Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Jane Krakowski, Rory Kinnear and many, many more discuss starring in Sondheim’s final musical

Stephen Sondheim and David Ives’ brand new musical Here We Are – Sondheim’s last – had its European premiere at the National Theatre last night, and WhatsOnStage was on hand to find out more!

The two-act musical is inspired by two films – The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie and The Exterminating Angel – by Luis Buñuel. It follows a group of guests who find themselves unable to leave a dinner party, and was first seen at the Shed in New York in 2023.

We wanted to hear from this all-star cast discuss taking on this historic production, as well as the knotty themes and ideas at play in the surreal piece.

The full company includes Edward Baker-Duly (understudy Leo Brink and Man), Tracie Bennett (Woman), Alastair Brookshaw (understudy Bishop and Paul Zimmer), Jack Butterworth (A Visitor/ensemble/understudy Soldier), Chumisa Dornford-May (Fritz), Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Paul Zimmer), Richard Fleeshman (Soldier), Harry Hadden-Paton (Bishop), Cameron Johnson (Colonel), Rory Kinnear (Leo Brink), Jane Krakowski (Marianne Brink), Molly Lynch (ensemble / understudy Marianne Brink and Fritz), Amira Matthews (ensemble / understudy Claudia Bursik-Zimmer and Woman), Denis O’Hare (Man), Martha Plimpton (Claudia Bursik-Zimmer), Steven Serlin (ensemble / understudy Raffael Santello Di Santicci, Colonel and A Visitor) and Paulo Szot (Raffael Santello Di Santicci).

On the creative team are set and costume designer David Zinn, choreographer Sam Pinkleton, orchestrations Jonathan Tunick, additional arrangements Alexander Gemignani, conductor Nigel Lilley, lighting designer Natasha Katz, sound designer Tom Gibbons and casting director Bryony Jarvis-Taylor.

You can find out more about the production here.