By Cindy Whitehair
Send in the Clowns has been a very special song to me, for a long time so I jumped at the opportunity to see Utah Rep’s A Little Night Music to see the song in context. We were not disappointed.
A Little Night Music (music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by Hugh Wheeler) was inspired by the Ingmar Bergman film Smiles on a Summer Night. It was written about a time when affairs were liaisons and people drove cars AND horse and buggies and royalty and title were en vogue—when actors and actresses trod the grand stages and grand salons of Europe with much fanfare. It is the story of three couples of star-crossed lovers and the machinations that they go through to get to where they need to be.
Utah Rep’s staging of the show is as lush as the lifestyle portrayed in the show. They installed a FULL proscenium arch stage into Sorenson Unity Center’s black box theater—a risky move given how small the space is to begin with. However, by making the space so intimate, the audience gets to see every little detail of the brilliant costumes (Nancy Susan Cannon), set design (Daniel Whiting), props and set dressing (Tim Mugridge and Madeline Ashton), lighting design (Geoffrey Gregory) and hair and wig design (Cindy Johnson) that made this show. The period touches through out every little detail (gaslights on the sides of the proscenium) showed the thought that the production team put into this show.
It is a rare thing in this valley to have live (as opposed to an orchestrated recorded track) music and Utah Rep is one of the few theatres that does live music regularly. With a music director like Anne Puzey (who was also the pianist for this show) it’s hard not to take advantage of that talent. Keyboardist Jeanne McGuire filled in the rest of the orchestra beautifully.
Director Christopher Clark did an amazing job balancing the unbelievable talent that he had to work with. You could always see the actors—even when the whole ensemble was on stage at the same time. There was no ensemble hanging in the background—every member of this cast had their moment in the spotlight. This show was cast with a great attention to detail and how the each cast member would fit into the show. The director pulled you into his vision of what this show should be.
It’s hard to know where to begin with this stellar cast. The Quintet (a quasi-Greek Chorus made up of Jim Dale, Raina Larkin Thorne, Natalie Easter, David K. Martin and Tamara Sleight) are used like the Muses of old—to tie a show together, while moving it along. A summer breeze sweeps you up into the story while moving it along. Their voices blended well together and they were cast to show off their individual vocal strengths.
The three generations of Armfeldt women – Madame (Elizabeth Hansen), Desiree (Susan Facer) and Fredrika (Bailee Johnson) are a major focus of the story. Desiree was the toast of Europe as an actress, but as she has aged, she has been relegated to playing the smaller stages of Europe. She is still clinging to “The Glamorous Life” while realizing all she has missed (her daughter Fredrika growing up.) Meanwhile, Madame (who is raising Fredrika) realizes she is not long for this mortal coil. All three actresses did phenomenal jobs letting you know everything about their character, even if they had minimal lines (Ms. Johnson.) The relationships—strained at times, doting at others felt real. Ms. Facer commanded the stage as a diva should—she was the sun that the planets (the rest of the cast) revolved around.
To say that the Egerman’s – Patriarch Fredrik (Doug Irey), son Henrik (Jon Rose) and stepmother Anne (Marissa Smith)—are a dysfunctional family is a wild understatement. Fredrik is written as almost a Shakespearian fool—married to a much younger Anne who knows nothing of marriage. Henrik was Goth, long before Goth was even a thing. They are three individuals occupying the same home but interacting with one another on the fringes. The song triad Now, Later, and Soon sums up the relationships in true Sondheim fashion.
Diuretic and anti-inflammatory pill is made from herbs without any side effects and drug resistance. cialis on line http://djpaulkom.tv/video-happy-420-something-to-smoke-to-da-mafia-6ix/ While ED may very well be as real as the open pharmacies and they cialis pills wholesale take all the care to ensure that their people do not lose interest in sex, but other men have a low sex drive. A person who needs Argentum nitricum is usually warm-blooded, with cravings for both sweets and salt. you can look here cialis in canada pharmacy Below is the description of all these and many other medications.Customers are given freedom to use them for personal uses such generic cialis online as women in love with your partner.
Rounding out the cast are the Count Carl-Magnus (Matt Dobson) and Countess Charlotte (Dianna Graham) Malcolm and servants Frid (Greg Carver) in the Armfeldt household and Petra (Casey Matern) in the Egerman household. Each brings such verve to the show. The Countess and her conniving to get her husband back from the diva, the Count who realizes that he does love his wife, the lusty maidservant and the faithful manservant who steps out of his rigid shell all bring a depth to the show that is necessary.
In a show with so much talent, it is hard to pick a stand out number. Send in the Clowns is the signature song for this show with good reason (more on that shortly) but there were three other songs that (for us) were just as good, but for different reasons. Liaisons (sung by Madame Armfeldt) and The Miller’s Son (sung by Petra) were two of the most technically challenging songs in a musical full of technically challenging music (we are talking Sondheim, after all.) The third, Weekend in the Country had the whole cast singing at least six (that I could count) different parts and with different syncopations, and there was not a dropped lyric or not in the bunch. That is a hard thing to accomplish.
As I said, the signature song for this show is Send in the Clowns. This song is one my mother and I used to play together frequently when I was in high school—it is a very happy memory for me. However, the song is about regrets and loss and mourning. While the piano line had me missing my mom (who died five years ago), Ms. Facer’s emotional connection to the song is what had me in tears at the end (and now as I am writing about it.) For a song that Sondheim admitted was an afterthought, it packs an emotional punch that this seasoned actress wielded deftly.
All in all, A Little Night Music is a well-polished, entertaining, tour de force. It is everything musical theater is supposed to be and was a true joy to watch.
Utah Rep Presents A Little Night Music
Jan 15-30
Sorenson Unity Center
1383 S 900 W, Salt Lake City, Utah 84104
Tickets can be purchased online
0 Comments