In the halls of the Public Theater, where “Hamilton” started, they’re buzzing about another new musical with a one-word title — “Bunuel.”
That would be Luis Bunuel, the great surrealist director whose films — 1972’s “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie” and ’62’s “The Exterminating Angel” — are being adapted into a new musical by Stephen Sondheim and David Ives.
Oskar Eustis, the head of the Public, put together a reading of the show last week. It was one of those “top secret” affairs, but sources close to Sondheim — Madame Armfeldt, Georges Seurat and Pseudolus — tell me the show is in great shape.
Well, the first act anyway. Sondheim, a famously slow writer, is still in the throes of writing the second.
“The music was gorgeous,” says one of my spies (let’s call her Mrs. Lovett). “It reminded me of ‘Passion,’ where Steve’s music flows in and out of the storyline. It’s not an old-fashioned Sondheim show — you know, song, dialogue, then a song. It’s much more seamless.”
Eustis put together a cast of Broadway first-raters, including Norm Lewis, Shuler Hensley, Sierra Boggess, Nancy Opel and Marc Kudisch.
It’s not an old-fashioned Sondheim show — you know, song, dialogue, then a song. It’s much more seamless
- A source
There’s no director yet, but Joe Mantello attended the reading, and I don’t think you can get much better than that. Mantello directed a terrific revival of Sondheim’s creepy musical “Assassins” for the Roundabout in 2004. He also staged two of last season’s best plays — “The Humans” and “Blackbird.”
“Bunuel” — that’s the working title — is vintage Sondheim territory: sophisticated, witty, elegant, sharp and boozy. The characters imbibe so often, the prop department is going to have to raid a liquor store.
A source calls Ives’ script “nonlinear.” Translation: It moves backward and forward in time. I hear it’s a bit tricky to follow on the page, but, with Sondheim’s songs, is clear and funny on the stage.
“The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie” happens to be one of my favorite foreign films. It’s best enjoyed while sipping an elegant Burgundy from, say, the Cote de Nuits. (I’m taking French lessons this summer so excuse the pretentious language, s’il vous plait.)
The movie follows a bunch of rich people who frequently get together for fancy dinner parties. The characters are elegant but nasty, and witty but deep down, sad, depressed and lonely.
If this isn’t material for a Sondheim show, I don’t know what is.
I’ve never seen “The Exterminating Angel,” but it’s next in my Netflix queue. My sources say “Bunuel” merges the two movies into what feels very much like an original musical.
“Bunuel” is the first show Sondheim has written since the ill-fated “Gold,” “Wise Guys” or “Bounce,” or whatever the title wound up being. That musical was a real disappointment, in all its incarnations. There was a sense around Broadway that perhaps Sondheim, one of the greats in this business, was tapped out. Even Sondheim was worried that “the well had run dry,” as one of his friends told me.
So it’s good to report he’s back at the piano writing some beautiful melodies along with his customary elegant lyrics.
Get to work on that second act, Steve!
And if you want me to swing by your very discreet bourgeois Turtle Bay townhouse to hear some new songs, I’ll wear my worsted wool tweed coat, much like the one Fernando Rey wears in that movie.