The Very Little Theatre continues its 80th season with a four-week run of the Tony Award-winning musical, A Little Night Music; music and lyrics are by Stephen Sondheim, and the book is by Hugh Wheeler.
A Little Night Music first opened on Broadway in 1973. This sentimental and achingly beautiful musical was inspired by the Ingmar Bergman film, Smiles of a Summer Night, and involves the romantic lives of several couples. Fredrik, a successful lawyer, has married an 18-year-old trophy wife named Anne, a vain girl who is too immature to grasp the concept of marriage. Fredrik reunites with his former lover, the actress Desiree Armfeldt, incurring the wrath of Desiree’s lover, a pompous Count. Fredrik also has a son, Henrik, from his first marriage. After a weekend in a country chateau, Fredrik ends up in a duel with the Count over Desirée, and Henrik and Anne fall in love with each other.
The tuneful, lilting Sondheim score is set almost entirely in waltz time, including the best-known song of the show, “Send in the Clowns.” (For more complete plot synopsis, see the Theatre History website. )
Music director is pianist Jim Greenwood, who has assembled a string quartet to perform the lovely Sondheim score with him as a chamber quintet. David Sherman designed the elegant set, which incorporates the musicians (and a grand piano) into the background. |
