Stephen Sondheim's final musical is a witty, audacious, dreamlike and ultimately poignant tribute
8 / 10
Just hearing those first few instantly recognisable notes of Sondheim’s score sends shivers down the spine; of course we want more of it. Still, what we do get is typically brilliant: crafted with immense rigour and care, emotionally and thematically rich, every rhyme ingenious, and meaning always allied with form – as when the panicking waiter at the Everything Café sings “I am so sor-ry, mad-am”, with increasingly biting, unhinged emphasis. That’s one of several roles (all overlooked service workers) taken by charismatic livewire Denis O’Hare.
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