"A Little Night Music" is the Perfect Summer Treat - LA Review

The too-short run of "A Little Night Music" at the LA Opera is sadly coming to an end in the coming days. For any musical lover in the Los Angeles area who has yet to see it, I urge you to run to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, get your ticket, and prepare to be entranced for two and a half-hours.

For me, personally, this is the way musical theatre should be experienced – not with a twelve or fourteen member pit orchestra, amplified to sound like twice that many, but a full glorious orchestra playing every note with exquisite perfection. "A Little Night Music" is perhaps the perfect musical for the opera stage, as the music is in ? time, like that of most classical waltzes.

This production, a re-staging of the acclaimed New York City Opera production, directed by Scott Ellis and choreographed by Susan Stroman, is masterful in its storytelling, beautifully directed with the right amount of sadness, joy, humor and tragedy, that happily all works out in the end.

The story follows a strangely intertwined group of lovers who all descend upon an estate for a "Weekend in the County," where they pair up, break up, and hop into and out of each other's arms, all seeking to find their soul mate. 

The cast, a veritable who's who/ all-star team of Broadway Theatre, is lead by Judith Ivey, a well know force on both stage and screen, who plays the wonderful role of Desiree, an actress who tours the Scandinavian provinces for her craft. She is also the mistress to a Count Carl-Magnus, played with robust gusto by Marc Kudisch, who happens to be married himself, to Countess Charlotte, played by the comically droll Michelle Pawk. But then one evening, Desiree's former lover, Fredrik (a charming and witty Victor Garber) who himself has recently remarried - but not yet consummated his marriage- to a somewhat dimwitted eighteen year old, Anne (played by Laura Benanti), shows up at her apartment, wanting to recapture some of the lost love they once had. They are interrupted by the unexpected arrival of the Count, on a short leave from his regiment. 

Unable to do what Fredrick came to do, Desiree convinces her mother to invite Fredrick and his bride to the country estate, so she can have some time alone with him. Her plans, though, quickly turn into a farce when the Count shows up, again unexpectedly, this time with his wife, who plans to seduce Fredrick, both to make her husband jealous and to get back at Desiree for taking her husband away from her. The not so smart, Anne, meanwhile, happily seems to go along with the plan, convinced by Charlotte that once Fredrick sees the old Desiree next to Anne and her youthful appeal, there is no way he'll want to sleep with Desiree. Further complicating maters is Fredrick's son, Henrik, who has fallen, madly, deeply in love with Anne, his now mother-in-law.

It may sound confusing, but Director Ellis keeps all the lines of communication clear, and the action on stage tight and decidedly easy to follow, while Stroman keeps the cast sweeping across the stage in splendid waltzes.

The conductor, John DeMain, meanwhile, superbly leads the orchestra to both accompany and drive the action on stage. Never before have I heard a musical where the music was so clear, bright and perfectly melodic, that even if I had closed my eyes and simply listened to the evening's events, I would have been in a musical nirvana.

All the elements of the this production, the simple suggestive sets, the warm glow of the Scandinavian summer sun evoked by the wonderful lighting, the cast, the direction, choreography, and finally the music, made for the most perfect summer evening's entertainment. For me, this "Little Night Music" will bring wonderful and warm memories for a lifetime.

"A Little Night Music" continues at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion (135 North Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, California 90012) for ONLY three more performances, tonight, Friday, July 30, 2004 @ 8pm, and tomorrow, Saturday, July 31 @ 2pm and 8pm. You may purchase tickets by calling  (213) 365-3500, on the web at ticketmaster.com ( Online by clicking here ), or at the Los Angeles Opera Box Office at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion (hours: Monday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.)

To post a comment, you must register and login.