A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC 1977lecinemadreams.blogspot.com/2012/12/a-little-night-music-1977.html

My introduction to Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music came in 1973 when I blindly purchased the OriginalBroadway Cast LP solely on the strength of my passionate adoration for his timeless scores to the Broadway shows,Company and Follies. I say blindly because, despite my mini-fandom of Sondheim (that same year I’d dragged myfamily to see The Last of Sheila simply because I’d heard Sondheim collaborated on the script with actor TonyPerkins), I really knew nothing about A Little Night Music at all. I was then-unaware of the 1955 Ingmar Bergman filmupon which it is based —Smiles of a Summer Night ; I didn't know anything about its content or structure, or whetherit was a dramatic musical or comedy; and of course, I hadn't heard a note of the of the music (I know it’s hard toimagine now, but there was actually a time when not every man, woman and child had a recording of Send in theClowns in release).

A Little Night Musi c sets the proper fairy tale tone by using a theatrical staging ofthe musical as a framing device which casts the principals in the evening'sromantic roundelay as "players" in a turn-of-the-century operetta. Careful

attention should be paid to the myriad couplings and uncouplings in PatriciaBirch's gloriously gliding waltz choreography, for it reveals the entirety of the

film's plot.

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But here is an instance of ignorance most assuredly proving to be bliss, for in purchasing the cast album withoutbenefit of foreknowledge, I was granted the ultimate gift of being introduced to A Little Night Music as a purelymusical experience. And for a Sondheim fan, what could be better? As a show, A Little Night Music is a perfectlycharming little sex farce, perhaps one of the best of its stripe; but for me its strongest suit has always beenSondheim’s lushly romantic score. Consisting entirely of intricate waltz-time melodies with witty lyrics full ofastoundingly clever wordplay, Sondheim’s compositions for A Little Night Music are among the best of his illustriouscareer.By the time the film adaptation of A Little Night Music opened for a limited engagement at San Francisco’s CastroTheater in 1977, I had not as yet seen a stage production (that wouldn't be until some 30 years later) but having allbut worn out the grooves on my Broadway cast LP and committed the entire score to memory, I would say that I wasmore than primed for the event.

Elizabeth Taylor as Desiree Armfeldt

Diana Rigg as Charlotte Mittelheim

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Lesley-Anne Down as Anne Egerman

Hermione Ginglod as Madame Armfeldt

Len Cariou as Frederick Egerman

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Laurence Guittard as Carl-Magnus Mittelheim

Like an intricate waltz in which the participants continually and imperceptibly change partners, A Little Night Music isa lyric dance of desire in which lovers, paired by fate, and with varying degrees of success, try to manipulate thecircumstances of their lives.

In turn-of- the-century Austria, stage actress Desiree Armfeldt (Taylor), wearying of her life on the road away fromdaughter Fredericka (the superb Chloe Franks), hatches a plot to marry former lover Frederick Egerman (Cariou).Obstacles: Frederick has recently wed the beautiful but rather shallow Anne (Lesley-Anne Down), his 18-year-oldlove who, after 11 months of marriage, still guards her virginity; Desiree herself is the mistress of the jealouslypossessive and much-married military dragoon Carl-Magnus (Guittard), whose shrewd and embittered wife (DianaRigg) is Anne’s old school chum; and, adding to the mix, Erich Egerman, Frederick's son from a previous marriage(Christopher Guard) is tortuously in love with Anne, his stepmother.

An orchestrated string of comic contrivances results in this amorously antsy group (which also includes a randyhousemaid and a handsome manservant [Lesley Dunlop & Heinz Marecek]) converging for a weekend at thecountry estate of retired courtesan Mme. Armfeldt (Gingold) who just also happens to be Desiree’s mother.

Self-serious seminary student Erich Egerman struggles to resist entrapment inone of "the devil's snares" in the form of Petra the housemaid. Ironically, in real-life actors Christopher Guard and Lesley Dunlop became a couple after meeting

on this film.

A Little Night Music is the stuff of classic romantic farce played out with considerable charm and wit by an engaging4/9

cast in eye-poppingly sumptuous costumes and surroundings. And interwoven amongst the sometimesheartbreaking follies of these lost and searching fools upon whom the summer night is hoped to smile, is StephenSondheim’s breathtaking music (lushly orchestrated to Oscar-winning effect by Jonathan Tunick who appears brieflyas the conductor for the operetta that opens the film).

In the 1978 Harold Robbins camp-fest The Betsy, British actress Lesley-AnneDown displayed her versatility in taking on a role the polar-opposite to that of

child-bride Anne Egerman in A Little Night Music . Personal fave: 1981's Sphinx,where Down plays the world's most improbable Egyptologist.

WHAT I LOVE ABOUT THIS FILMTranslating a beloved stage musical to the screen is largely a thankless job, for one would have to attend a comicbook convention to find fans more vociferously persnickety and proprietary than theater geeks.And while I've suffered my share of gut-wrenching disappointments at seeing some beloved stage show bowdlerizedon the screen (cue Sir Richard Attenborough’s lame-legged A Chorus Line), I always concede to the fact that filmand stage are entirely different mediums and a movie musical has to stand on its own distinct merits, not on howfaithfully it translates its source material.I’m in a small camp on this one, I know, but I find A Little Night Music to be a marvelous movie musical. One that I'mwell aware fans of the stage show consider to be a disaster. I'm not denying its flaws (even the filmmakers admit thatpressures of time and budget made certain compromises necessary), but for pure screen pleasure and takingdelight in wonderful actors, beautiful music, and a sharp, funny screenplay, A Little Night Music is a most divertingand glorious entertainment.

