Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music (1973) is a deliriously memorable musical/operette. Its slimmed down staging at the tiny Hayes Theatre, minus opera orchestra and opera stage, delivers its wit, elegance, and humour with distinction.
The desire for and illusions of love are sprinkled across the work. It is playful but it also harbours an aching heart. It understands the complexities of desire – as they are bedded down on the bittersweet waltzes that elegantly scaffold the drama. Seeing this work in such an intimate venue, shines a light on the coruscating wit of the lyrics and the lilting elegance of the music.
Sondheim and his playwright, Hugh Wheeler, always creative distinctive characters, caught up in believable situations. In this performance all the principals responded to their roles with deep commitment and elan.
The Egerman household is led by Frederick (Leon Ford) who is a tall and handsome husband. He opens the trio “Now, Later, Soon” with clear diction and heartfelt wit, as the older man tries to come to grips with how he might successfully seduce his virginal wife.
Henrik, the young son with the erect penis and erect morals, was winningly performed by Jeremi Campese. His playing of the cello and the vibration of his body and voice summoned his wicked love for his young stepmother with an adroit and caring wit, and strong musicality. His puppy love and adolescent angst were made real.
Anne, the young and virtuous wife was sung with a clear soprano and childish glee by Erica Wild. Her adolescent beauty and girlish charm were given believability. We understand why her elderly husband is totally enchanted by her. But also, why mismatched generations might uncover their differences in deceit.
The Armfeldt household was piquantly cast. Nancy Hayes as the matriarch, Leonora, has the drop-dead timing that performers dream of achieving. In her glorious aria, “Liaisons”, she delivered both its dreamy remembrances and the firm philosophy of an old-world courtesan: Love “should on no account perplex/Or worse, inspire;/It's but a pleasurable means/To a measurable end”. She finds the modern world distasteful but knows its twists and turns: “In a world where the princes are lawyers”. It was a privilege to witness such a thorough performance, full of weariness and the flickering flame of artful desire and ongoing calculation as the life force veritably glowed in her ageing body.
Pamelia Papacosta, as her granddaughter Frederica, is 13 going on a 103. She is an excellent foil for both her grandmother and mother - bringing both wide-eyed wonder and knowingness to her assumption. Her interactions with both Anne and Henrik in act 2 see her as a careful Puck, guiding the young lovers to their own fruition.
The Malcom household is a delicious contrast in stiff aristocratic demeanour and skewed propriety. As Charlotte, Erin Clare brings to life the beautiful but put upon wife who bears her dim-witted husband’s affairs with costly aplomb. She goads him but also loves him. She hates herself and him for doing so. The beauty and sadness of “Everyday a little death”, in duet with Anne, was deliciously doleful and fulsome with haunting self-knowledge.
As the male bimbo, Count Malcom (Joshua Robson) is a delightful comic foil, a pompous and strutting dragoon with a glorious chest and voice who is cock sure of his elemental sexual appeal, but also uncertain of the virtuousness of his mistress (Desiree). His aria about the tantalising variability of women was given with self-deprecating wit and vocal precision.
His Act 2 duet with Egerman, over the perfections of the mistress they share, delivered a finely gradated performance that blended aggression, vulnerability, and defiance. Both singers ensured that the glorious lyrics elicited rippling laughter across the audience as they preened like strutting cockerels.
Petra (Kiana Daniele), the Egerman’s maid, was a larger-than-life presence in this production, a knowing young woman who arouses and teases Henrik, plays robustly with the child-like Anne, and in Act 2 launches a powerful anthem/hymn to the passing pleasures that young working girls must celebrate, as they try and hold onto the power of their youth.
The work meditates on the passing of time. Leonora Armfeldt edges towards death, Fredricka can’t wait to leave her childhood and experience the pleasures and terrors of the adult world. Anne trapped in the comfort of toy marriage to an ageing old man, is waiting for something to happen. Petra imagines the softening spread of her ageing body and its limited mobility – as the time ahead. Henrik wants to grow up and become a man who can ride both virtue and temptation (doesn’t anything begin?). Time releases and blocks.
At the heart of this work exists the fabulous Desiree (Blazey Best), the mid-life actress of impeccable wit and understanding who celebrates the crankiness of the acting life and its slipshod glamour. Her reunion with Frederick in her dressing room, after a performance, was superbly acted and choreographed.
