A Little Night Music

Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by Hugh Wheeler
Suggested by a film by Ingmar Bergman

Directed by Trevor Nunn
Starring Bernadette Peters and Elaine Stritch

With Kevin David Thomas (Henrik Egerman), Stephen R. Buntrock (Mr. Lindquist), Jayne Paterson (Mrs. Nordstrom), Sara Jean Ford (Mrs. Anderssen), Kevin Vortmann (Mr. Erlanson), Betsy Morgan (Mrs. Segstrom), Keaton Whittaker (fredrika Armfeodt), Elaine Stritch (Madame Armfeldt), Bradley Dean (Frid), Ramona Mallory (Anne Egerman), Alexander Hanson (Fredrik Egerman), Leigh Ann Larkin (Petra), Bernadette Peters (Desirée Armfeldt), Aaron Lazar (Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm), Erin Davie (Countess Charlotte Malcolm)

Walter Kerr Theatre
Broadway, NY

I can find nothing wrong with this production. This is among a handful of the best productions of musical theatre I have ever seen. It is just exquisite.

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Bernadette Peters as Desirée Armfelt is superb. There is a grace, beauty and subtlety to her performance which is remarkable. Into her 60s, she is still a strikingly beautiful woman and her voice and demeanor onstage combine maturity and sophistication with allure in exactly the way that this role demands. I could not think of a finer match for the role. And there are very few stars of musical theatre who convey the kind of professionalism and refinement that Peters does. She has been onstage for more than 50 years and though her still youthful beauty make that hard to believe, her mastery at the craft is testament to it.

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Elaine Stritch, as Madame Armfelt, is wonderful as well. She does her one solo song (Liaisons) with a grand balance of wry and mournful tones, reflective and seasoned, with a few touches of longing and disillusionment. Overall there is an incredible dryness to her wit, which, combined with her gravelly voice and sangfroid, makes a tasty combination.

Alexander Hanson, as Fredrick Egerman, the leading man, has a sweetly bemused quality, making him charmingly dashing in his impassioned middle-age. He does a great job with the ironic ballad It Would Have Been Wonderful, a true testament to unwitting, rediscovered love.

Leigh Ann Larkin, as Petra, the maid, has vivid beauty and verve, and she does a great job with The Miller’s Son, the ironic final solo piece of the show, a combined romp and fatalistic lamentation on class consciousness and the limitations of social stratification. Part of Sondheim’s greatness is his ability to mix social commentary with irony, and this coda is a perfect example. Larkin has great stage presence and it would not surprise me to see her name up in bright lights at some point in the not too distant future.

Aaron Lazar and Erin Davie, as the Count and Countess, are both excellent – he, in subtly self-mocking his own bravado, and she, in her fatalistic and proto-feminist realism. Keaton Whittaker, as Desirée’s child, Fredrika, is pure, charming and unabashed, and, with easygoing self-possession, delivers the waterfalls of dreamy words in her big number about her always-on-tour mother, The Glamorous Life. Ramona Mallory (Anne) and Kevin David Thomas (Hendrik), as the similarly aged stepmother and stepson, are also very capable.

I cannot say enough good things about this production. The music, in which some elements has evolved since the original cast recording, is tuneful but slightly offbeat. It includes the now classic Send in the Clowns, beautifully interpreted by Peters, and the robust and contrapuntal ensemble number, A Weekend In The Country. The choreography, which involve a few group waltzes, is integrated in a tasteful and delightful way. Sets and costumes are well designed, but not fussy, which allows the characters and the music to display themselves in full relief.

W. A. Mozart

Of course, Sondheim’s greatness lies behind all of this. It is hard to imagine a more expertly written musical that carries brilliance of composition along with an almost perfect libretto. It is inspired by Swedish film director Ingmar Bergman’s Smiles of a Summer Night, his only real comedy. The plot has a Mozartean quality – particularly reminiscent of the great librettos written by Mozart’s collaborator, Lorenzo da Ponte – The Marriage of Figaro and Così Fan Tutte. That Sondheim should have called it A Little Night Music in honor of the Bergman film and in honor of Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusic (which is German for a little night music) is no surprise, given the texture of the plot. The combination of the irony, poignancy and humor in this show are perfect complements to those in Figaro and Così and the ingenuity with which Sondheim weaves the emotional threads is a contemporary complement, as well, to the mastery of those threads, several centuries ago, by Mozart and daPonte. As well, the inclusion of characters across classes is a strong feature of these works of Mozart’s, particularly Figaro. The genius with which Sondheim integrates the servants into the drama and songscape is striking, and truly a tribute to Mozart’s Figaro.

Stephen Sondheim
www.last.fm

Wikipedia, “Stephen Sondheim”

A Little Night Music [Original Broadway Cast Recording]

Smiles Of A Summer Night – Film by Ingmar Bergman – Criterion Collection

Mozart: Eine kleine Nachtmusik + Overtures K 486 588 492 620 477 – The Marriage of Figaro, The Magic Flute, Così Fan Tutte (CBS Great Performances, Bruno Walter, Conductor)

– BADMan