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Lea Salonga opens Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends holding hands with Bernadette Peters. Over the next two hours, the Tony Award winner is living her dream, standing beside and singing with the person whose voice initially taught her Sondheim’s music.

“My gosh,� Salonga says. “I learned to sing ‘Not a Day Goes By� listening to her, not the Merrily We Roll Along original cast album. She knows how to take a Sondheim song and turn it into a one-act play.�

For many Broadway babies, three-time Tony recipient Peters is an embodiment of the Sondheim song; she originated Dot/Marie in Sunday in the Park with George and The Witch in Into the Woods. She's since appeared on Broadway three more times in a Sondheim show: as Rose in Gypsy, Desiree in A Little Night Music, and Sally in Follies. Old Friends marks her sixth Sondheim show on Broadway. Meanwhile, it's Salonga's first.

Following a 16-week West End run and a sit-down production in Los Angeles, Old Friends is currently in performances at Broadway’s Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. The musical revue is a celebration of Sondheim’s work, featuring his best-known songs from shows such as Gypsy, Company, Into the Woods, and more. Bonnie Langford, Gavin Lee, and Joanna Riding, among others, are continuing from the London cast, joined by stateside additions Beth Leavel, Jasmine Forsberg, and Kate Jennings Grant.

For Salonga, there’s both a privilege and a challenge of nightly performing Stephen Sondheim’s music. “Any actor or singer that’s ever done Sondheim will tell you that there is always another layer [of the song] to peel off.�

Because the songs are performed outside of the context of the shows they originated in, Salonga says she began the rehearsal process for Old Friends “pretty much� as herself. Gearing up for the show was “like preparing for both a concert and a musical� in that she found some moments benefitted from “full-on costume, makeup change, wigs, and a couple of blacked-out teeth� (such as when she sings “The Worst Pies in London� from Sweeney Todd) whereas others were less about playing a character as they were about embodying raw emotions. “When I do something like ‘Loving You,’� she explains. “I’m just, you know, a human being singing a song.�

When Peters spoke to °ëµºÌåÓý during performances of Old Friends in the West End, her voice was filled with an infectious effervescence. In a follow-up conversation for the Broadway run, her reflections sound weighted with a solemnity that seems to have re-contextualized Sondheim’s music for her. Another layer peeled off.

“The world is a confusing place,� she says matter-of-factly. “[The music] is entertaining and deep and uplifting. Right now, it’s important.� For Peters, truthfulness envelops Sondheim’s music and lyricism. “He writes about humanity, the human condition,� she says. “Everything that we feel and go through when we are alone.�

The show allows Peters and Salonga the opportunity to play, shedding expectations as new layers of their artistry come to light (one moment even has them doing a kick line). During the Into the Woods portion of the show, Peters dons a red cape as Little Red Riding Hood whereas Salonga plays The Witch. Salonga also gets her turn as "Mama" Rose from Gypsy, a role she’d love to play in full one day for American audiences. Having been performing since childhood, taking on the polarizing role has prompted her own reflections on motherhood.

“When we think about Mama Rose, we think about this overly ambitious woman who wants her daughters to become stars,� Salonga says, characterizing Rose as being typically driven by “narcissistic desire.� Salonga’s Rose, instead, is inspired by her own mother, who encouraged her daughter to work as a means of establishing financial security. “[It] was not so that she would get any kind of admiration,� She says emphatically. “[It was] more, 'Let's do this because one day I'm going to be gone, and I need to know that you will be fine.’�

Salonga, now the mother to a young performer herself, says she can understand both perspectives. “Because I am a mother, I am able to deepen the characterization of the song. I get where this woman is coming from.â€�

Song choices for Old Friends, and who would sing what, came from producer Cameron Mackintosh, who conceived the show. It was an “absolutely yesâ€� from Salonga when Mackintosh asked her to be part of it in the West End. Their working relationship began when she was just 17 years old, when Mackintosh cast her in the West End production of Miss Saigon, which led her to an Olivier Award, a Tony Award, and musical theatre stardom. Salonga praises Mackintosh as having “energy and fervorâ€� she doesn’t see in any other producer. Upon listening to her rehearse “Everything’s Coming Up Roses,â€� Mackintosh, notorious for “getting his fingers in the pies,â€� she says, “barely touched it.â€�

Meanwhile, Peters had a “what have I gotten myself intoâ€� moment when Mackintosh encouraged her to perform as Little Red, but she relishes the opportunity to play a trumpet in “You Gotta Get a Gimmickâ€� from Gypsy. Though she admits that all she can play are the notes from that song. “Don’t ask me to play anything else!â€� 

But the most profound musical moment, for Peters, comes when the company gathers to perform “Being Alive� near the end of the show. “That song just renews you,� she says. “Okay, somebody knows how I feel. Somebody says, ‘Keep going.� Somebody says, ‘Take a chance.� Somebody says, ‘Do it.� When you’re alive, you [have to] live and live.�

The laughter that peppers each of these conversations is a punctuation of the “thrillâ€� Salonga and Peters are experiencing night after night. Neither feels prepared to look too far into the future, after Old Friends finishes its Broadway run June 15. Though the revue was initially conceived by Sondheim and Mackintosh as a one-night-only gala event, Peters teases the latter’s intent to take the show “around the world and on the road,â€� creating opportunities, she hopes, for more performers to give audiences the “shot in the armâ€� only Sondheim’s music can provide. 

Though, when asked if she would be interested in touring with Old Friends, she laughs, “Oh, I couldn’t even think about that right now!�

After she and the company of Old Friends take their final bows on Broadway, Salonga will remain in Sondheim’s orbit. This summer, she will play the Witch in Into the Woods in the Philippines (opposite her child Nic Chien). The star has already warned Peters she will be starting “the barrage of questions� on characterization soon. She promises to come prepared.

A thoughtful pause follows an ask for Peters� advice on how to approach The Witch. Spoilers for Salonga ahead! “It’s easy to play it for laughs, if you want,� Peters says. “But remember, she’s actually the one with the wisdom. And James Lapine, the director, told me that, by the way.�

Until Salonga (and her child and her cat) get on the plane to start rehearsals for Into the Woods, she is “deep into focusingâ€� on Old Friends. “A lot of folks dream of a moment like this,â€� Salonga says. “I get to fulfill mine.â€�

Ever present for both Peters and Salonga is how best to honor the intention and spirit of each Sondheim song. Peters says she and Mackintosh regularly contemplate what their late friend might have thought about the choices they’ve made in this revue. When asked, fondness fills Peters� voice. “Oh, I think he’d be so happy,� she says. “He’d be tickled pink.�

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Photos: Lea Salonga, Bernadette Peters, Beth Leavel, More in Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends

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