He sings about his love for his child bride, she tolerates his besottedness, until she uncovers the virginal nature of their union – then erupts. She devours him and her sandwiches. She displays her beautiful semi naked body, and she rekindles the playfulness of their long-ago affair. These two performers were elegantly believable, the rekindling rich in shared understanding and the simplicity of good sex. Blazey Best’s rendition of “Send in the Clowns”, in Act 2, was a model of word pointing and pent-up emotion when she realises that her desire for a settled life and happiness may have founded on the shoals of time. This song is so specific to its dramatic situation and requires a first-class actor to deliver its full impact. Best carried the vocal line and intent with a heartfelt reckoning. The catch in the voice and body were deeply rendered.
The extended finale of Act 1 (“A weekend in the country”) is a gem of verbal inflexion and musical propulsion that segues effortlessly between households and couples. The ensemble launched its many frissons with precision and energy, the singers weaving their way across the small stage and building a cascade of joy and heightened emotional energy – as though summoning the summer nights denouement to do its darnedest - to hex and unhex all these querulous people.
The vocal quintet was made up of young performers from the Sydney Conservatorium Bachelor of Music Performance (Music Theatre) program. They were equal to their musical demands. They were, however, very young and costumed very starkly as opposed to the middle-aged married people of the original work – who summoned infidelity from remembrance, waltzing across the stage in their elaborate costumes. They did, however, capture the haunting lilt of the vocal Night Waltzes (“The Sun Sits low” and “Perpetual Anticipation") and added heft to “A weekend in the country”. They also managed to ride the vocal overture that commences the work.
Frid (Dominic Lui) was a knowing presence wheeling Madame Armfeldt around the tiny stage with zipping ease.
The small instrumental ensemble led by Michael Tyack gave us a slimmed down version of its orchestral beauties with orchestrations by Matthew Moisey. The woodwind accompaniment (Abi McCunn) in “Send in the Clowns” was particularly haunting as was the viola playing across the score (Joseph Clemmit).
The one negative of the production was the over-miking of the singers, unnecessary in this small venue.
The costuming (Angela Doherty) of the principals was vividly done – from the daunting black lace of Leonora to the spiffing dragoon uniform of Count Malcom.
The set design (Jeremy Allen) gave us a whimsical and practical staging. The lighting design (Veronique Bennet) was always apposite.
The overall direction by Dean Bryant ensured that this actor’s musical was allowed to unfold its many beauties and dazzling lyrics with dramatic and emotional clarity. The audience responded to this trust with heartfelt thanks: “Ah, how we laughed, Ah, how we wept”.
Hayes Theatre Company, Hayes Theatre, Sydney, November 9, 2023
Gar Jones
The desire for and illusions of love are sprinkled across the work. It is playful but it also harbours an aching heart. It understands the complexities of desire – as they are bedded down on the bittersweet waltzes that elegantly scaffold the drama. Seeing this work in such an intimate venue, shines a light on the coruscating wit of the lyrics and the lilting elegance of the music.
Sondheim and his playwright, Hugh Wheeler, always creative distinctive characters, caught up in believable situations. In this performance all the principals responded to their roles with deep commitment and elan.
The Egerman household is led by Frederick (Leon Ford) who is a tall and handsome husband. He opens the trio “Now, Later, Soon” with clear diction and heartfelt wit, as the older man tries to come to grips with how he might successfully seduce his virginal wife.
Henrik, the young son with the erect penis and erect morals, was winningly performed by Jeremi Campese. His playing of the cello and the vibration of his body and voice summoned his wicked love for his young stepmother with an adroit and caring wit, and strong musicality. His puppy love and adolescent angst were made real.
Anne, the young and virtuous wife was sung with a clear soprano and childish glee by Erica Wild. Her adolescent beauty and girlish charm were given believability. We understand why her elderly husband is totally enchanted by her. But also, why mismatched generations might uncover their differences in deceit.
The Armfeldt household was piquantly cast. Nancy Hayes as the matriarch, Leonora, has the drop-dead timing that performers dream of achieving. In her glorious aria, “Liaisons”, she delivered both its dreamy remembrances and the firm philosophy of an old-world courtesan: Love “should on no account perplex/Or worse, inspire;/It's but a pleasurable means/To a measurable end”. She finds the modern world distasteful but knows its twists and turns: “In a world where the princes are lawyers”. It was a privilege to witness such a thorough performance, full of weariness and the flickering flame of artful desire and ongoing calculation as the life force veritably glowed in her ageing body.
Pamelia Papacosta, as her granddaughter Frederica, is 13 going on a 103. She is an excellent foil for both her grandmother and mother - bringing both wide-eyed wonder and knowingness to her assumption. Her interactions with both Anne and Henrik in act 2 see her as a careful Puck, guiding the young lovers to their own fruition.
