 A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC
a musical play in two acts. Book by Hugh Wheeler, suggested by Ingmar
Bergman's film Smiles Of a Summer Night. Music and lyrics by Stephen
Sondheim.
Shubert Theatre, Broadway - 25 February, 1973 (601 perfs)
London Adelphi Theatre - 15 April, 1975 (406 perfs)
Produced at the Shubert Theatre, New York, 25
February 1973 with Len Cariou (Fredrik), Glynis Johns (Desirée)
and Hermione Gingold (Madame Armfeldt). Produced at the Adelphi Theatre,
London, 15 April 1975 with Joss Ackland, Jean Simmons and Hermione
Gingold. A film version was produced by Sascha-Wien Films, Elliott
Kastner and Roger Corman in 1978 with Len Cariou, Elizabeth Taylor,
Hermione Gingold and Diana Rigg.
Synopsis
Act I
Before the play proper, a quintet of Lieder Singers vocalises
a bewitching Night Waltz, a serenade that hints at all the possibilities
and deceptions of the evening ahead in a drama that will be played out
in three-quarter time. As the quintet waltzes among the play's protagonists
in a kaleidoscope of changing combinations, old partnerships are broken
and resumed. The aged Madame Armfeldt, who knows about these things, explains
to her granddaughter Fredrika the three smiles of a summer night: the
first smile is for the young, like Fredrika, who know nothing; the second
for fools, like Fredrika's mother, who know too little; the third for
the old - Madame Armfeldt herself - who know too much.
We are in Sweden at the turn of the century and at the
house of Fredrik Egerman a permanent Nordic frost of sexual frustration
seems to have settled. Passion flares, they say, when the time is right,
but when is that time? After eleven months of non-consummated marriage
to his teenage bride, Fredrik is impatient: he wants her Now. Downstairs,
Henrik, the issue of his first marriage, is making fumbling advances to
Petra the maid and being repulsed, as always, with the promise of Later.
Upstairs again, Fredrik's young wife Anne, no older than her stepson,
promises that she will be her husband's ... Soon.
Far away, in a swirl of activity, Desirée Armfeldt
is leading The Glamorous Lif e - dashing off a note to her daughter
and mother before being whisked from one grim lodging to another draughty
dressing-room to a meeting of the Hälsingborg Arts Council Amateur
Theatre Group. In that evening's entertainment, Desirée plays a
woman who can and does have any man she wants. In the Egerman party at
the theatre, Anne swears that Desirée is directing her performance
at Fredrik alone. Back home, she still cannot love him yet is riven by
jealousy at the thought that he might hanker after Desirée.
Their affair ended years ago, but the memories still taunt him: Remember? He
leaves the house and makes his way to Desirée's lodgings. There
is so much to talk about: You Must Meet My Wife, he tells her.
She feels little inclination to, but, when Fredrik eventually raises
the matter of Anne's indestructible virginity, Desirée is appalled
and immediately invites her old flame into the bedroom to end his isolation.
Whatever happened, wonders Madame Armfeldt, to Liaisons of style,
sophistication and their own courtly code? She can only regret the modern
world's descent into the blunt, squalid satisfaction of desire.
But, even as they complete their coupling, Fredrik
and Desirée are surprised by a visitor, the actress9 current
amour, Count Carl-Magus Malcolm. Fredrik is more dishevelled than a
quiet drink with an old friend would seem to require. But Carl-Magnus,
speaking In
Praise of Women, is unperturbed; women practise fidelity, he
practises fidelity. too - to Desirée ... and his wife Charlotte.
Therefore, as everyone is so faithful, nothing can have happened.
The following day. though, Charlotte sets off to visit
Anne Egerman and, faced with the child bride's foolish naivet6, her
blithe worldliness cracks. Desirée has ensnared both their husbands.
Love, she tells Anne, takes its toll: Every Day a Little Death.
Desirée,
however, feels otherwise. She has a short break in her hectic schedule
and, ensconced at her mother's estate, decides to invite a few house
guests: Carl-Magnus and Charlotte, Henrik, Anne and Fredrik. Of course,
Fredrik's new wife is an obstacle, but who knows what A Weekend in the Country may
bring?
Act II
A country weekend is about to begin. Tantalisingly, The
Sun Won't Set, though no-one seems inclined to a quiet night's
sleep. Charlotte tells Anne that she will make love to Fredrik and
thereby tempt Carl-Magnus back. Young Henrik confides to Fredrika that
he is in love with Anne, his stepmother. On the terrace, Carl-Magnus
and Fredrik are sunk in introspective gloom: if only Desirée
had become fat, if only she wasn't so enduringly appealing, It Would Have Been Wonderful.
