A Little Night Music Review: Juggling Heart, Words, Loin (And Expectations)

“Love is juggling heart, words, loin,” declares the universally-desired actress Desiree Armfeldt in a movie, Ingmar Bergman’s 1955 “Smiles of A Summer Night,” that also juggles all three – as does “A Little Night Music,” the Stephen Sondheim musical inspired by Bergman’s film, now back on Broadway for the first time in 35 years, starring Catherine Zeta-Jones as Desiree and Angela Lansbury as her mother.

(Update August, 2010: My new review of the show with replacement cast members Bernadette Peters and Elaine Stritch.)

Almost everything about this musical seems to be in threes. It has a love triangle plot – not just one love triangle, but at least six by my count; it is difficult to figure out precisely, because they overlap. Sondheim’s score is in triple time, the kind of waltz music popular a century ago in Sweden, which is the setting. And this production, which originated in London’s Menier Chocolate Factory (an arts complex named for its former occupants), seems to have stirred three categories of reaction among theatergoers.

There are those who say they simply do not like Sondheim – having staked out a clear side in the Great Musical Theater Divide between Jerry Herman (Hello, Dolly; Mame; La Cage Aux Folles) and Stephen Sondheim (Sweeney Todd, Company, Sunday In The Park With George) — or they do not care for this particular Sondheim musical, however it is done, because “the music is not my thing” or “no one is likable.” (Quotes guaranteed verbatim.) There are those, conversely, who love this musical so much, are such Sondheim connoisseurs, that any deviation from their conception seems to them sacrilege: They go on about the perfection of the original Harold Prince 1973 production, or Judi Dench’s stunning interpretation of Desirée in London in 1995, and say this production has too much loin, or not enough heart, or too much emphasis on the non-musical words – or all three. Then there are those who are thrilled that they can see this show back on Broadway with such a glorious cast.

I am in the third category.

I understand some of the criticism. There are just eight members of the orchestra. Thirty-five years ago, Jonathan Tunick, who did the orchestrations for the original production, complained about having 25. (“With such a limited number of musicians available, every player counts…”) The set consists mostly of a large wall that folds one way or another depending on the scene. The week I saw the show, its average ticket price was about $125, higher than any other on Broadway. It is a rarely expressed but well-established fact that many Broadway theatergoers want to see their money on the stage.

In addition, the lighting is deliberately dark and the costumes lacking color, and some of the minor characters are directed to be broad and bawdy in ways that are at times distracting.

Little of this dampens the experience for those of us who appreciate above all three (of course) elements of this production: Sondheim’s songs, Catherine Zeta-Jones’ allure, and Angela Lansbury’s majesty.

Sondheim’s songs in “A Little Night Music” are breathtakingly clever, something that is clear from the very first love triangle presented on the stage, that of the Egermans. Fredrik Egerman is a middle-aged lawyer who is married to Anne, a teenager who is about the same age as Fredrik’s son, Hendrik, an overly serious and sexually frustrated seminary student. Although Fredrik and Anne have been married 11 months, the marriage has yet to be consummated. As they sit on their bed, Anne prattling on about nothing, Fredrik starts to sing what is clearly meant to be a debate inside his head, “Now,” which begins:

Now there are two possibilities
A. I could ravish her
B. I could nap

The song follows through in a kind of flow chart of options, until he decides he is going to nap. At this point, Anne sings to her sleeping husband the song, “Soon”:

Soon, I promise.
Soon I won’t shy away,
Dear old…

and then she bites her lip, since that’s the problem of course; he’s too old for her.

Even now,
When you’re close and we touch,
And you’re kissing my brow,
I don’t mind it too much.

Meanwhile, Hendrik has his own triangle, lusting after both Anne and the maid Petra, who tells him he’ll have to wait until later, which inspires Hendrik’s song, “Later,”

Though I’ve been born, I’ve never been.
How can I wait around for later
I’ll be ninety on my deathbed
And the late, or rather later
Henrik Egerman!
Doesn’t anything begin?

