A Little Night Music

the Arts Centre, Melbourne

NEW PRODUCTION

Featuring ‘Send in the Clowns’ one of the best-loved songs of all time.

Isn’t it rich? Are we a pair? The two throwaway questions leave so much unsaid, and so much understood.

‘Send in the Clowns’ is the hit song from A Little Night Music, an exquisite meditation on love, life and the passage of time from the inspired composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim.

Three generations gather for a midsummer weekend in Sweden, beneath a sun which neverquite sets. As husbands, wives, sons and lovers waltz through the golden night, they make life-changing discoveries.

Nancye Hayes and Robert Grubb are reunited for a new production of this delicious mixture of words and music, featuring Sigrid Thornton in her Opera Australia debut.

Performed in English.
Running time: approximately two hours and forty-minutes including one twenty minute interval.

Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by Hugh Wheeler
Suggested by a Film by Ingmar Bergman

Originally Produced and Directed on Broadway by Harold Prince by arrangement with Hal Leonard Australia Pty Ltd Exclusive agent for Music Theatre International (NY)

Synopsis

Act I
Madame Arnfeldt, a woman who has numbered kings among her lovers, tells her granddaughter Fredrika to watch for the summer night to smile: 'It smiles three times,' she says, 'first, for the young, who know nothing; second, for the fools, who know too little; and, third, for the old, who know too much.'

Cut to the house of middle-aged Fredrik Egerman, a successful lawyer, who has recently married Anne, a vain girl who refuses to consummate their marriage. Fredrik’s son from his first marriage, Henrik, a seminary student, who is only a year older than his stepmother, is unhappy with his dedication to religious purity. Henrik finds himself attracted to the maid Petra and to his new stepmother.

Fredrik turns to his old flame, Desirée Arnfeldt, a prominent actress. She and Fredrik were lovers many years ago, but she is currently involved with the Count, whose wife, Charlotte, is a friend of Anne’s. Desirée is a rather selfish woman who has shipped her daughter Fredrika to live with her grandmother, the ageing and severe Madame Arnfeldt.

Desirée goes to her mother and requests that Madame Arnfeldt host a party for Fredrik, Anne and Henrik. Madame Arnfeldt reluctantly agrees.

Act II
Everyone arrives at Madame Arnfeldt’s estate. A candlelit feast turns into a sparring session, ending with Henrik smashing his glass in disgust and running out. The other guests scatter. Fredrik heads for Desiree's bedroom, Anne and Fredrika scour the grounds for Henrik, and the Count finds Charlotte in Fredrik's arms. After many machinations everyone is paired off. Anne goes off with Henrik, the Count and Countess Charlotte get back together and Fredrik returns to Desirée.

The comedy ended, Madame Armfeldt tells her granddaughter that the night has already smiled twice, once for the young and once for the fools. 'The smile for the fools was particularly broad tonight.' To the accompaniment of the Night Waltz, the lovers dance through the silver birches as the night smiles down for the third and final time.

Composer(s):