A Little Night Music

In these hard economic times, Broadway turns to celebrities. Is it working? Depends if you're just interested in ticket sales or delivering quality arts.

Stephen Sondheim is a marvel. His work is both popular and complex but I'd never seen this play, probably because anything adapted from a Bergman film would bound to pale in comparison to my first love. But I decided to take a chance since this is Broadway, Sondheim added songs, and Dad was paying - thanks Dad!

The cast is likely what is pulling in the patrons. Catherine Zeta-Jones decided to make her Broadway debut in this beautiful production but I wonder if she truly felt comfortable delivering the most memorable of the songs, Send In the Clowns. She seemed to 'talk' through most of it but she did deliver the main chorus with strength. She was very good with the comedic timing and emotional aspects of the play/musical.

Angela Landsbury acted like a snobby, darkly humorous old regal lady. While she missed her lines, she just works that into her character's faulting, being an old, forgetful matriarch. People ate up her performance where I just found it cliche and standard.

The real standout, and crowd favorite, was Leigh Ann Larkin as Petra. She brought a fun and lusty thrill to her role. When she delivered "The Miller's Son", the audience was captivated. A HUGE round af applause resulted, making me wonder if Ms. Zeta-Jones realized the difference in their two song deliveries and the crowd preference.

The sets were truly magical. With the use of 'mirrored' doors/panels behind the stage center, the space transforms from parlor to country estate to dumpy apartment to birch woods. I just loved the movement, lighting, and flow of the sets and action. Bravo to an amazing result from the production and lighting crew.

Well, it was a nice evening. I'm glad to finally see it in such a form. Yes, it had its pauses, its stalled moments, but it did deliver ... a little night music ... and that is worth something.