A Little Night Music

A Little Night Music
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Book by Hugh Wheeler. Victorian Opera. Conductor: Phoebe Briggs. Director: Stuart Maunder. Playhouse Theatre, Arts Centre Melbourne. June 27 – July 6, 2019

Sondheim’s A Little Night Music is a delightful romp. This was an excellent production, with the revolving stage and sheer curtains used to great effect to allow rapid changes of scenes.

The thing which stood out for me was the wonderful comic timing of the cast. There was no rushed dialogue and many appropriate pauses gave the audience plenty of time to laugh at the various situations, and there was much cause for this.

A mixture of music theatre and operatic singers, this was an excellent cast. I last encountered Ali McGregor in the title role of The Merry Widow, so was surprised to find her singing Desirée Armfeldt, a role often played by actors. She was superb! Her heartfelt “Send in the Clowns” was the highlight it should be.

Simon Gleeson was Fredrik, the man torn between his loyalty to his new young wife and love for his former lover. Ali and he were a most believable couple. As his young wife, Elisa Colla had a beautiful high soprano, which was very appropriate for the role. Mat Verevis was the tortured Henrick, the son madly in love with his step-mother. We felt his pain.

Samuel Dundas was a suitably uptight Count and Verity Hunt-Ballard his down-trodden wife. Alinta Chidzey was very funny as the maid, Petra. Nancye Hayes was a dignified domineering grandmother and Sophia Wasley a charming grand-daughter. The costumes were elegant.

Phoebe Briggs was in control of the orchestra and the music was tight. The only issue I had was not being able to hear all the words, but I’m sure the sound engineers will sort this out.

This short season deserves to be sold out.

Graham Ford

Photographer: Jeff Busby

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