Director David Lee “has had an appointment” with Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music for 50 years. Now he’s finally getting the chance to helm his own production when the tuneful musical opens Tuesday, April 25 at the Pasadena Playhouse.
The second mainstage production in the theater’s six-month long Sondheim Celebration (the first major festival honoring the musical theatre icon’s legacy since his death in 2021), the sophisticated tuneful musical has been extended through Sunday, May 28 (for details, see below).
Suggested by Ingmar Bergman’s film Smiles of a Summer Night, set in Sweden around 1900, A Little Night Music is centered around a rekindled romance between just-barely-fading starlet Desirée Armfeldt and newly re-married lawyer Fredrik Egerman. Fredrik is married to a much younger woman, Anne, the subject of his son Henrik’s adoration. Desirée is having an affair with a married dragoon, Carl-Magnus, whose wife Charlotte knows Anne through her younger sister. Eventually they all end up at Desirée’s mother’s house in the country.
Sondheim’s score, heavily influenced by Maurice Ravel, brings life to the story of new romance, second chances, regret and desire that ensues.
“I love the idea of a comedy of manners with farcical elements that strikes at your heart strings at the end,” says Lee.
Following are excerpts from my interview with Lee about bringing Sondheim’s “celebration of love” to the stage.
What’s the appeal of the show for you?
I love the idea of human beings having made terrible mistakes with their lives and loves and then concluding with everything straightened out. People are anxious for something that looks beautiful and sounds beautiful and has a happy ending.
How is it coming back at the Pasadena Playhouse?
I did Ragtime in 2019 and it was very successful. Danny Feldman (Playhouse executive artistic director) asked me what I wanted to do next, and I said A Little Night Music. We couldn’t find a good time. Subsequently after a two-and-a-half-year hiatus during the pandemic, the death of Sondheim and the creation of the current festival, we realized now we have a reason to do it. I immediately said great when Danny proposed it. I think now is the right time after what we’ve all been through.
What’s it like being part of the Playhouse’s Sondheim Celebration?
I’m excited to be a cog in the wheel of this Sondheim Festival. The site-specific production of Into the Woods in January gave more than 200 Pasadena Unified School District students the chance to work with theatre professionals; and I heard it was great. As was Sunday in the Park with George. And I’m looking forward to seeing Bernadette Peters. (Her run of three concerts is set for June 9-11 at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium).
You have a personal connection with this show and Sondheim.
For 50 years and a week or two more, I’ve loved this show (which opened in 1973). A Little Night Music was the second show I saw on Broadway. I had directed a production of Company for my master’s degree and written to Stephen Sondheim asking if he could offer any help or had anything to add to my dissertation. He wrote back and said ‘we can meet when you come to New York.’ After the Little Night Music matinee ended at 4:45 p.m. he said ‘come over to my place’ and it was a great afternoon and early evening of lessons in the theatre. A lot of it has stuck with me my whole career.
Now I’m 50 years older, so I guess everything in its time. I think it’s appropriate that I’m directing this 50th anniversary revival.
This is the Sondheim show that gave us Send In the Clowns, but the score is a lot more than that.
The score is genius from the first note to the last. There’s a myth going around that the entire score is waltzes. Yes, the music is all ¾ time, but in variations such as the etude, gigue, mazurka, polonaise, barcarolle and Sarabande.
A lot of times people say they’re doing a revival, but they don’t use the original orchestration. They’re doing a different version of the show. The 2008 revival used a paired down eight-piece pit band. I have to give credit to Danny, he’s allowing us to use the 22-instrument original orchestration, heavy on the woodwinds, first created by Jonathan Tunick.
Any reflections on directing the show?
The musical has patter songs, a quartet, a double quintet and contrapuntal duets and trios. Sondheim was just getting into contrapuntal and choral writing with this show. So you have people singing different things at the same time. It can be challenging early in rehearsal, but it actually makes directing easy. Sondheim didn’t believe in chaos. Each character has their own lyric, so you don’t have the issue of an actor saying ‘why am I saying this?’
Some people think this show is not as revolutionary as Sondheim’s other musicals, but as I dig deeper into it, I see it’s forward thinking in a different way and style than Pacific Overtures or Sweeney Todd. For this show Sondheim added the Liebeslieder (love song singers), a quintet that not only sings the overture, but functions as a Greek chorus, commenting on the action throughout the play.
The show is also very funny. And given my background, I want to bring out the humor. (Lee wrote and produced hit TV comedies The Jefferson, Cheers and Wings and guest directed Everybody Loves Raymond.)
Like all Sondheim musicals, this one is packed with witty lyrics. Sondheim himself said he was especially pleased with “It’s a very short road from the pinch and the punch to the paunch and the pouch and the pension,” from The Miller’s Son. What’s your favorite lyric?
It’s from Perpetual Anticipation – “Perpetual anticipation is good for the soul, but it’s bad for the heart. It’s very good for practicing self-control. It’s very good for morals, but bad for morale.” It’s sung by the quintet before a fraught dinner. I enjoyed staging that scene.
How did you approach the casting?
This show is known for its lush score that makes it popular with opera companies. So we took our time to find singers who can handle the score’s demands. We have Broadway veterans Merle Dandridge as Desirée Armfeldt, Michael Hayden at Fredrik Egerman, Jodi Long as Madame Armfeldt, Sarah Uriarte Berry as Countess Charlotte Malcolm, Ryan Silverman as Count Carl-Magnus Malcom and Kaley Ann Voorhees as Anne Egerman. Plus several first-rate singer-actors making their Playhouse debuts.
What kind of research did you do to prepare?
Well, Sondheim has written a lot, and of course there’s his Finishing the Hat. There are a lot of people out there who know everything about the show and quite a record of previous productions. It’s helpful to read and hear other opinions, but the key is to not immerse yourself too deeply in these and bring your own creativity to it.
The musical has been called “an exercise in elegance” known for sliding screens of birch trees and evening touring cars.
Yes, I’m doing full size birch trees and the cars, though not full sized.
Since it’s based on a film, the construction is very cinematic from one scene to another with a lot of movement. I was watching the movie version, and something happened, and I thought ‘I can use that, and no one’s ever done that before.’ I’m keeping it a surprise, but it involves a boat.
Anything to add?
I’vw realized in my research how underappreciated the work and contributions of Hugh Wheeler are. Not only does his book for the musical flesh out the characters, but he kept the plot of the film and turns it into a thing of beauty that is extremely touching. Even Sondheim had to admit that he’d done a good job.
Tickets and information for A Little Night Music are available at pasadenaplayhouse.org, by phone at 626-356-7529, and at the box office at 39 South El Molino Ave., Pasadena.
Steve Simmons is an accomplished writer and editor who writes about a wide array of topics including entertainment. His successful experience at The Beverly Hills Courier and other publications set the stage for his blog. Contact Steve at steve.simmons0211@gmail.com or 626-788-6734.
