A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC to Open at Theatre on the Bay With Jonathan Roxmouth

Cape Town Opera will present Stephen Sondheim's acclaimed musical A Little Night Music at Theatre on the Bay from 30 June to 12 July 2026. 

The production, directed by Fred Abrahamse, brings together some of the country's most celebrated musical theatre performers with Aviva Pelham as the formidable Madame Armfeldt, Samantha Peo (CHICAGO the Musical, The Addams Family) as the glamorous actress Desirée Armfeldt and Jonathan Roxmouth (Key Change, CHICAGO the Musical) as the conflicted Fredrik Egerman. They are joined by Marcel Meyer (Richard lll, The Lady Aoi) as the swaggering Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm,  Kate Normington as the perceptive Countess Charlotte Malcolm, Liné Jordaan (Rouge, Melomania) as Anne Egerman, William Young (The Rocky Horror Show, Twelfth Night) as Henrik Egerman, Mia-Cecilia Kriel as young Fredrika Armfeldt, and CTO House Soloist Brittany Smith (My Fair Lady, Carmen, The Barber of Seville) as Petra. Smith, whose stand-out performance as Maria in Pieter Toerien and Cape Town Opera's acclaimed production of The Sound of Music earned her a Fleur du Cap Theatre Award in 2024, will bring her luminous vocal and dramatic artistry to the role.

This sumptuous new production with its multi-award winning cast promises to be one of the theatrical highlights of the season. Intimate, sophisticated, and emotionally rich, Theatre on the Bay provides the perfect setting for Sondheim's haunting and witty exploration of love, regret, desire and second chances.

Musical director José Dias (Master Class, L'Elisir d'Amore, Trial By Media) conducts from the piano, while costumes are designed by Marcel Meyer, lighting is by Nicolaas de Jongh and sound design is by David Classen. For director Abrahamse, who has also designed the set, the enduring appeal of the piece lies in its extraordinary humanity. A Little Night Music is filled with people yearning to be loved, understood, desired, forgiven,' says Abrahamse. ‘It is sophisticated and funny, but beneath the glitter there is enormous tenderness and vulnerability. Sondheim's writing is unmatched in its intelligence and emotional truth.' 

Premiering on Broadway in 1973, A Little Night Music won six Tony Awards including Best Musical and features one of the most celebrated scores in musical theatre history. Filled with lush waltzes, razor-sharp lyrics, and emotional complexity, the work includes the iconic 'Send in the Clowns', a song that has become part of the canon of modern musical theatre. Set in turn-of-the-century Sweden, A Little Night Music unfolds over a single midsummer weekend as former lovers reunite, marriages falter, jealousies ignite, and romantic entanglements spiral into both comedy and heartbreak. Inspired by Ingmar Bergman's film, Smiles of a Summer Night,  A Little Night Music remains one of Sondheim's most beloved and sophisticated works. 

Combining romance, biting comedy, elegance and one of the finest scores ever written for the stage, A Little Night Music promises audiences an unforgettable theatrical experience, intimate in scale yet rich in emotional and musical splendour.

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