Displaying items by tag: A Little Night Music

We are all lucky that we’ve gotten to live at the same time and in the same timeline as Stephen Sondheim, possibly the most influential and important composer and lyricist in modern Broadway history. From his most popular musicals — Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Into the Woods, his lyrics for West Side Story — to his more obscure — Anyone Can Whistle, Company, Follies — he’s left a wealth of lyrically and musically rich songs for us to study and enjoy.

The Stephen Sondheim Tribute Revue, directed and produced by 4 Chairs Theatre founder Lauren Berman, showcases songs selected thoughtfully and with care from the catalog of the late, legendary composer, with a talented ensemble featuring Kaitlin Feely, David Geinosky, Lyndsey Minerva, Brian Member, Denise Tamburrino, and Michelle Tibble, accompanied on piano by Tyeese Braslavsky. 

The selected songs range from Sondheim’s early works, like 1962’s A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and Anyone Can Whistle from 1964, even his very first musical Saturday Night, to his later, more well-known works such as Sweeney Todd and Sunday in the Park with George.

Pictured: Michelle Tibble and Denise Tamburrino

Each of the ensemblists has a clear, powerful voice, creating the perfect canvas for which to display the complex and varied works of Sondheim. Sondheim always emphasized the importance of trained, mindful vocalists throughout his career — he felt that singing should enhance acting, not the other way around. The emotion comes first, always, and the music and lyrics are there to prop up that feeling, take it out of time for a moment and examine it. These actors deliver on just that.

Highlights for me included ensemblist Denise Tamburrino’s solo performance of “Send in the Clowns” from A Little Night Music. Possibly one of Sondheim’s most performed standalone songs, “Send in the Clowns” sardonically comments on the bad timing of love by a woman who’s experienced the ups and downs of it. Tamburrino’s rendition brings the right amount of restraint to the reflective song, letting the emotions on her face and pauses between phrases speak just as much as the lyrics.

Pictured: Brian Pember, Lyndsey Minerva, and Denise Tamburrino

Other highlights were the selections from Company (inlcluding the frantic "Getting Married Today" performed with tact by Lyndsey Minerva, Denise Tamburrino, and Brian Pember) and Into the Woods, Sondheim’s fairy tale-gone-wrong musical from 1987, which included two of the more moving, clear-headed tunes from the show: “No One Is Alone” and “Children Will Listen”, the former sung by the whole ensemble and the latter by Michelle Tibble and David Geinosky.

And finally, another Sondheim gem is uncovered with Kaitlin Feely’s performance of “The Miller’s Son” from A Little Night Music, a song about fantasy and its clash with reality, one of many examples of Sondheim's songs that has stood the test of time and was, in fact, ahead of its time with its witty lyrics and shrewd observations of life.

As Lauren Berman writes in her director’s note, “There are musicals, and then there are Stephen Sondheim musicals.”

The Sondheim Tribute Review by 4 Chairs Theatre is playing at the Skokie Theatre - Performing Arts Center through August 18, 2024. Tickets can be purchased on the 4 Chairs Theatre website. 

Even if you’re not familiar with Sondheim’s ‘A Little Night Music,’ chances are you’ve heard the song ‘Send in the Clowns.’ BoHo Theatre revives the 1973 musical farce under the direction of Linda Fortunato. Surely there’s not a more romantic summer musical than ‘A Little Night Music – and this production heightens the intimacy in staging and a unique re-orchestration.

At the surface, this comic tale of infidelity and romance set in the Scandinavia countryside is just a drawing room farce. It’s Sondheim’s complicated and soaring music that gives this show flight. He also cleverly lifts themes and ideas from a film by Ingmar Bergman and the works of Ibsen. Despite its seeming lightness there’s great depth in this musical.

‘A Little Night Music’ weaves the affairs of lawyer, Egerman and his young wife Anne. Henrik, Egerman’s son, is in love with similar-aged Anne. Egerman is in love with stage actress Desiree Armfeldt. Then there’s Desiree’s lover Count Malcom, and his jaded wife Charlotte. All these couplings reach a climax during an idyllic weekend in the country.

This is a fun cast to watch. Strong-voiced Rachel Guth provides much of the comic relief as Anne. Desiree is played with a certain sensuality by Kelli Harrington. Her emotionally-charged ‘Send in the Clowns’ is worth the evening alone. Standing out in the role of bitter Countess Charlotte Malcome is Stephanie Stockstill. Donning a cropped pixie cut, Stockstill’s Charlotte is hilariously morbid.

Fortunato makes the most of the space at Greenhouse Theater. Her ‘Night Music’ is scaled back and puts more focus on the music than the effects. She’s able to fill out the ensemble without making the stage feel crowded. The group numbers that make this musical so enjoyable are re-orchestrated by Malcom Ruhl and make perfect sense. An on-stage chamber orchestra provide a charming centerpiece around which the action happens.

Three hours in a theater on a summer night can be a lot to ask. BoHo rewards its audience with a truly charming production of one of Sondheim’s best. Fans of the show will be happy to see some modern touches and those new to this work will surely be piqued by this lovely production.

Through July 8th at BoHo Theatre at the Greenhouse Theater. 2257 N Lincoln Ave. 773-404-7336