A Little Night Music Book by Hugh Wheeler, Music & Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim Directed by Morris Panych, Musical Direction by Paul Sportelli

“Isn’t it rich? Are we a pair? Me here at last on the ground, you in mid-air.”

These lines from arguably Sondheim’s most well-known song “Send in the Clowns”, come in Act Two of A Little Night Music – sung by Desirée Armfeldt to her past lover Fredrik Egerman, with whom she has tried to rekindle an old affair. But suddenly the promise of this reunion becomes farcical to her, ridiculous at best, and she calls for the clowns to enter:

But where are the clowns? Quick, send in the clowns. Don’t bother, they’re here.

Set in Sweden at the turn of the century, the play began as an idea shared by Sondheim, librettist Wheeler and director Hal Prince, all of whom had worked together on West Side Story. They had agreed they wanted to write a chamber opera about ‘romance and foolishness’ and they decided to use Ingmar Bergman’s film Smiles of a Summer Night as their source material (filmmaker Woody Allen, also inspired by Bergman’s movie, made A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy).

The musical tells the story of a lawyer, Fredrik Egerman, who is married to a beautiful, but inexperienced 18-year-old named Anne who, despite the fact that they have been married almost a year, refuses to lose her virginity. He sees an old flame, Desirée Armfeldt, an actress who is appearing in a popular play, and his romantic interest in her is rekindled. However, she is having an affair with an arrogant and insanely jealous military man, Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm. This group of romantic fools is joined by Egerman's son, Henrik, a divinity student in love with his stepmother who is only a year younger than he is. They all come together in a weekend at the country estate of Desirée 's mother, Madame Armfeldt, who is looking after Desirée's precocious daughter, Fredrika, while Desirée is on tour. And all under the magical midnight sun:

The vespers ring, the nightingale’s waiting to sing. The rest of us wait on a string. Perpetual sunset Is rather an unset- tling thing.

Musical director Paul Sportelli talks about Sondheim’s unique and acclaimed score:

“All the music in A Little Night Music is in triple metre, and this waltz feel gives the score its characteristic sense of movement and swirl. This is one of Sondheim's most tuneful scores, and the music somehow captures the sound and feel of Sweden at the end of the nineteenth century perfectly. The score features music that is elegant and emotional (like the classic and familiar "Send in the Clowns") as well as music that is rousingly infectious ("A Weekend in the Country," one of the greatest Act 1 finales ever written) and music that bursts with life ("The Miller's Son"). And who else but the consummately masterful Sondheim could write three songs entitled "Now," "Soon," and "Later," and then combine them all into a magnificent trio?”

While this is one of Sondheim’s best-known musicals, director Morris Panych’s production will take the play, which has generally been performed on larger stages, and bring it to the intimacy of the Court House Theatre. His idea of an intimate examination of this musical will bring the audience closer to these characters and closer to the powerful emotion of both the story and the songs of this American classic.