The Malcom household is a delicious contrast in stiff aristocratic demeanour and skewed propriety. As Charlotte, Erin Clare brings to life the beautiful but put upon wife who bears her dim-witted husband’s affairs with costly aplomb. She goads him but also loves him. She hates herself and him for doing so. The beauty and sadness of “Everyday a little death”, in duet with Anne, was deliciously doleful and fulsome with haunting self-knowledge.
As the male bimbo, Count Malcom (Joshua Robson) is a delightful comic foil, a pompous and strutting dragoon with a glorious chest and voice who is cock sure of his elemental sexual appeal, but also uncertain of the virtuousness of his mistress (Desiree). His aria about the tantalising variability of women was given with self-deprecating wit and vocal precision.
His Act 2 duet with Egerman, over the perfections of the mistress they share, delivered a finely gradated performance that blended aggression, vulnerability, and defiance. Both singers ensured that the glorious lyrics elicited rippling laughter across the audience as they preened like strutting cockerels.
Petra (Kiana Daniele), the Egerman’s maid, was a larger-than-life presence in this production, a knowing young woman who arouses and teases Henrik, plays robustly with the child-like Anne, and in Act 2 launches a powerful anthem/hymn to the passing pleasures that young working girls must celebrate, as they try and hold onto the power of their youth.
The work meditates on the passing of time. Leonora Armfeldt edges towards death, Fredricka can’t wait to leave her childhood and experience the pleasures and terrors of the adult world. Anne trapped in the comfort of toy marriage to an ageing old man, is waiting for something to happen. Petra imagines the softening spread of her ageing body and its limited mobility – as the time ahead. Henrik wants to grow up and become a man who can ride both virtue and temptation (doesn’t anything begin?). Time releases and blocks.
At the heart of this work exists the fabulous Desiree (Blazey Best), the mid-life actress of impeccable wit and understanding who celebrates the crankiness of the acting life and its slipshod glamour. Her reunion with Frederick in her dressing room, after a performance, was superbly acted and choreographed.
He sings about his love for his child bride, she tolerates his besottedness, until she uncovers the virginal nature of their union – then erupts. She devours him and her sandwiches. She displays her beautiful semi naked body, and she rekindles the playfulness of their long-ago affair. These two performers were elegantly believable, the rekindling rich in shared understanding and the simplicity of good sex. Blazey Best’s rendition of “Send in the Clowns”, in Act 2, was a model of word pointing and pent-up emotion when she realises that her desire for a settled life and happiness may have founded on the shoals of time. This song is so specific to its dramatic situation and requires a first-class actor to deliver its full impact. Best carried the vocal line and intent with a heartfelt reckoning. The catch in the voice and body were deeply rendered.
The extended finale of Act 1 (“A weekend in the country”) is a gem of verbal inflexion and musical propulsion that segues effortlessly between households and couples. The ensemble launched its many frissons with precision and energy, the singers weaving their way across the small stage and building a cascade of joy and heightened emotional energy – as though summoning the summer nights denouement to do its darnedest - to hex and unhex all these querulous people.
The vocal quintet was made up of young performers from the Sydney Conservatorium Bachelor of Music Performance (Music Theatre) program. They were equal to their musical demands. They were, however, very young and costumed very starkly as opposed to the middle-aged married people of the original work – who summoned infidelity from remembrance, waltzing across the stage in their elaborate costumes. They did, however, capture the haunting lilt of the vocal Night Waltzes (“The Sun Sits low” and “Perpetual Anticipation") and added heft to “A weekend in the country”. They also managed to ride the vocal overture that commences the work.
Frid (Dominic Lui) was a knowing presence wheeling Madame Armfeldt around the tiny stage with zipping ease.
The small instrumental ensemble led by Michael Tyack gave us a slimmed down version of its orchestral beauties with orchestrations by Matthew Moisey. The woodwind accompaniment (Abi McCunn) in “Send in the Clowns” was particularly haunting as was the viola playing across the score (Joseph Clemmit).
The one negative of the production was the over-miking of the singers, unnecessary in this small venue.
The costuming (Angela Doherty) of the principals was vividly done – from the daunting black lace of Leonora to the spiffing dragoon uniform of Count Malcom.
The set design (Jeremy Allen) gave us a whimsical and practical staging. The lighting design (Veronique Bennet) was always apposite.
The overall direction by Dean Bryant ensured that this actor’s musical was allowed to unfold its many beauties and dazzling lyrics with dramatic and emotional clarity. The audience responded to this trust with heartfelt thanks: “Ah, how we laughed, Ah, how we wept”.
Hayes Theatre Company, Hayes Theatre, Sydney, November 9, 2023
Gar Jones