got used to doing materials slightly faster," he says.
“Have we changed the material? Have we cut it? No, it’s just treating it as if it’s brand new. And you go into it with a group of talented people and you create the show in the moment. What happened 10, 20, 30 years ago doesn’t matter. To keep the shows fresh, you’ve got to create it as it is today.”
Bonnie Langford, who was the original Rumpleteazer in “Cats,” and has known Mackintosh for decades, recalls seeing him backstage when she appeared in “Old Friends” in the West End.
“I just couldn’t get over his enthusiasm after all these years. He was still so excited,” she says. “He can be like a little boy in a candy shop sometimes. He was having the time of his life, and I found that so endearing for someone who’s been in the business a long time. He just loves theater and shows.”
‘Oliver!’ has a new lease on life, too
Mackintosh has brought “Les Misérables” to Broadway three times but doesn't plan to bring either current iterations to Broadway. He wants regional theaters to do it, even if that means leaving money on the table.
“I’ve got more than enough money, but the show needs to get back into the capillaries of the entertainment business and be great shows to bring new generations of audiences and actors into the profession.”
If that's the plan for “Les Miz,” he's plotting the return to New York of his new “Phantom,” two years after the show ended its 35-year Broadway run.
His reimagining of “Oliver!” is a full-circle moment. He was an assistant stage manager — and understudied Phil Collins — in a touring company of “Oliver!” in 1965.
This time he worked with noted choreographer Matthew Bourne to “come up with a modern contemporary spin on it.” Mackintosh even wrote a few scenes to strengthen the connective tissue.
“I don’t mind changing it, but you don’t change it unless it’s at least as good. And maybe in a few instances you come up with a better idea,” he says. “I’ve always had a very good instinct. for what’s missing.”
Mackintosh must be won over first by the dialogue and the plot, not the songs. “I have to fall in love with the words — the characters — first. I want the music to be great, but if I don’t love the story and the characters, I don’t feel I’ve got anything to add to them,” he says.
He loves classic authors, taking work by Charles Dickens, Victor Hugo, Giacomo Puccini, P.L. Travers or Gaston Leroux and putting their stories to soaring scores, luxurious costumes and sets.
“All the great musicals were mostly driven by the passion of the authors against the customary wisdom of saying, ‘I don’t think that’ll work. No, no, no.’ And then they become the classics,” he says, laughing.
Mark Kennedy, The Associated Press