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"The night smiles three times at the follies of human beings: First for the youngwho know nothing; the second, for the the fools who know too little; and

the third, for the old, who know too much."

My lack of a theatrical frame of reference no doubt played a large part in why I fell so hard for this imperfect, yetthoroughly delightful film, just as did the circumstances of my seeing it (The Castro Theater was packed, the filmwas shown with an intermission, and applause followed almost every number). Hoping just for a chance to see whatI had missed in never seeing the show onstage, A Little Night Music as a film actually exceeded my expectations interms of cinematic style, performances, and overall panache.It succeeded in being bitchily witty, unexpectedly moving, charmingly romantic, and at times, just gorgeously opulentand lovely. This kind of light, frothy entertainment is exceedingly difficult to carry off, but for me, A Little Night Musichit just the perfect key. An odd and perhaps unfortunate choice of words, I know, given Elizabeth Taylor’s touchinglyhesitant vocalizing of Send in the Clowns (one critic’s diplomatic summation of Taylor’s rendition: “No chart-buster”).

PERFORMANCESWell-suited to portraying a diva of advanced years who knows a thing or two about how to get a married man toleave his wife, Elizabeth Taylor is at her latter-career best in A Little Night Music . Not only is her much-commentedupon, well-upholstered figure perfectly suited to Florence Klotz’s Oscar-nominated period costumes (although insome scenes one might wish cinematographer Arthur Ibbetson had made more of an effort to photograph herflatteringly), but is quite winning as she effortlessly glides from slightly overplayed comedy to genuinely touching

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drama. She’s marvelous and brings an appropriately regal star power to the film. I think she makes a fine Desiree,but in spite of her small triumphs in the role, it’s Diana Rigg who walks away with the picture.

The Ladies Who LunchEveryone references Send in the Clowns when speaking of A Little Night Musi c,but my favorite song in the entire show has always been the plaintive Every Daya Little Death. This duet by the two deceived wives is movie musical magic for

me. I fall apart, it's just that gorgeous.Listen to it Here

To paraphrase a lyric from one of the show's Second Act songs, “The woman is perfection.” Diana Rigg, whosetalent for high-style bitchery is rivaled only perhaps by Maggie Smith, is everything a film like A Little NightMusic needs. She's an urbane and spirited actress with a way of commanding the screen no matter whom sheshares it with. Hers is a sharp, scene-stealing performance that gives the sometimes lagging film much-needed zestand fire.Adding to this is the brilliant Hermione Gingold who, though sadly underutilized (and denied her lovely song,Liasons), enlivens each of her scenes with her trademark droll delivery. When one is not feeling frustrated by howpoorly these ladies' talents are sometimes showcased, the joint contributions of these two actresses is invaluable inmaking A Little Night Music such an enjoyable experience.

Laurence Guittard and Len Cariou recreate the roles they originated inthe Broadway production. As fine as they are in their roles, both actors lack thatintangible "something" that translates to the screen. Both tend to recede into thebackground and make a vague impression at best. It seems the women do all the

heavy lifting in A Little Night Music.

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THE STUFF OF FANTASYI’m not overly fond of the arbitrary, often unimaginative “opening up” that occurs when theatrical properties areadapted to the screen, but I love it when directors discover an authentic cinematic concept for a show, justifying itstransfer to another medium. The song The Glamorous Life Desiree Armfeltd's ode to the theatrical life on the road, isrewritten as the daughter's self-rationalizing boast/lament at having a mother who is wonderful to brag about, butseldom around. The ingeniously economic number fashioned for the new song relays a great deal of backstory, plotexposition, and character information in a montage of images, both silent and sound, in a manner calling to mind thesensation of leafing through a scrapbook.

The Glamorous LifeSondheim's brilliant song begins as a young girl's boastful paean to the life ofher actress mother and ends up being a self-convincing denial of loneliness

THE STUFF OF DREAMSEven those not particularly fond of the film express nothing but praise for the handling of the A Weekend in theCountry number; the pre-intermission showstopper and the film's centerpiece. Shot in a series of escalating crosscuts that mirror the mounting anxieties of the two parties set to merge at the Armfeldt estate, its a bouncy andamusing number well-played by all and cleverly cinematic. It's a real highlight. Fans of Downton Abbey should reallydiscover A Little Night Music ...it has a wonderful look about it in its costumes and locations.

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Considering how many people involved in the original Broadway production were involved in bringing A Little NightMusic to the screen (Sondheim, director Harold Prince, choreographer Patricia Birch, screenwriter Hugh Wheeler,costume designer Florence Klotz) it's surprising the finished product pleased so few. The filmmakers citedcrunched schedules, unstable financing, and the legendarily bad health of Taylor as the reasons for the manycompromises undertaken.True or not, I think all that focusing on what could have been clouds a fair appreciation for what was accomplished,which for me, a man who returned to the Castro Theater three more times to see A Little Night Music during its initialengagement, is something pretty special.

(Incidentally, these days, what with all those kids from Glee butchering one Broadway standard after another, I'mbeginning to look more kindly on ol' Liz's "no chart-buster" version of Send in the Clowns.)

Copyright © Ken Anderson

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