I don't condone Zoom-bombing, but Meryl Streep, Christine Baranski, and Audra McDonald's bathrobe-cocktail-singing get together on Sunday night was one party I would have loved to crash. The three women got together (over Zoom) as part of Stephen Sondheim's 90th birthday celebration to sing "Ladies Who Lunch" from Company. However, they gave the performance their own quarantine twist, each donning bathrobes and pouring themselves a drink — or, in the case of Streep, multiple drinks.
There were no Mamma Mia-style dance numbers involved in Streep and Baranski's virtual reunion, but Streep made up for it with her fancy cocktail-shaker work.
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WE'LL 🍷https://t.co/Spb6IAvRrj #Sondheim90Concert pic.twitter.com/CoOEeKnFHe
— broadway.com (@broadwaycom) April 27, 2020
Baranski and McDonald were equally indulgent with their beverages.
DRINK🍷@audraequalityMC https://t.co/Spb6IAvRrj #Sondheim90Concert pic.twitter.com/0d9EhupTdO
— broadway.com (@broadwaycom) April 27, 2020
TO THAT🍷https://t.co/Spb6IAvRrj #Sondheim90Concert pic.twitter.com/AUD11CupCF
— broadway.com (@broadwaycom) April 27, 2020
Some other highlights from the performance: Thanks to the names that Zoom automatically assigns to each video, we know that Meryl Streep's iPhone is named "M S's iPhone" — just something to keep in mind if you ever see that name pop up in your AirDrop options. And, of course, the singing itself, which was incredible given that all three of them were sitting down and probably hadn't been out in fresh air in weeks.
Other performances during the birthday celebration came from Patti LuPone, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Annaleigh Ashford, Sutton Foster, and Jake Gyllenhaal. Friends Beanie Feldstein and Ben Platt hopped on to sing “It Takes Two” from Into the Woods.
The show didn't just serve as meme-fodder for the rest of quarantine, but as a glimmer of inspiration to get viewers through this difficult time.
“He never stops trying,” host Raúl Esparza said. "That’s the biggest thing I know about Stephen Sondheim. You keep going on. You keep moving on."
And if Streep, Baranski, and McDonald are leading the way, then that's no problem.
Watch the full celebration below, but the much-loved bathroom performance comes in at 1:58:35.
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