If you do not adore Sondheim – this could be the show that changes your mind.  On the other hand, if you don’t LIKE Sondheim, you may be suffering from some heretofore unnamed or unknown condition.  If, however, you do like/love/adore Sondheim, you might need smelling salts to get you through this two-hour extravaganza.

I must tell you that I was somewhere in between.  I have my favorite songs and my favorite musicals, but the two were not necessarily connected or dependent on one another.  I didn’t even know that some of my favorites were penned by him.

This production may have been created to set the record straight for a whole bunch of us by collecting a cornucopia of songs by Sondheim and delivering them to us en masse. Blended with, my my count there are 40 songs here.  And I know for a fact that this ain’t all of them.  No idea how Cameron Macintosh, who lists himself as Devisor and Producer, and Director Matthew Bourne chose what they chose.  There are the familiar: Send In The Clowns, Tonight, The Ladies Who Lunch, Side By Side, and of course, Old Friends.  This, however,  is a mix and match night with the well-known blended with the lesser or even obscure..  If you are looking for the whisper of a plot – save yourself the trouble.  This is a shower of Sondheim.  Period.  It is a grand buffet that floats on the air and offers you delectable snippets one after the other.  And who are you to refuse?

The set up is reminiscent of the staging we have come to expect from Encores!  The orchestra, conducted by Annbritt duChateau, is platformed upstage, and the “Performers,” as each one is identified in the Playbill, are all downstage.  The sets by Matt Kinley are minimal but imaginative.  They underscaore thatfor it is the music that is taking center stage.  Costumes, especially for the women, are fleeting and fabulous.  All the elements conspire to deliver the best they can so that we receive the full grandeur and force of Sondheim.

Among the “Performers,” Bernadette Peters – her “Send In The Clowns” will shatter you – and Lea Salonga – who is a fantastic Mrs. Lovett from “Sweeney Todd” (along side the brilliant Jeremy Seacomb) are the clear leaders. The rest of the cast, however, is talented in the extreme.  They are each triple threats.  They can act, sing and dance.  The voices are thrilling.  The dance moves are dizzying.  I have no idea how they remember the many complicated transitions.  Fortunately, the folks in charge have managed to stagger the numbers so that there are plenty of solos sprinkled throughout that give those offstage a chance to slip into the costumes for their next incarnation.  It all appears to be done without a care.  Which means it is a boatload of coordination and work.

This is a dip into an experience of excellence from start to finish.  Every element shines.  When it is over, you walk out saying, “How did one person produce such a treasure trove of music?  How did one person create ALL THIS?”

When it’s over, you want it to start again.

Manhattan Theatre Club, in association with CMI and Daryl Roth, presents Cameron Mackintosh’s Production of Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends. Directed by Matthew Bourne, side by side with Julia McKenzie

WITH Bernadette Peters, Lea Salonga, Jacob Dickey, Kevin Earley, Jasmine Forsberg, Kate Jennings Grant, Bonnie Langford, Beth Leavel, Gavin Lee, Jason Pennycooke, Joanna Riding, Jeremy Secomb, Kyle Selig, Maria Wirries, and Daniel Yearwood.

Choreography by Stephen Mear, musical supervision by Alfonso Casado Trigo and Stephen Brooker, musical arrangements by Stephen Metcalfe, and conducted by Annbritt duChateau. The set design was by Matt Kinley, the projection design was by George Reeve, the costume design was by Jill Parker, the lighting design was by Warren Letton, and the sound design was by Mick Potter.

At the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre (261 West 47th Street).  Through June 15.  TICKETS