If you’re in need of someone (or something) to make you aware of being alive, look no further than the Broadway bound production of Old Friends, which is now playing at Center Theatre Group’s Ahmanson Theater in Los Angeles (it opens in New York in March).

Direct from London’s West End, the show is the third revue of legendary Broadway composer Stephen Sondheim’s work after Putting It Together and Side by Side. As with those, producer Cameron Mackintosh and Sondheim conceived of the show together, though sadly Sondheim passed away before they had the chance to bring it to fruition. A bittersweet turn of events as that has allowed Old Friends to become a celebratory memorial for the late musical genius and the legacy of his work.

Jacob Dickey and Bernadette Peters in 'Old Friends'.

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The show is headlined by two theater greats, frequent Sondheim collaborator Bernadette Peters and the iconic Lea Salonga (a.k.a. the singing voice of Disney’s Princess Jasmine and Mulan). But it’s a testament to Sondheim’s reach and the range of his work that they’re backed up by an ensemble bursting with talent that under other circumstances would be headliners in their own right, including Beth Leavel, Gavin Lee, and Bonnie Langford. Each member of the cast is a supreme interpreter of Sondheim’s words, a deceptively difficult task for even the most gifted performers.

There’s no plot or narrator here, merely a collection of songs that thread from one memorable performance to the next. Most of the attention goes to Sondheim’s best-loved works, though it spans the breadth of his career from his days as a lyricist on Gypsy and West Side Story to his breakout as a composer with A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, to his all-time classics, including Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Merrily We Roll Along, and Sweeney Todd.

Bernadette Peters in 'Old Friends'.

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It’s hard to imagine there will ever be more definitive interpretations of these numbers than many of the versions presented here. At times, the show subverts expectations, casting Salonga as the Into the Woods witch while Peters prances about in a red cloak as Little Red Riding Hood. But there’s equally a fulfillment of what fans of these stars have likely come for, most notably Peters’ wrenching, breathtaking delivery of “Send in the Clowns” from A Little Night Music and “Losing My Mind” from Follies. Peters had previously performed the songs in 2009 and 2011  Broadway revivals of both shows.

With these two ballads, Peters reminds audiences that Sondheim’s gift was not merely the unforgettable music, but the veritable feast he offered actors within the narrative arcs of his songs. Peters has a distinctive, haunting voice and she delivers both songs impeccably, but it is her heartbreaking performances — the ache and palpable yearning of love and heartbreak that set them apart. In her interpretation, these songs become transcendent, soul-shattering meditations on life and loss.

Lea Salonga in 'Old Friends'.

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Salonga is equally mesmerizing in her standout moments. Her humor is so sharp, so deft as Mrs. Lovett in a sequence of numbers from Sweeney Todd that we wish the 2023 Broadway revival was still running if only so we could see her full take on the role. She dives into the show’s piercingly dark humor with verve, capturing Lovett’s wild mix of unhinged grande guignol and infinite practicality. And it’s not merely her humor that wows, but also her sheer vocal power on numbers like “Loving You” from Passions, “Somewhere” from West Side Story, and a barn-burner of a take on “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” from Gypsy.

Jeremy Secomb and Lea Salonga in 'Old Friends'.

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While Peters and Salonga are top billed, there are also plenty of remarkable performances from the rest of the singular cast. Beth Leavel drops the mic and the martini glass with her interpretation of Company’s “The Ladies Who Lunch,” while Gavin Lee gives us a bitingly savage gender-bent take on Follies’ “Could I Leave You?” Bonnie Langford, a star of British stage and screen, also gets a Follies feature with her rousing, extremely personal rendition of “I’m Still Here.”

For what is essentially an elevated concert, one might expect minimal sets and costumes, particularly with the orchestra on stage behind a metal balcony that features Sondheim’s looping signature wrought in metal. But Matt Kinley’s scenic design evokes the settings of the musicals featured with aplomb, granting the cast levels to create the balconies of Into the Woods and West Side Story, closing in for the claustrophobic horror of Sweeney Todd, and offering a false, vaudeville-worthy proscenium for the show people tales of Follies and Gypsy. Similarly, Jill Parker’s costumes evoke the worlds and eras of each show while still giving a hint of that putting-on-a-show, pulled from a trunk energy.

Beth Leavel in 'Old Friends'.

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The admiration and love for Sondheim’s work bursts from every aspect of Old Friends, all coming to a head in Peters’ and the ensemble’s heart-rending rendition of “Not a Day Goes By” set to a slideshow of images of Sondheim spanning from childhood to old age. Old Friends isn’t merely a celebration of Sondheim’s life’s work, but also his life — the friendships he forged, including those with this show’s producer and cast members; the love and tenacity he always showed up with; the passion; the frustrations; the heartbreak; and above all, the vulnerability that allowed him to turn his innermost thoughts into musical genius.

Jacob Dickey and Bernadette Peters in 'Old Friends'.

Matthew Murphy

Despite his long and full life, Sondheim left an enormous hole with his passing. Old Friends is a glorious, beautiful, ecstatic reminder of that fact — one destined to level its audiences with its emotional impact. But mostly, it’s a testament to the fact that for those who love the theater not a day goes by where Sondheim is not somehow still a part of our lives. And thank god for that. Grade: A