The Norse twilight tingles and the lieder quintet sings of Perpetual
Anticipation. Only Petra is enjoying her weekend away, with a straightforward
bout of al fresco passion with Madame Armfeldt's butler Frid.
As the night advances, a grim weariness descends:
in Desirée's bedroom, Fredrik wonders why he's wasting his time trying
to recapture his lost youth with a teenage bride; Desirée wonders
why she's sleeping with a dunderhead dragoon to relieve the monotony
of third-rate tours. Send in the Clowns?. Don't bother - they're here.
Outside, under the Northern stars, Anne finds her stepson trying to hang
himself. They kiss and, on the shores of the lake, both discover love.
As they do, their maid straightens her own skirts, decides that one day
she'll marry The Miller's Song but in the meanwhile . . . The
night draws to a close with a duel between Carl-Magnus and Fredrik
- and a wounded Fredrik in Desirée's arms.
The summer night has smiled on the young, the fools and,
finally, the old: Madame Armfeldt dies, and the Night Waltz plays
once more.
Characters
- Frederik Egerman - A middle-aged lawyer who doesn't
wish to press his sexual advances, but is growing restless ...
- Anne Egerman - His second wife but, after almost a year, still
a wife in name only.
- Henrik Egerman - A serious seminary student, Fredrik's son by
his first marriage and, in fact, a year older than his stepmother.
- Petra - The Egerman's maid and, in contrast to the rest of the
household, someone who seizes every opportunity for a rustle in the
hay.
- Madame Armfeldt - A veteran of discreet and lucrative horizontal
encounters with the crowned heads of Europe.
- Desirée Armfeldt - Her daughter and a touring actress.
- Frederika Armfeldt - Desirée's thirteen-year old daughter.
- Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm - Desirée's lover, a splendidly
proportioned but ferociously jealous dragoon.
- Countess Charlotte Malcolm - Carl-Magnus' wife
- Frid - Madame Armfeldt's butler.
- Malla - Desirée's maid.
- Bertrand - A page.
- Osa
Mr. Linquist, Mrs. Nordstrom, Mrs. Anderssen, Mr. Erlansson and Mrs.
Segstrom - The lieder singers
Scenes & Settings
The action takes place in Sweden at the turn of the century.
Act 1
- Scene 1: The Egerman Rooms.
- Scene 2: Stage of Local
Theatre.
- Scene 3: The Egerman Rooms.
- Scene 4: Desirée's Digs.
- Scene
5: Breakfast Room in (the) Malcolm Country House.
- Scene 6: Egerman
Rooms.
- Scene 7: Armfeldt Terrace.
Act 2
- Scene 1: The Armfeldt Lawn.
- Scene 2: The Other Part of the Garden.
- Scene 3: Armfeldt Terrace.
- Scene 4: The Dining Room.
- Scene 5: Armfeldt
Garden; Another Part of the Garden.
- Scene 6: Desirée's Bedroom.
- Scene
7: The Trees.
- Scene 8: Armfeldt House and Garden.
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Musical Numbers
- Overture -
Mr Lindquist, Mrs Nordstrom, Mrs Anderssen, Mr Erlanson, Mrs Segstrom
- Prologue
- Night Waltz - Company
- Now -
Fredrik Egerman
- Later -
Henrick Egerman
- Soon -
Anne Egerman, Henrick Egerman, Fredrik Egerman
- The Glamorous Life -
Frederika Armfeldt, Desirée Armfeldt, Malla, Madame Armfeldt, Mrs Nordstrom,
Mrs Segstrom, Mrs Anderssen, Mr Lindquist, Mr Erlanson
- Remember? -
Mr Lindquist, Mrs Nordstrom, Mrs Anderssen, Mr Erlanson, Mrs Segstrom
- Remember? (continued) - Mr Lindquist, Mrs Nordstrom, Mrs Anderssen, Mr Erlanson, Mrs Segstrom
- You Must Meet My Wife -
Desirée Armfeldt, Fredrik Egerman
- Liaisons -
Madame Armfeldt
- In Praise of Women -
Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm
- In Praise of Women (continued) - Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm
- Every Day a Little Death -
Countess Charlotte Malcolm, Anne Egerman
- A Weekend in the Country - Company
- Entr'acte,
- The Sun Won't Set -
Mrs Anderssen, Mrs Segstrom, Mrs Nordstrom, Mr Lindquist, Mr Erlanson
- It Would Have Been Wonderful -
Fredrik Egerman, Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm
- Perpetual Anticipation -
Mrs Nordstrom, Mrs Segstrom, Mrs Anderssen
- Send in the Clowns -
Desirée Armfeldt
- The Miller's Son -
Petra
- Finale -
Company
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