A Little Night Music - Opera North (Leeds Playhouse)

Now on the second train. Should be at Cambridge just before 8pm. Nearly 3h each way.

I was at the matinee of A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC this afternoon. Whilst I know the score, this is my first time seeing this particular Sondheim. I have to say that I really enjoyed it!

The score really works in context of the show, and sounds glorious here. What an absolute pleasure and novelty to have a big orchestra with real musicians! A real difference from the keyboard and tin whistle that you usually get at shows nowadays. It is also very well sung and acted, which is not always the case when opera singers have dialogue to deliver.

The show itself is really clever. I didn’t expect it to be as funny as it is, and I laughed out loud numerous times. It very much bordered on farce. The humour was quite dry and biting so probably appealed to my sensibilities. However, it was also extremely profound about what life is all about, and ultimately rather moving. I had shivers down my spine numerous times, and tears filled my eyes in the last moments of the show. Sondheim’s music and lyrics in this, coupled with Hugh Wheeler’s book, really are a marvel!

Overall, I am really glad that I finally got to see this. Well worth a trip to Leeds if you can in its last week. I must now seek out SMILES OF A SUMMER NIGHT on which this is based.

Last year I was so emotional to be back hearing a large orchestra that I was crying at anything. Today I had bit more of a grip on things.

The  cast are all great and the ending is still powerful but yeah I was in tears by the end.

@burlybear will be pleased to hear things are slightly reworked and the "Stooges" don't interact as much as previously.


AddisonMizner we need badges!


I hope they do another musical soon.

I think ‘The Millers Son’ is my all time favourite Sondheim song but ALNM is full of gorgeous moments, none more so than ‘Send in the Clowns’.

where were you sat Addison - on the front row. to me this is simply the best sondheim production I have seen, and Night Music is of course a masterpiece, here given a superlative production. Intimate, and big, sexy and sad, funny and profound, full of ideas all suggested by the text or score. Utter joy.

Yes, I saw it very much as a product of the time and period. Had this been written in modern times, Charlotte would (and should) have left Carl-Magnus, and Desiree would not (and should not) have had Frederik back.

Why would you need to rewrite the plot which is beautifully written and makes complete sense? People are just as stupid when it comes to relationships now as they ever were. Charlotte may be trapped by her situation, she would be far worse off if she left him, but her "you became a tiger for me!" is a triumph in its own way. He won't change, but she has won this particular battle ( even though he doesn't know it). Frederick and Desirée's coherence after so many years of muddle is indeed the ideal outcome, even Mme Armfeldt admits it when she tells Fredericka about rejecting the Count with the wooden ring. Desirée might have to do her Hedda Gabler for a week, but I can't see her continuing to tour much afterwards, but it's an option that they'll decide together.

I take Frederik's declaration that he'll sit through all 8 performances of Hedda Gabler as him saying that he'll try to be more supportive of her acting than he was in their previous relationship, if she does choose to continue her career, because he's realised he loves her enough to do so, even if he's not exactly interested in many of the plays she's in.


Harking back to my post from last year, I'd forgotten when I wrote it that Anne actually asks Frederik about women he'd had relationships with between his first wife & her, which I think supports up my suggestion that his relationship with Desiree happened when he was widowed & he wasn't cheating on his first wife.