MEDIA RELEASE A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC TO SHINE IN STAR-STUDDED PRODUCTION Heartbreak and hilarity run deep in Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s musical A Little Night Music. Their playful, barbed work explores love and relationships from every perspective, and features the iconic Send in the Clowns. Victorian Opera presents a limited 8-performance run of A Little Night Music at Arts Centre Melbourne’s Playhouse from 27 June – 6 July. Australian music theatre royalty will shine in an all-star cast, headed by much-loved songbird Ali McGregor (Lorelei, Adelaide Cabaret Festival), Simon Gleeson (Les Misérables, Oklahoma), Nancye Hayes AM (Sunday in the Park with George, My Fair Lady), and Verity Hunt-Ballard (Mary Poppins, Sweet Charity). A Little Night Music also features rising stars Alinta Chidzey (Chicago, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder), Samuel Dundas (Pelleas and Melisande, Cunning Little Vixen), Elisa Colla (My Fair Lady, Wicked), Mat Verevis (Beautiful: The Carol King Musical, The Voice – Season Three), and newcomer Sophia Wasley (Four Saints in Three Acts, Pelleas and Melisande). This production will sparkle under the direction of Stuart Maunder AM and music director Phoebe Briggs. The pair reunite following their collaborations on Victorian Opera’s productions of Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and Sunday in the Park with George as part of the company’s hugely popular trilogy of the composer’s works. In one of music theatre’s greatest roles for women, Ali McGregor appears as fading actress Desirée Armfeldt. Desirée’s heartbreaking lament Send in the Clowns became Sondheim’s first popular hit after being recorded by Frank Sinatra, then by Judy Collins, Bing Crosby and Barbara Streisand. For further enquiries, contact: Scott Whinfield, Media & Communications Executive E: [email protected] P: 03 9012 6653 M: 0412 534 730 MEDIA RELEASE McGregor follows a rich lineage of singing actresses to perform the role, including Judi Dench, Bernadette Peters, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Glynis Johns, who originated the role. After its Broadway premiere in 1973, A Little Night Music scooped the Tony Awards winning Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, and Best Score among others. Based on Ingmar Bergman’s 1955 film Smiles of a Summer Night, the musical is set in Sweden at the turn of the century and follows a group of aristocrats who rekindle lost love, court new liaisons, and flirt with the follies of the heart. Capturing the uncertainties of love with playfulness and heartbreaking accuracy, A Little Night Music resonates with bittersweet wisdom, and speaks to us all. Wheeler’s book and Sondheim’s music and lyrics ingeniously meld humour and heartache; original director Hal Prince aptly describing the work as “whipped cream with knives.” Demonstrating Sondheim’s mastery of both melody and lyrics, A Little Night Music is the closest to an operetta of all his works, seamlessly weaving together music, plot and characters. The luscious score is composed like a suite of waltzes, reflecting the theme of coupling and uncoupling. The farcical story will warm your heart on a cold winter night as it portrays the tomfoolery of life. Get ready to fall in love with A Little Night Music. A Little Night Music Music and Lyrics Stephen Sondheim Book Hugh Wheeler Arts Centre Melbourne, Playhouse 27, 28, 29 June, 2, 3, 4, 5 July 7:30pm Creative Team 6 July, 1pm Music Director Phoebe Briggs Director Stuart Maunder AM Bookings via victorianopera.com.au Original Designs Rodger Kirk AM Associate Designer Candice MacAllister Lighting Designer Trudy Dalgleish Cast Fredrika Armfeldt Sophia Wasley Madame Armfeldt Nancye Hayes AM Henrik Egerman Mat Verevis Anne Egerman Elisa Colla Fredrik Egerman Simon Gleeson Petra Alinta Chidzey Desirée Armfeldt Ali McGregor Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm Samuel Dundas Countess Charlotte Malcolm Verity Hunt-Ballard Ensemble featuring Paul Biencourt, Kirilie Blythman, Michelle McCarthy, and Juel Riggall Victorian Opera Chamber Orchestra For further enquiries, contact: Scott Whinfield, Media & Communications Executive E: [email protected] P: 03 9012 6653 M: 0412 534 730 .