Sondheim 101

OLLI Fall Semester 2018 • Alan Teasley, Instructor

Class 5 • Operetta & Kabuki

Audra McDonald

“The Glamorous Life”

(film version)

Sondheim! The Birthday Concert

(Directed by Lonny Price, NY Philharmonic, 2014)

(4:15)

Today’s Focus: A Little Night Music (1973) & Pacific Overtures (1976)

A Little Night Music (1973): Creative Team

Producer/Director: Harold Prince

Score: Stephen Sondheim

Book: Hugh Wheeler

Choreographer: Patricia Birch

Scenic Design: Boris Aronson

Costumes: Florence Klotz

Orchestrations: Jonathan Tunick

Ran for 601 performances

A Little Night Music (1973): Original Cast

Hermione Gingold (Madame Armfeldt)

Glynis Johns (Desirée)

Len Cariou (Fredrik)

Victoria Mallory (Anne)

Mark Lambert (Henrik)

Laurence Guittard (Carl-Magnus)

Patricia Elliott (Charlotte)

A Little Night Music (1977 Film Cast)

Hermione Gingold (Madame Armfeldt)

Elizabeth Taylor (Desirée)

Len Cariou (Fredrik)

Leslie-Anne Down (Anne)

Christopher Guard (Henrik/Erich)

Laurence Guittard (Carl-Magnus)

Diana Rigg (Charlotte)

A Little Night Music (2009 Creative Team)

Director: Trevor Nunn

Choreographer: Lynn Page

Scenic Design: David Farley

Costumes: David Farley

Orchestrations: Jason Carr

Ran for 425 performances

A Little Night Music (2009 Revival Cast)

Catherine Zeta-Jones (Desirée)*

Angela Lansbury (Mme Armfeldt)

Alexander Hanson (Fredrik)

Ramona Mallory (Anne)

Hunter Ryan Herdlicka (Henrik)

Aaron Lazar (Carl-Magnus)

Erin Davie (Charlotte)

Sondheim on How He Works

(Song 3: “Send in the Clowns”)

Six by Sondheim (Directed by James Lapine,

HBO, 2014)

(20 minutes)

A Little Night Music Won 6 Tony Awards (1973) Out of 12 Nominations)

Best Musical

Book of a Musical: Hugh Wheeler

Score: Stephen Sondheim

Actress: Glynis Johns

Featured Actress: Patricia Elliott

Costume Design: Florence Klotz

Also Nominated: Actor (Cariou), Featured Actor (Guittard), Featured Actress (Gingold), Scenic Design (Aronson), Lighting (Musser), Direction of a Musical (Prince)

A Little Night Music: Good Things Come in Three’s

The summer night smiles three times: for the young, for fools, and for the old.

All of the music is in triple meter (3/4, 3/2, 12/8, 9/8, etc.), giving rise to its reputation as the “waltz musical.”

Plot is driven by three love triangles

A Little Night Music: Characters & Plot

Desirée Armfeldt, an actress

Mme. Armfeldt, her mother

Fredrika, Desirée’s daughter

Fredrik Egerman, a lawyer

Henrik Egerman, his son

Anne Egerman, his young wife

Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm

Countess Charlotte Malcolm, his wife

“Now”—“Later”—“Soon” “A Weekend in the Country”

Pacific Overtures (1976): Creative Team

Producer/Director: Harold Prince

Score: Stephen Sondheim

Book: John Weidman

Choreographer: Patricia Birch

Scenic Design: Boris Aronson

Costumes: Florence Klotz

Orchestrations: Jonathan Tunick

Ran for 193 performances

Pacific Overtures (1976): Original Cast

Mako

Isao Sato

Soon-Tock Oh

Sab Shimono

Yuki Shimoda

Alvin Ing

Haruki Fujimoto

Pacific Overtures: (Revival Cast, 2004)

B.D. Wong

Telly Leung

Sab Shimono

Alvin Ing

Michael K. Lee

Paolo Montalban

“Someone in a Tree”