Watch the trailer for ”Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends” ahead of BBC broadcast

The WhatsOnStage Award-nominated Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends tribute concert, conceived and produced by Cameron Mackintosh, was staged in the West End earlier this year and will now be presented on the BBC and iPlayer… with future plans also tested.

The special event, which took place in May of this year, featured a bumper cast of Michael Ball, Helena Bonham Carter, Rob Brydon, Petula Clark, Anna-Jane Casey, Rosalie Craig, Janie Dee, Judi Dench, Daniel Evans, Maria Friedman, Haydn Gwynne, Bonnie Langford, Damian Lewis, Julia Mckenzie, Julian Ovenden, Bernadette Peters, Sian Phillips, Jon Robyns, Clive Rowe, Jenna Russell, Imelda Staunton, Charlie Stemp, Gary Wilmot and Michael D. Xavier.

It was staged by Matthew Bourne, Friedman and Stephen Mear and conducted by Alfonso Casado Trigo. It sold out immediately, and demand was so great that the evening was simultaneously live screened at the Prince Edward Theatre a few hundred metres away.

As previously announced, the show will be broadcast on New Year’s Eve at 5.35pm.