Here We Are – 25 November 2023

Here We Are at The Shed was an apocalyptic finishing of the project Stephen Sondheim was working on at the time of his passing last year. I was very taken with the way his collaborators lovingly finished the piece. They honored Sondheim by not adding music beyond what he had written, and incorporating references to many of his other pieces. This felt like a fitting conclusion to what really felt like the end of an era for many theatre goers.

The first act had a lot of characteristically Sondheim moments (and some great quotes in the music!). Characters from different worlds on a vague journey together that’s light and slightly off putting as a set up for a deeply disturbing second act. Although some critics disagree, I fully support the decision to not include as much music in the second act. In a way, this was how an audience of fans was coming to terms with “the day the music died”. We all felt trapped in a room knowing that this was the last time a Sondheim show would be new.

As for the end of the world conceit, calling out upper class wealth and lack of compassion, and recognizing that we are in a theatre– I’m all for it. Many of the moments that were confusing were, in fact, confusing on purpose. It was a glimpse into a life above what even an audience of New York City theatre goers can imagine. The level of indifference to destruction, disconnectedness from each other, and waiting to speak instead of listening to what’s being said, are all very real problems in our current era of misinformation.

We live in a world that has lost its way, and this story was reflective of that in an allegorical way. Imagine we were all in a room with the end of the world going on outside. Imagine we couldn’t leave. I don’t have to imagine this, because on some level, I feel that we’re living it. We’re trapped on a dying planet with polarizing social media and artificial intelligence and deteriorating trust in our politicians and a million things we can do all day long without really thinking or feeling.

Historically, Sondheim’s most impactful characters stem from characters who are misunderstood by the world, and misrepresented as uglier than they really are, or simpler than they really are, or confused about their priorities. This was a show that fully grasped these concepts. Though set in the future, it had many moments that I recognized from the past, and many moments that felt vividly real to me in the moment.

So, yes. Here We Are. I hope that there’s something we can do about it. These problems are systemic. They’re not new, and I see no sign of them leaving. I applaud David Ives and the rest of the team for pushing forward and expanding Sondheim’s truths into a moment both grounded in time and outside of it. In that way, this fitting tribute will survive the end of Sondheim’s world.

I did not attend this performance on a press pass.