A Little Night Music – REVIEW
Image: Leon Ford, Blazey Best in A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, Hayes Theatre. Photo: John McCrae
Fifty years on from its debut, Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s sophisticated musical farce A Little Night Music has lost none of its musicality or wit.
A new Hayes Theatre production, under the direction of Sondheim aficionado Dean Bryant, proves the point with its dazzling execution across all of its theatrical elements.
Loosely based on Swedish director Ingmar Bergman’s 1955 film Smiles of a Summer Night , A Little Night Music follows a group of upperclass Swedish couples at the turn of the twentieth century who swap partners on a summer’s night.
The play unfolds with a disconnected waltz of the couples which ends with the entrance of Madame Armfeldt (Nancy Hayes), a wealthy former courtesan, who is with her grand daughter, Frederika (Pamela Papacosta).
Madame Armfeldt tells Frederika that the summer night smiles three times; first on the young, secondly on fools and lastly on the old.
We soon come to know the cast of characters that include Fredrik Egerman (Leon Ford), a middle aged lawyer married 11 months to the 18-year-old Anne (Melanie Bird), who has remained a virgin.
Fredrik also has a son, Henrik (Jeremi Campese) who’s is conflicted by his religious vocation and a desire to be seen and heard.
Desiree Armfeldt (Blazey Best) is a once glamorous actress now reduced to smaller roles when her life is briefly buoyed by a one night reunion with Fredrik, a former lover.
Desiree is also cheating on her own lover, the Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm (Joshua Robson) who is married the Countess Charlotte Malcom (Erin Claire).
The end of the first act is marked by the song “A Weekend in the Country” as Desiree convinces Madame Armfeldt to invite everyone to her country estate, where we enter the second act.
Bryant’s diligent casting means that everyone is evenly matched in both acting and singing skills and makes a dense storyline easy to watch.
As Desiree, Blazey Best easily projects sexual charm while delivering “Send in the Clowns” with aplomb.
Ford and Robson are well matched as the adversaries Egerman and Malcom and effortlessly handle their solo songs, “Now” and “In Praise of Women”, respectively.
Nancy Hayes casts a commanding presence throughout the production and none more so when she delivers “Liaisons”.
As Anne, Melbourne actress Melanie Bird is captivating, playing her character with outward naivety and inward steeliness while showing that she can also handle songs including “Soon” with Fredrik and Henrik and sharing “Every Day A Little Death” with Charlotte.
Madame Armfeldt’s maid Petra (Kiana Daniele) is a smaller role that comes to prominence in the second act when she performs “The Miller’s Song”.
Early in the show, Jeremi Campese has a moment of brilliance when he shows that he is more than competent at singing while playing the cello when giving us “Later”.
Joshua Robson also gets a rousing duet with Ford on “It Would Have Been Wonderful”.
Musical directors David Gardos and Michael Tyack keep the five piece band tight while Dylan Robinson’s sound design does a great job working between close miccing for the songs and dramatic delivery.
The Hayes stage has never looked so good as with Jeremy Allen’s multi purpose set design of an upper class salon with a divide of windows and a door dividing the main characters from the musicians and the vocal quintet.
Angela Doherty’s costumes look a treat reflecting Swedish fashion in the early 1900s that work seamlessly for the characters and with the set design.
Special mention should be made of Veronique Benett’s tasteful lighting that comes to the fore in the half-lit dance sequences performed under the movement director Shannon Burns graceful direction.
By the time that the finale, “Last Waltz” comes around you are left with the feeling that this production is really something special.
A Little Night Music is a a piece of musical theatre that hits all the right notes.