After they have each sung their song separately, they then sing “Now,” “Soon,” and “Later” simultaneously.

All of this happens before Catherine Zeta-Jones even appears on the stage! Fredrik, it turns out, had a long-ago affair with Desiree, which is rekindled. There is a complication, though — more than one complication, actually (probably three): Desiree is currently dating (if that’s the right word) a married count…

Anyway.

There is a nearly mathematical beauty to both the intricacies of the internal rhymes and the complex interplay among the characters, who wind up all together in the second act on the country estate of Madame Armfeldt, Desiree’s mother. The Egerman triangle with its “Now”/”Later”/”Soon” trio is actually among the more minor of the evening’s entertainment. While Sondheim is always clever, “A Little Night Music” features some of his most pleasing melodies, including the most popular song of his career, “Send in the Clowns,” which was recorded by Judy Collins, Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand — you name it. Here is a snippet of the way Zeta-Jones performs it:

As anyone who saw her in the movie musical “Chicago” surely realized, this lady can sing. Is she too young and beautiful for the role of an actress longing to settle down, originated by Glynis Johns? Johns was 49 when the show debuted on Broadway; Zeta-Jones is 40. Yes, casting her requires that people look at the character differently, but it certainly fits: Desiree is supposed to be…desired; Anne calls her “ravishingly beautiful.” (It certainly works better than the casting of Elizabeth Taylor, then 46, in the 1978 movie version of “A Little Night Music,” which is near-universally acknowledged to have been a disaster.) The Fredrik in the current production is played by the only holdover from the Menier cast, Alexander Hanson, who seems older than Desiree (the actor is in fact 48), but, again, this works for the character; he is clearly attracted to younger women. And it doesn’t hurt that Hanson himself is a good singer and a commanding presence on the stage. (Would such a delectable Desiree be attracted to this older Fredrik? To his stability, to her memory of their dalliance 14 years earlier; why not?)

Then there is Angela Lansbury, who created the roles in two Sondheim-composed musicals, “Anyone Can Whistle” and “Sweeney Todd,” and is here recreating (naturally) her third. She plays Madame Armfeldt, an old elegant lady who now placidly plays solitaire from a wheelchair but in her prime numbered kings among her lovers. Lansbury delivers the zingers of her character and her one hilarious song, “Liaisons,” with the timing and aplomb that her many admirers have come to expect. Lansbury had been an actress for decades before she essayed musical theater; her first Broadway musical was Sondheim’s “Anyone Can Whistle,” in 1964, which ran for only a couple of weeks. Her second musical, “Mame,” ran for four years. It was composed by Jerry Herman. If anybody could bring together the Sondheim and Herman factions, it would be she.
--
A Little Night Music
at the Walter Kerr Theater, 219 West 48th Street
Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim; book by Hugh Wheeler, suggested by a film by Ingmar Bergman; originally produced and directed on Broadway by Harold Prince.
Directed by Trevor Nunn
Choreography by Lynne Page; music supervision by Caroline Humphris; sets and costumes by David Farley; lighting by Hartley T A Kemp; sound by Dan Moses Schreier and Gareth Owen; wig and hair design by Paul Huntley; makeup design by Angelina Avallone; production stage manager, Ira Mont; associate director, Seth Sklar-Heyn; associate choreographer, Scott Taylor
Music direction by Tom Murray; orchestrations by Jason Carr; music coordinator, John Miller

Cast
Catherine Zeta-Jones (Desirée Armfeldt), Angela Lansbury (Madame Armfeldt), Alexander Hanson (Fredrik Egerman), Erin Davie (Countess Charlotte Malcolm), Leigh Ann Larkin (Petra), Hunter Ryan Herdlicka (Henrik Egerman), Ramona Mallory (Anne Egerman) and Aaron Lazar (Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm).
Running time: 2 hours 50 minutes.
Ticket prices: from $52 (in the balcony) to $132 (in the orchestra). (“select premium and aisle locations” as high as $367)