Cast of “A Little Night Music” (Photo by Reid Thompson)
PITTSFIELD – For Sondheim fans and musical theatre aficionados, “A Little Night Music” is a midsummer night’s dream. Its ingredients add up to one of the most elegant, classy and timeless musicals ever. A score full of lush Stephen Sondheim waltzes and crisp lyrics; a smart adaptation of Ingmar Bergman’s “Smiles of a Summer Night” by Hugh Wheeler, and a plot full of swooning characters falling all over themselves as they fall victims to the follies of love add up to pure pleasure.
Sondheim and Wheeler, with the help of producer/director Harold Prince, brought “A Little Night Music” to Broadway in 1973, where it became a big hit, thanks to its score and “Send in The Clowns”, its most recognized hit. It’s but one of a handful of wonderful noble and sentimental waltzes in the musical. The exuberant “A Weekend in The Country”, the common sense “The Miller’s Son”, and the ethereal “Liasions” are as potent.
Imagine an elegant Swedish country house, where a famed actress of a certain age (Maureen O’Flynn) and her mother (Penny Fuller) invite a host of people linked together in multi-layered liasons. A lawyer (Gregg Edelman), once in love with the actress, brings his new, much younger, still-virgin wife (Phillipa Soo), and his seminarian son (Matt Dengler) for a weekend in the country. The actress’ current lover, an egomaniac military officer (Graham Rowat), and his long-suffering wife (Kate Baldwin) arrive uninvited.
Up-and-coming director Ethan Heard gives “A Little Night Music” a contemporary pace, and Alex Sanchez’s choreography lifts the show’s opening “Night Waltz”. Nathan Dame’s musical direction brings out the best in Sondheim’s rich score, and an 11-piece orchestra navigates Jonathan Tunick’s orchestrations beautifully. Reid Thompson’s sets are simple, yet evocative of Boris Aronson’s originals, where sliding panels of trees create unique playing spaces. David Murin’s costumes are summery and elegant, and Oliver Wason’s lighting conjures the glow of a late summer sunset. Brendan F. Doyle’s sound design could use some tweaking, as the orchestra drowned out some of Sondheim’s best lyrics in places.
The cast of Broadway veterans offer some ravishing performances, and the stand-outs include Kate Baldwin as the long-suffering countess, Gregg Edelman as the lawyer Egerman and Matt Dengler as his seething son Henrik. I liked Graham Rowat’s self-absorbed dragoon and Monique Barbee as the maid, Petra, who seeks out passion “in the moment”. Penny Fuller’s rendering of “Liaisons” is compelling.
The role of the grand actress Desiree has defined the careers of many actresses who have played her, among them original Glynis Johns, Judi Dench, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Bernadette Peters, and Elizabeth Taylor (who played Desiree in the film version which did little justice to the musical nor Miss Taylor). Berkshires native and opera star Maureen O’Flynn returns to Pittsfield to play Desiree here. Her rendering of “Send in The Clowns” is lovely, but placed among musical theatre veterans, she’s not as grandiose or dramatic as one might expect of “a diva of “the theatre”.
Kudos also to the quintet of Liebeslieder Singers (Ashton Heyl, Denis Lambert, Jamilyn Manning-White, Patricia Noonan, and Eric Van Tielen) whose harmonies charm especially in the all-sung overture.
Since press night was the second performance of “A Little Night Music” at The Colonial, I expect that the problems with the sound design and the pace will improve with age.
The Berkshire Theatre Group presents “A Little Night Music”. Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Book by Hugh Wheeler, suggested by a film by Ingmar Bergman. Directed by Ethan Heard. Music direction by Nathan Dame. Choreography by Alex Sanchez. Scenic design by Reid Thompson. Costume design by David Murin. Lighting design by Oliver Wason. Hair/Wig/Make-Up Design by Jon Carter. Sound design by Brendan Doyle.. Through July 19 at The Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield. For tickets: 413-997-4444 or www.berkshiretheatregroup.org.
Mark G. Auerbach studied theatre at American University and the Yale School of Drama. He’s worked for arts organizations and reported on theatre for newspapers and radio.
