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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