Maria Friedman & Friends–Legacy, celebrating the talents of late composers Marvin Hamlisch, Michel Legrand, and Stephen Sondheim, will be presented at London's Menier Chocolate Factory March 3-20 with an official opening March 8.
Friedman will be joined onstage by Matthew White, Ian McLarnon, Alfie Friedman, and Desmonda Cathabel as well as a choir from the Royal Academy of Music. Musical director Theo Jamieson will be featured on piano with Paul Moylan on double bass and Joe Evans on percussion.
Friedman, who performed with each of the late, award-winning composers multiple times, says, "This event was brought about by a desire to sing, to share and to join together in celebration of some of the greatest composers of our time. These past two years have starved us of the connection and depth of emotion that brilliant music and song can evoke—and we want to bring that back in the beautifully intimate space at the Menier, and enable audiences to revel in the legacy of my much missed friends, these extraordinary artists—Hamlisch, Legrand, and Sondheim. I can’t wait to share it with you.”
Attendees can expect to hear such tunes as "Broadway Baby," "Send in the Clowns," "A Piece of Sky," "At the Ballet," and "Nothing."
Maria Friedman & Friends–Legacy sees Friedman and the Menier renew their collaboration following Maria Friedman Re-arranged, which transferred to the West End; her appearance as Golde in the Menier’s production of Fiddler on the Roof at the Playhouse; and Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along, which saw her make her directorial debut, and also transferred to the West End, winning the Olivier and Evening Standard Awards for Best Revival of a Musical and the Critics’ Circle Award for Best Musical. Friedman's Merrily also travelled across the pond for a 2017 production at Boston's Huntington Theatre.
Friedman is a three-time Olivier winner for Maria Friedman By Special Arrangement at the Donmar Warehouse (1995), Best Actress in a Musical for her performance as Fosca in the West End production of Sondheim's Passion (1996), and for her role as Mother in Ragtime (2003).
The Menier Chocolate Factory, in association with Sonia Friedman Productions, produces.
