A Little Night Music continues at Leeds Playhouse until 17 July 2021.
Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
For my first visit to Leeds Playhouse in many months I knew I was in safe hands with a joint production from the venue and Opera North, the ever reliable James Brining in the director’s chair.
On arriving at the theatre, after a stressful journey but a most enjoyable curry, I encountered the excellent Playhouse staff and, I confess, also had a lazy prejudice demolished.
The prejudice was a dislike for Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s show. I have avoided seeing it many times, always feeling that ‘Send in the Clowns’ is a number that chisels emotion from listeners. It seems to be a mark of honour to sing it badly in variety shows and music slots on late-night chat shows.
Glynis Johns, the original Desiree, was hired for the 1973 show for talents other than singing, so much of the musical weight fell on other shoulders. Stephanie Corley in the role, on the other hand, has a magnificent voice. There were chills quivering up my spine from her first note.
She runs a gamut of roles, from the ageing stage star to the remorseful ex-lover of Fredrik (Quirijn de Lang), all with great style. Indeed all the female performers play their roles with passion and insight. Not a weak link in the entire ensemble.
De Lang has to play Fredrik with considerable understatement. After all, he is the monochrome father/lawyer/bureaucrat to the multi-coloured characters around him. Nevertheless, his singing is as immaculate as ever.
Christopher Nairne as Carl-Magnus and Helen Évora as Charlotte provide comedy just a shade this side of good taste, especially in the world we live in. It almost felt like a betrayal as we applauded one of Carl-Magnus’ numbers (ironically entitled ‘In Praise of Women’) – well sung, but entirely the wrong sentiment for our times.
Then of course, there is the redoubtable Josephine Barstow as Madame Armfeldt. Her long career has taken in Sondheim shows before, notably Follies in 2017, and she is no stranger to Opera North. Here she presides over the life of her daughter, Desiree, with sardonic resignation, ultimately reflecting on her own life as a courtesan.
Madeleine Boyd’s set design cleverly exploits the Playhouse’s thrust stage, choosing a busy arrangement and re-arrangement of props for Act I but shifting to a more static setting for Act II. To begin with, the Chorus provides the muscle to move around tables, wheelchairs and crockery while a central fountain focuses attention (and allows plenty of slapstick) in the second half.
Conductor James Holmes manoeuvres the orchestra through Sondheim’s intricate score with aplomb.
One of the most notable developments in opera singing in recent years has been the quality of the acting. Performers in musical theatre have long recognised the need to balance the elements of acting and singing. It is noticeable that opera too has moved forward in this respect..
The result is a thoroughly entertaining evening in the theatre (what a delight it is to write those words).
Mike Tilling
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