I realized that I never actually posted a review when I saw A Little Night Music last month. I had a really great seat in Row D of the right orchestra, and I was looking forward to seeing the show because I love Bernadette Peters and Elaine Stritch, as they are both Broadway institutions, specifically in connection to Stephen Sondheim musicals. I had seen a regional production of A Little Night Music over a year ago, so I knew the plot and had some familiarity with the score. I liked the opening "Night Waltz" with the majority of the cast on-stage, as it worked well in getting the audience into the realm and atmosphere of the play. Bernadette Peters was quite marvelous as Desiree, she really inhabited the role of the traveling actress, frequent lover, and sometime mother. Her line readings were imbued with a world-weariness and her performance felt very lived-in and naturalistic. Ms. Peters has a very distinctive voice and personality and I thought it served her well in this role, and allowed her to really make the role her own, separate from previous portrayals. The whole house was quiet when "Send in the Clowns" began. I have not seen Catherine Zeta-Jones in the role, and so I can't really draw comparisons between the two, but I don't think that Ms. Zeta-Jones could have brought a believable portrayal to the role that Ms. Peters did, and would have stuck out apart from the rest of the cast. Her Tony Awards performance certainly left a lot to be desired. Seeing the show during Ms. Zeta-Jones' tenure would have been "event theater", all about seeing her live performance, and now I think seeing the show is more about experiencing the show as a whole, with less emphasis on the individual cast members.
Ms. Peters commanded the stage and had the requisite chemistry with Stephen R. Buntrock, who gave a wonderful performance himself as Frederik, the lawyer in his 40's married to a virginal 18 year old who he has known since she was a child (Ramona Mallory in the role of Anne, originated by her mother Victoria Mallory in 1973). Mr. Buntrock reminded me of Brent Barret in physical appearance, had great stage presence and singing voice, and was a believable partner/foil for the many other characters he comes into contact with. At times, his Fredrick seemed to be a bit too much of a ham and a buffoon, but it didn't detract too much from the proceedings. Ms. Mallory is quite good as Anne, coming to terms with being a wife and an adult while still very much a child. The one weak link in the cast seems to be Hunter Ryan Herdlicka, who doesn't seem to do much as Henrik other than be awkward and mope around. I didn't really care much about his plight, perhaps because I already knew what would happen. Erin Davie and Leigh Ann Larkin seemed almost underused as Countess Charlotte Malcolm and the lusty maid Petra, but they made great use of their time onstage, Ms. Davie in particular having some great one-liners. I had previously seen Bradley Dean, who plays Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm, on the national tour of Spamalot, and he seems to do his better work in hammy roles. He looks older than Aaron Lazar, and I think that is a good thing for this character. His character is the villainous buffoon of the show, and Mr. Dean did a great but not spectacular job in the role. Still very entertaining though. Elaine Stritch was a hoot as Madame Armfeldt. Her dry delivery worked well with the role of the crotchety guardian of Frederika (played brilliant by Katherine McNamara) and exasperated mother of Desiree, and she showed her human side as well. The liebersingers were also great with their interludes and song snatches between scenes. I throughly enjoyed this production and I'm glad I got a chance to see it before it closed.
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