ACT San Francisco's A Little Night Music

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 5/29/15 at 7:10pm

Has anyone seen this?  The photos mostly look lovely and perfect for Night Music and then suddenly there's a really bizarre costume thrown in...  https://www.flickr.com/photos/actsanfrancisco/sets/72157651224920204/

[Fantod]

Posted: 5/29/15 at 7:21pm

Going on Sunday. I'll report back.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 5/29/15 at 7:28pm

From reviews it looks like the weird costumes are the Liebersingers, who are cast as sexy, younger characters which sounds odd--but the rest sounds very strong.  I didn't even read the cast list before--wow.  http://www.act-sf.org/home/box_office/mainstage/a_little_night_music/cast.html

Thanks Fantod!

Updated On: 5/29/15 at 07:28 PM

[JBroadway]

Posted: 5/29/15 at 7:29pm

I saw it. Wonderful performances by the top-notch cast (with a couple exceptions). The direction is pretty weird and trite at times. It feels a lot like a regional production trying hard to have their production be unique, and ends up feeling really odd at times. 

[choitoy]

Posted: 5/29/15 at 7:45pm

Based solely on the pictures, it looks like it could have been two distinct productions.  The traditional cast with the period costumes, and a whole "miderninzed" different production of the Liebersingers.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 5/29/15 at 7:47pm

That's pretty much what the SFGate reviewer says--and basically to just ignore the Quintet bits... lol  http://www.sfgate.com/performance/article/Women-steal-the-night-in-ACT-s-Night-Music-6291843.php#photo-8041091

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 5/29/15 at 10:05pm

Haven't seen it, but if the Liebersingers are young, how can they "Remember"?

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/29/15 at 10:52pm

I would go see it just to see Dana Ivey as Madame Armfeldt. (And Emily Skinner as Charlotte.)

But really, Mark Lamos, that's just tacky/dumb/silly direction to make the  Quintet look like they're from a college production of Cabaret or Chicago.

Tackydumb/silly. Bad Mark Lamos, bad!

[ChairinMain]

Posted: 5/30/15 at 7:00am

Remember is about a past Liason, but it's never specified how long ago it was. Could have been something that happened when they were twenty, and now they're close to 30. Could have been something that happened when they were 23 and now they're 26. Could have been something that happened when they were 20 and now they're 50. Sondheim is explicit in "Finishing the Hat" that it is not a song about Desiree and Frederik's affair, so it is open to interpretation. The important thing is that the details are slightly fuzzy.   

 

In almost every production I have seen, they've been portrayed by fairly young actors. Though I know they were closer to middle-aged in the original production, I've never thought the age of the Leidersingers really affects...well, anything. A Greek chorus is a greek chorus, old, young, thin or fat.

 

The way that the concept was described to me (I auditioned for Mr. Lindquist) was that they are having their own set of affairs throughout the evening to mirror the changing partners in the main story, and that their costumes range from quite traditional black tie at the start to various states of undress as the show progresses. It sounded like a good idea at the time, though it was the moment that I cast a glance at my spare tire and knew I would be going home early.

 

I've yet to see Night Music, but I am very much looking forward to it. The word on the street is that Emily Skinner alone is worth the price of admission.  

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 5/30/15 at 2:57pm

Sorry, ChairinMain, but a bad concept is a bad concept, no matter how long Mark Lamos talks. The point isn't that "Remember" is the literal story of Desiree and Frederick, but that it sets the atmosphere for the reunion of the principals. 25-year-olds reminiscing about their college graduation just isn't the same thing as old friends remembering something from a couple of decades ago. (Trust me: I am old enough to know the difference.)

Furthermore, every time the quintet sings they exhibit wisdom far beyond that of young 20-somethings--or should be. "Perpetual anticipation is good for the soul but it's bad for the heart" is merely pretentious if the speaker is 25. But it may well be wise if the speaker is 40 and actually knows something about "perpetual anticipation".

This isn't to say the production won't be worth your time, just that the director made a poor choice with his Liebersingers.

[JBroadway]

Posted: 5/30/15 at 10:24pm

I didn't notice that the quintet was too young, but now that you mention it I can see how it might have been a problem. The odd design elements were more noticeable to me.

I also was really weirded out by the fact that Madame Armfeldt was walking across the stage during Liaisons, rather than sitting in her wheelchair like she is for the rest of the show. 

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 5/30/15 at 10:38pm

"Haven't seen it, but if the Liebersingers are young, how can they "Remember"?"

More to the point, how could they have ever forgotten or why would they ever find refreshing each other's memories so challenging?

***

But they don't look all that young or at all contemporary; they look very demi monde in one shot, which seems perfecty acceptable, and like commedia dell'arte players (or perhaps dressed for a beaux arts type ball) in the other, which seems a bit curious, but hardly a bizarre choice.

Updated On: 5/30/15 at 10:38 PM

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 5/30/15 at 10:42pm

I thought that was implied, henrik. Obviously, young people can remember things, usually better than their elders.

[Fantod]

Posted: 5/31/15 at 6:35pm

Intermission. Really great performances all around, especially from Emily Skinner who I was unimpressed with in Do I Hear a Waltz at 42nd street moon. Dana Ivey and Karen Ziemba are both fabulous and it is nicely staged. I like that the sexuality is brought out as much as possible in this production. However, the sets and costumes are really ugly, which is a shame because this show has the potential for wonderful design elements. The whole experience is definitely better than the 2009 revival on Broadway, though.

And PalJoey, I know you're a fan of the show, but what makes you the ultimate authority on how to stage a production of it? 

Updated On: 5/31/15 at 06:35 PM

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/31/15 at 6:55pm

what makes you the ultimate authority on how to stage a production of it? 

