Bernadette Peters and an excellent solid sing Sondheim

When Bernadette Peters elegantly opens her umbrella within the new Stephen Sondheim revue “Old Friends,” she’s turning into Dot, the Georges Seurat muse she famously performed in “Sunday in the Park with George.” 

However she may also be utilizing it as a defend in opposition to a hurricane of tears, so verklempt the viewers is from seeing the Broadway legend again on the boards in that beloved half, if just for a second.

That lush and emotional all-company track, known as “Sunday,” is one in all 42 numbers in “Old Friends,” a supremely entertaining and altogether divine celebration of Sondheim’s legacy created by producer Cameron Waterproof coat that opened Tuesday on the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. 

It’s a uncommon and particular expertise to look at performers of the calibre of Peters and co-stars like Lea Salonga backed by a sensational 14-piece orchestra in an intimate room that seats simply 600. 

That the fantastic wall of sound is an enormous choice from the late composer’s exhibits together with “A Little Night Music,” “Sweeney Todd,” “Company,” “Follies” and “Into the Woods” makes the shut confines all of the extra thrilling for followers.

And, I think, the live performance may also take up many Sondheim neophytes who don’t know Bobby from the Baker’s Spouse.

The vibe of right here is completely different — extra energetic than ordinary — maybe as a result of it comes from London the place musical performances lean bigger. 

For this piece, directed with aptitude by Matthew Bourne, I like that. Sondheim tributes so typically have a tendency towards the grandiose and stuffy. However “Old Friends,” in addition to making your mascara run, bursts with pleasure and humor.  

Peters, for instance, is a riot because the “bump it with a trumpet!” stripper Mazeppa from “Gypsy” and when she dons Little Purple’s hood for “I Know Things Now” from “Into the Woods.”

Simply as deftly, the Tony winner shatters us with two comfortable songs she’s sung many instances on Broadway, “Losing My Mind” and “Send In The Clowns.” Peters performed Sally in “Follies” and Desiree in “Night Music” on Broadway greater than a decade in the past, however the that means and efficiency have solely deepened.

Peters and Salonga — with pipes so highly effective a automotive alarm goes off in New Haven — are joined by 17 different actors. All of them, splendid. 

Nice enjoyable for the musical geeks is getting the prospect to see the present’s West Finish gamers, a lot of whom are making their Broadway debuts after lengthy London careers.

Joanna Driving masters the panicked patter of a nervous bride in “I’m Not Getting Married Today,” and durable Jeremy Secomb is the Sweeney of your desires — or, reasonably, nightmares.

I used to be particularly tickled by Bonnie Langford, one other Brit, thrillingly belting out the defiant anthem “I’m Still Here” from “Follies.” That is, in any case, simply the second time she’s been on Broadway since she made her first bow as a baby in “Gypsy” with Angela Lansbury in 1974. And she or he’s nonetheless right here!

Nevertheless, it’s not solely Britannia that guidelines. The Yanks pull their weight, too.

Beth Leavel wails an acidic and funnier-than-normal “Ladies Who Lunch.” And I used to be knocked over by Jacob Dickey’s robust and splendid baritone because the Massive Unhealthy Wolf in “Hello, Little Girl.” I hadn’t seen him prior to now, however hope to once more very quickly.

If Peters’ most forceful numbers are infused with intense ache and need, Salonga — recognized for her clear dramatic singing in “Miss Saigon” and “Les Miserables” — surprises us with wacky comedy and barmaid brassiness. 

I wouldn’t instantly peg her for a conniving Mrs. Lovett or pit bull Madam Rose. “The Worst Pies in London” and “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” are large swings for this actress, however she bats each out of the Friedman. Extra Eponine-y is her tortured “Loving You” from “Passion.”    

After a night of damage, coronary heart and hilarity, the shifting climax is a slideshow of pictures of Sondheim, who died in 2021, subsequent to his previous pals because the solid wails attractive preparations of “Not a Day Goes By” and “Being Alive.” 

Sondheim and a unbelievable firm of actors, standing aspect by aspect by aspect.