Angela Lansbury, Stephen Sondheim make sweet 'Night Music' together
7 / 10
Zeta-Jones is less effective, though, at suggesting Desiree's weary, rueful edges. Her throaty laughter seems almost too emphatic at times, as does her singing, whether she's showing her claws in You Must Meet My Wife or acknowledging defeat in Send in the Clowns. This might owe something to Nunn's direction, as other performances here flirt with overzealousness. Ramona Mallory is particularly shrill as Anne, Fredrik's post-pubescent second wife. To be fair, Music demands a capacity for both broad comedy and pathos, and the director and cast mine and juggle these qualities rigorously and, for the most part, skillfully. None of them, of course, blend wit and poignancy better than Lansbury — or Sondheim's score, for that matter. They are, without question, the two best reasons to see this revival.