My unerring good taste.

What an adversarial question. People have opinions on this board. Expressing them doesn't assert ultimate authority. 

Updated On: 5/31/15 at 06:55 PM

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 5/31/15 at 7:44pm

What shocks me, with some of the persnickety people on this board, is it's taken someone this long to point out that they are liedersingers, not liebersingers.

[Fantod]

Posted: 5/31/15 at 7:45pm

Well I thought they worked really well, and you made an assessment without having seen the show, which I think is in poor taste.

Second act was great as well. Karen Ziemba really delivered in the second act. I still have no idea what the point of The Miller's Son is, though.

[Sally Durant Plummer]

Posted: 5/31/15 at 7:51pm

"I still have no idea what the point of The Miller's Son is, though."

 I would try, but I'm sure Joey, Henrik, or Gaveston would explain it more eloquently than I ever could.

[ChairinMain]

Posted: 5/31/15 at 8:58pm

I'll give it a shot...

To me, the point of the Miller's Son is that it serves as a counterpoint to the way the other characters treat their romantic interludes with life-or-death stakes. Petra has had a fun night, and that's about where it ends. She is, unlike everyone else onstage, not obsessed with the idea of all-encompasing love, and is looking forward to a life full of possibilities in a way no one else is. Love is a trap for Charlotte, an excersize in vanity for Carl-Magnus, a mystery for Anne, a shame for Henrik, salvation for Desire and Frderick, and an unobtainable past for Madame Armfeldt. For Petra, it is merely an evening's entertainment.

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 5/31/15 at 9:01pm

"People have opinions on this board. Expressing them doesn't assert ultimate authority. "

 Somehow there's a few people who I don't think got the memo.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/31/15 at 11:51pm

Petra's song is a post-coital musing on class and fate--the opposite of what we call today "slut-shaming." In the song, Petra acknowledges and owns her carnal desires and actions. In three dazzlingly constructed fantasies, she takes herself and us on a journey through what she sees as her romantic and erotic prospects in life.

She starts by exploring the idea of marrying a miller's son, just one step above Frid, Madame Armfeldt's butler, with whom she has just had what is presumably some very satisfying sex. With the miller's son would come ownership of the millhouse, which is a nice bit of property, and they would be able to go dancing on Friday nights, for a bit of fun.

But that's it. She knows that she'll also be trapped in a life of pinch and punch and paunch and pouch, and belches and grouches and sighs, so she better enjoy what's she's just enjoyed with Frid: the wink and the wiggle and the pinch and the diddle. Because, as she says, a girl has to celebrate what passes by.

From there her fantasy proceeds upward socially, to a businessman, although it's very unlikely that a housemaid would marry a businessman. But, in her fantasy, she will have five fat babies with him, and the babies will bring her security. And they'll go dancing on Friday nights, if they think they can, which means less often than she would with the miller's son.

But, she realizes, that life too would quickly descend into squints and stoops and mumbles, cribs and croup and her bosoms drooping. So she better dance the Highland Fancy with what meets her eye, and kiss their mouths before having to feed her babies' mouths, because, as she repeats, a girl has to celebrate what passes by.

And then her fantasy takes her to what it would be like to be married to the Prince of Wales, which she knows perfectly well will never happen: It would be a life of pearls and servants and dressing for festivals and they'd have dancing, not merely go to it. And she sees herself having sex with the prince with flings of confetti and her petticoats high.

But even being married to royalty, she realizes, she would be stuck with just one or it would have to be done on the sly.

So the whole song defends and justifies her actions with Frid. She understands that there is a lot she will have missed in life, but, as she says in one of Sondheim's most profound, riddle-like lyrics, "I'll not have been dead when I die."

And then she repeats for the third time her cri de coeur, this time opening it up from "a girl" to everyone: "A person should celebrate what passes by."

And she comes around, in the end, to "resigning" herself (although she doesn't have him yet) to the miller's son.

Updated On: 6/1/15 at 11:51 PM

[Fantod]

Posted: 6/1/15 at 12:09am

Interesting. Thanks for that. I still don't think it's an entirely necessary song in the musical, though it does continue the underlying sexual frustration of the piece. It is the one show that I truly find Sondheim's music to be wonderful.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 6/1/15 at 12:28am

"I still don't think it's an entirely necessary song in the musical, though it does continue the underlying sexual frustration of the piece. It is the one show that I truly find Sondheim's music to be wonderful."

I might as easily ask you "What makes you the ultimate authority on which songs are necessary?" But being a good Christian woman, as Aunt Em says, I won't. 

When you're older, you'll understand why the rest of Sondheim's music is wonderful. But given that you are a callow fellow whose musicals tastes are still developing, your condescension toward the canon can be excused with a slight eye-roll.

"The Miller's Son" made more sense when it immediately followed Frid's song, "Silly People," which was cut during rehearsals. It was sung in the "Scrabble" concert by the original Frid, George Lee Andrews:

[PalJoey]

Posted: 6/1/15 at 12:35am

Nicely rendered here by Jason Tam, from last year's revival of Marry Me a Little. The tempo is a bit too slow for me, and his voice is more boyish than George Lee Andrews's:

[Fantod]

Posted: 6/1/15 at 12:37am

If you insist on playing the ultimate authority game, what makes you the ultimate authority on the quality of Sondheim's work? Is not the quality of music entirely subjective? And I am by no means condescending of Sondheim's work. It is the most sophisticated and well put together music of any musical theatre composer's aside from Gershwin, in my personal opinion. That doesn't mean I have to love it.

And if The Miller's Son makes so much sense in the show as is, why do you make excuses for the song? For the show that is licensed now does not include Silly People. I'm not saying the number was bad, but rather it needlessly protracted the show's length.