Stephen Sondheim’s final musical is a passion project in more ways than one. An adaptation of two films by Luis Buñuel, it reflects his lifelong love of cinema. Sondheim began mulling over the idea more than four decades ago (with playwright-director James Lapine) and started working on it almost a decade before he died in 2021.
This production’s programme notes speak of its development as a slow process with email exchanges between Sondheim, director Joe Mantello and book writer David Ives. A parting gift from Sondheim, left in draft form, it makes its European premiere after a run in New York in 2023 – two actors from that production are joined by an otherwise new cast. It is full of adventurous imagination, with some signature Sondheim sparks, but the trouble spots are still clear to see.
