Stephen Sondheim’s final, long-awaited musical Here We Are will make its world premiere this September in a strictly limited Off Broadway engagement to be directed by two-time Tony winner Joe Mantello.
Formerly known as Square One, the final musical composed by Sondheim before his death in 2021 will be staged at The Shed, the Manhattan arts center that opened in 2019.
Additional information including specific production dates and casting will be announced soon. Producer Tom Kirdahy made the premiere announcement today.
Here We Are features a book by David Ives and is inspired by the two films The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie and The Exterminating Angel by Luis Buñuel.
Executive Producers for Here We Are are Sue Wagner, John Johnson and Jillian Robbins, and the musical will be co-presented by The Shed; Artistic Director Alex Poots, President and COO Maryann Jordan, and Chief Executive Producer Madani Younis.
Here We Are will be the latest in a string of Sondheim musicals to receive New York stagings since the Broadway legend’s death, including Company and Into the Woods. Sweeney Todd is currently in previews on Broadway, and revival of Merrily We Roll Along will begin Broadway previews in September.
Shortly before his death, Sondheim appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and confirmed that the musical, then called Square One, was being readied for staging. He told Colbert that he’d been working on the musical for “a couple of years.” A workshop was held in 2016, and Nathan Lane said in 2021 that he Bernadette Peters had recently participated in a reading of the musical.
