A Little Night Music

The replacement cast of A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC sounded almost better than the original revival cast. After walking like a robot through two Ethel Merman vehicles on Broadway, Bernadette Peters returned to the Sondheim world where she flourishes. However, she has not given up her schtick––that same mugging schtick we’ve been seeing since SUNDAY IN THE PARK with her baby doll voice for comic effect, the drawing out of words, creating strange line readings, throwing out those presentational arms for the long notes, etc. Even if you’ve never seen her live, then you’ve seen the videos of SUNDAY IN THE PARK or INTO THE WOODS and you know exactly what I’m referring to. Bernadette Peters is an old fashioned Broadway ham. Furthermore, just like in the Merman shows, she stopped the comedy to “make it real” for the ballad. This time the ballad is the well known “Send in the Clowns.” Everyone’s waiting for it, everyone knows it. La Peters delivers. But, after seeing her turn on the watery eyes in the middle of shows where she otherwise seems disconnected, it only seems part of her routine. Still, the performance of the hit tune worked and she made her exit to some fine applause. Not as fine as the hardy applause awarded to Leigh Ann Larkin as Petra, who followed up “Send in the Clowns” with a tremendous performance of “The Miller’s Son.” Larkin was perfectly good all night, but then came “The Miller’s Son” and she exploded into another realm of performance that became the highlight of the production.

Not a highlight was Elaine Stritch as Madame Armfeldt. Most likely it is her age, but Ms. Stritch went up on her lines three times (the same number of times she says the night smiles). It was up to little Keaton Whittaker as Fredrika to keep Ms. Stritch going by feeding her hints to get back on track. Ms. Stritch is like a wisecracking waitress from a ‘50s diner whacking away at her scenes. She gets laughs, but at the expense of the refinement, class and character of the show. Yet, there is something heartwarming about an aging star appearing in a role late in the career, for we all feel that we have somehow lucked out to be able to see the Legend one more time. Armfeldt’s death is particularly moving, not because of the character, but because there is a feeling that we might be saying goodbye to Elaine Stritch where the stage is concerned.

Henrick continues to be played by Hunter Ryan Herdlicka with a fine voice and his true cello skills. He is adorable and comical and gives the production quite a bit of charm. Fredrik is now played perfectly by Stephen R. Buntrock, who works beautifully with Ms. Peters. All of the supporting players meet or exceed expectations except for the bazaar performance of Ramona Mallory as Anne. Her line readings rise and fall in unnatural hills and valleys. She is nothing less than weird. Director Trevor Nunn needs to shake her and command her to become an actual person.

I was disappointed to hear that this revival would reduce the orchestration to eight pieces, but Jason Carr’s small orchestration is beautiful and I never thought I was getting less in the music department. David Farley’s set and costume designs are simple with an elaborate unit set that changes just enough to redefine spaces. There was an elegance in the simplicity. For all my little complaints this production was an overall joy. Another joy is the fact that the past ten years on Broadway have been dominated by revivals of Sondheim shows. One after the other we’re getting a chance to see top grade productions of all of them. For now we get A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC at least until January.