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From:  "Margaret L. Harrison"<peggyh@i...>
Date:  Thu Apr 18, 2002  2:28 pm
Subject:  Re: [vocalist] Background info


On Thu, 18 Apr 2002 09:23:28 +1000 Robert Edgar <redgar@b...> wrote:

>>Could someone please steer me in the right direction re a book or website to
find out the background information in relation to the Music Theatre work 'A
Little Night Music' by Stephen Sondheim.

Robert, this is one of my very favorite musicals. I'm glad you're looking for
more info on it. There is a lot to find.

In the USA there are always community productions to go to, but I imagine in
Australia the piece isn't peformed that often.

I highly recommend viewing on the Ingmar Bergman movie upon which the show is
based, "Smiles of a Summer Night". There is also extant, but probably
impossible to get, a video of the movie version with Elizabeth Taylor as
Desiree, in which she attempts and woefully fails to sing. (But it's worth
seeing Diana Rigg's performance as Charlotte.) And there are probably videos
out there of the New York City Opera production that ran about 10 years ago on
American public television.

In the musical, the song is sung by Desiree, but the verses occur at different
points in the show, rather than all at the same time. As background, Frederick
is a widower and had a previous affair with the actress Desiree. He has since
married the 18-year old daughter of a friend. But she is still a virgin (the
subject oif the first number in the show). The first time Desiree sings "Send in
the Clowns" is when Frederick rejects Desiree, who wants him to leave his wife
for her. The second time is at the end, after Frederick's young wife and
seminary student son have run off together and he returns to Desiree. This is a
PG-13 show, at least!

If you can get hold of it, they ran a Sondehim master class at a London
performing arts college (I forget the name of it) on the American cable station
Bravo a few years back, during which he coached two young women on this song.
One was an Acting student, and the other was an Opera student. (The latter was
FAR more successful with what Sondheim wanted to accomplish with the song than
the former.)

Peggy


Margaret Harrison, Alexandria, Virginia, USA.



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