A Little Night Music
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| A Little Night Music | |
| Music | Stephen Sondheim |
|---|---|
| Lyrics | Stephen Sondheim |
| Book | Hugh Wheeler |
| Based upon | 1955 film Smiles of a Summer Night |
| Productions | 1973 Broadway 1974 West End |
| Awards | 1973 Tony Award Best Musical 1973 Tony Award Best Book of a Musical 1973 Tony Award Best Original Score |
A Little Night Music is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Hugh Wheeler.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
Based on the Ingmar Bergman film Smiles of a Summer Night, the play tells the story of a lawyer, Fredrik Egerman, who is married to a very young wife, Anne, who, despite the fact that they have been married almost a year, is still a virgin. He sees an old flame, Desiree Armfeldt, who is appearing in a popular play, and his romantic interest in her is rekindled. However, she is having an affair with a jealous, and married, military man, Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm. Complicating matters is Egerman's son, Henrik, a divinity student who is in love with his stepmother.
The play culminates in a weekend at the country estate of Desiree's mother, Madame Leonora Armfeldt, who is looking after Desiree's daughter, Fredrika, while Desiree is on tour.
Another set of characters, the Lieder Singers, wander in between and around the main characters, sometimes acting as narrators, sometimes expressing the main character's thoughts and sometimes acting as a Greek chorus and setting the scene. Sondheim says that these characters represent "people who aren't wasting time", unlike the main characters, who dither and debate instead of seizing the moment and being honest about with whom they are in love.
Sondheim, Wheeler and Prince created a work that is far more complex and sophisticated than first appearances might suggest. The characters, from royalty to bourgeoisie to servant, present a cross section of Swedish society at that particular place and time. The character's ages span from the young teenage daughter to the elderly Madame Armfeldt. Each character's views on life, love and sex are explored in depth and with great compassion and humor. (Sondheim went so far as to write a song for the otherwise mute manservant Frid, which was cut in previews, because as Prince barked at him one evening "Who cares what Frid thinks?")
The "Weekend in the County" that the characters spend is at the height of mid-summer, which in Sweden means that the sun never sets completely. The characters wander around the vast estate and grounds bathed in a golden twilight. This hazy, limbo-like setting allows them to explore their passions and realize who it is and what it is that they truly desire.
[edit] The music
Virtually all of the music in the show is written in waltz (3/4) time or variants thereof (such as compound meter, a time signature like 12/8, for example); one brief repeated passage in "The Miller's Son" is in duple meter. The work is often mistaken for an operetta rather than standard musical comedy, but its copious use of dialogue and complex, multi-dimensional characters place it firmly in the genre of the modern American Musical. Despite the oblique Mozart reference in the title (see below), the elegant, harmonically-advanced music in this show pays indirect homage to the compositions of Maurice Ravel, especially his Valses nobles et sentimentales; part of this effect stems from the style of orchestration that Jonathan Tunick used. The score contains Sondheim's best-known song, "Send in the Clowns", as well as such songs as "The Glamorous Life," "You Must Meet My Wife," "Every Day a Little Death," "Liaisons," "In Praise of Women," "A Weekend in the Country," and "The Miller's Son." The score makes heavy demands on performers, with extensive use of counterpoint and most singing parts written with an operatic range.
[edit] Production history
A Little Night Music opened on Broadway at the Shubert Theatre on February 25, 1973, with a cast which included Glynis Johns, Len Cariou, Hermione Gingold, Victoria Mallory, Mark Lambert, Laurence Guittard, Patricia Elliott, and D. Jamin-Bartlett. It won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award and the Tony Award for Best Musical. For more information see A Little Night Music at The Internet Broadway Database.
The subsequent London production in 1974 starred Jean Simmons, Joss Ackland, David Kernan, Diane Langton, with Hermione Gingold reprising her role as Madame Armfeldt.
In 1978, a film version of A Little Night Music was made, starring Elizabeth Taylor, Lesley-Anne Down, and Diana Rigg, with Len Cariou, Hermione Gingold, and Laurence Guittard reprising their Broadway roles. The setting for the film was moved from Sweden to Austria, and was filmed on location. Much of the score was cut. Stephen Sondheim wrote lyrics for the "Night Waltz" theme ("Love Takes Time") and wrote an entirely new version of "The Glamorous Life" which has been incorporated into several subsequent productions of the stage musical. The film marked legendary Broadway director Hal Prince's first time as a motion picture director. For more information see A Little Night Music at the Internet Movie Database.
In addition to the original Broadway and London cast recordings, and the motion picture soundtrack (now out of print), there are recordings of the 1990 studio cast, the 1995 Royal National Theatre revival (starring Judi Dench), and the 2001 Barcelona cast recording sung in Catalan. In 1997 an all-jazz version of the score was recorded by Terry Trotter.
[edit] Musical Numbers
- Overture
- Night Waltz
- Now
- Later
- Soon
- The Glamorous Life
- Remember?
- You Must Meet My Wife
- Liaisons
- In Praise of Women
- Every Day a Little Death
- Weekend in the Country
- Night Waltz I (The Sun Won't Set)
- Night Waltz II (The Sun Sits Low)
- It Would Have Been Wonderful
- Perpetual Anticipation
- Send in the Clowns
- The Miller's Son
- Send in the Clowns (reprise)
- Last Waltz
[edit] Awards
In 1973, the original Broadway production was nominated for eleven Tony Awards. It won in the following categories:
- Best Musical (Harold Prince, producer)
- Best Book of a Musical (Hugh Wheeler)
- Best Original Score (Stephen Sondheim)
- Best Actress in a Musical (Glynis Johns)
- Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Patricia Elliott)
- Best Costume Design (Florence Klotz)
The following were the other nominations. In the Best Featured Actress category, both Hermione Gingold and Patricia Elliott were nominated against one another for their work on the same show.
- Best Actor in a Musical (Len Cariou)
- Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Laurence Guittard)
- Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Hermione Gingold)
- Best Scenic Design (Boris Aronson)
- Best Lighting Design (Tharon Musser)
- Best Direction of a Musical (Harold Prince)
Additionally in 1973, D. Jamin-Bartlett, Patricia Elliott, and Laurence Guittard were honored with Theatre World Awards for their work on the show.
[edit] External links
- A Little Night Music info page on StageAgent.com - A Little Night Music plot summary & character descriptions
A Little Night Music is also an occasionally used translation of Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, the nickname of Mozart's Serenade No. 13 for strings in G major, K. 525.
