Love, lust and ‘A Little Night Music’ for the week
Spring is in the air and, sweet lovers love the spring.
It is fortuitous then, that all this week at Utah State University, sweet lovers and sweet singers will be combining harmoniously in the Utah State Theatre’s production of Stephen Sondheim’s, “A Little Night Music.”
“[Night Music] is a touching and comical story that will remind [everyone] that true love is sometimes found where we least expect it,” said Jim Christian, this year’s guest director from Weber State University.
Based on Ingmar Bergman’s film “Smile of a Summer Night,” Sondheim’s “A little Night Music” was first performed at the Shubert Theatre in New York on Feb. 25, 1973 and is an intricate musical about three mismatched couples which Christian described as “‘All My Children’ set in 20th century Sweden.”
As the play begins, the audience hears a quintet singing “Night Waltz,” during which the principle characters break into a surreal waltz and jump from one partner to the other. Foreshadowing the events of the musical, the music then fades as we hear old Madame Armfeldt explain to her granddaughter the three kinds of smiles worn by humans on a summer night: those worn by the very young who know nothing, those worn by the fools who know too little, and those worn by the old who know too much.
The audience is next introduced to the teenage Anne, her much older husband Fredrik, and her stepson, Henrik, who is actually a year older than his stepmother. Though they have been married 11 months, Anne and Fredrik have yet to consummate their marriage, and Fredrik is becoming extremely frustrated.
Though things have been going tolerably well for the couple, things change upon attending a comedy starring Desirée Armfeldt who, it is later revealed, once had an affair with Fredrik. Sexually frustrated, after the performance Fredrik takes his wife home, puts her to bed and immediately sneaks out into the arms of Desirée who is only too willing to help him relieve some of his tension.
Adding even more to the plot, Desirée is also having an affair at that time with Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm, the husband of Charlotte whose little sister was a childhood friend of Anne.
Things turn hilariously volatile when all the characters meet at Desirée’s country estate and, as reviewer J. Crabb said, “[set the stage] for a sexually-charged weekend of thinly veiled accusations and unexpected revelations.”
“The air is heavy with romance,” Christian said, “And while all the characters are often motivated by their appetites, it is their hearts which eventually lead them home.”
One of the interesting innovations in the musical is that Sondheim composed the entire score in three quarter time – the meter of the waltz – or multiples thereof. Sondheim said, “In ‘Night Music,’ I put everything in some form of triple time so that the whole score would feel vaguely like a long waltz with scherzo in between so that no song would seem to have come from another texture.”
Christian also said that “this rhythm, which reflects the exalted human heartbeat, carries us through a tale of lost loves, newfound passions and the glaring realities that lead us to our truest selves … and, like the waltz, the story keeps spinning in circle after circle leaving the audience to wonder where things will finally land.”
“There is some terrific talent in this production and the work is moving ahead very nicely,” Christian added.
That talent includes Jan Hines, who plays Madame Armfeldt, Holly Campbell as Anne, Jon McBride as Frederik and Monique Poyfair, who plays the actress Desirée Armfeldt.
“A Little Night Music” will run April 12 to 17 in the Morgan Theatre of the Chase Fine Arts Center. Curtain time is 7:30 p.m. and tickets are available at both USU ticket offices or by calling 797-0305. Tickets prices range from $7-10 and USU students are admitted free with a valid ID and ticket.
UST also notes that “‘A Little Night Music’ contains themes that may not be suitable for all audiences. Viewer discretion is advised.”
-mattgo@cc.usu.edu