Seeing as 'A Little Night Music' is in the middle of its run at the moment, any significant news is thus lacking. However, it is still great to read the countless reviews by professionals and keen amateurs alike.
This first one is probably the only review I agree with in its entirety. The author brings in flashes of humour which is refreshingly contrasting to a lot of the stuffy 'critics' reviews - Russell's Theatre Reviews.
Another particular favourite of mine was by Robert Hugill. He is a classical singer and composer from London and it so figures that he knows what he is on about! Here is his very complimentary review:
"The Menier Chocolate Factory Theatre is in many ways a strange place to stage a musical. It is quite a small theatre with no space for a large band, and rather dry acoustics. But stage musicals they do. Their previous one, amazingly, was La Cage aux Folles, goodness knows how they managed to fit that in to the theatre. Currently they are performing Sondheim's A Little Night Music. A musical with a significant score and a large cast (15 major singing roles). They used a band of just 7, who are perched up high away from the stage. All the singers are miked and what you hear is mixed and broadcast over speakers, Gareth Owen is credited with the sound design.
We saw the show on Saturday. When it opened, at first it sounded as if the singers were miming to a recording, though I gradually became accustomed to the sound quality. It was very loud, too loud at times for the small theatre and you never felt that you were hearing any of the voices acoustically, only electronically. This was a shame as most of the actors are accomplished singers with track records in previous musicals, so I felt that the show could have been made to work with no amplification at all.
Trevor Nunn's production was lovely to look at, quite inventive with the stage designs of David Farley, who also designed the traditional costumes. As usual with this show, it got off to a bit of a slow start. But then the sheer delight of Sondheim's songs catches you. Some, of course, are regularly done as solo items but all the songs work far better, and are far funnier and apposite when heard in context. It is also amazing how he manages to use them to advance the plot.
One of the interesting things about this musical is the way Sondheim aims for a score with lots of music but without burdening the leads. He uses a group of singers who, though named, take no explicit part in the plot; instead they sing commentaries on the action. Nunn used the 5 actors as supernumeraries in various scenes, which worked very well.
Gabriel Vick made a personable and believable Henrik. Nunn has cast the whole show with a careful thought to the ages so that the young look suitably young. Vick has an attractive voice but, as usual, his technique was rather taxed by the rather operatic requirements of his solos. Not for nothing did the TER recording us a real opera singer (Bonaventure Bottone) in this role.
Anne was similarly very young. She was played by Jessie Buckley who evidently came second in the recent TV show looking for an actress to play Nancy in Oliver. She made Anne completely captivating and believable.
Alexander Hanson made Fredrik very much the charming and sexy older man, and he managed his way around the tongue-twisting passages of his musical contributions in an admirable fashion. Alistair Robins and Kelly Price were the Count and Countess, suitably attractive looking and both attentive to musical values as well.
Hannah Waddingham was the main recipient of Nunn's thoughts about the ages of the characters, she is noticeably younger than other actresses in the role. Waddingham's Desiree is only just approaching 40 and this works very well. Waddingham's way with the show's best known number, Send in the Clowns made it the opposite of a belting torch song, and made you wish Sondheim had given Desiree more to sing. Her mother was superbly played by Maureen Lipmann, with her usual fine sense of comic timing. And her delivery of Liaisons was masterly, lovely to hear the song properly sung for once, as opposed to being wobbled through (Lila Kedrova) or half spoken (Hermione Gingold).
Kaisa Hammarlund as Petra delivered The Miller's Son as the outstanding item it is, and Jeremy Finch's Frid got to sing Silly People which was cut just before the first run.
I hope that this show might transfer to a bigger theatre, it certainly deserves it. "
http://hugill.blogspot.com/2009/01/little-night-music.html
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Now for a review from Sophie who went to see the show on Saturday as well.
"The time had finally come to see Jessie in her theatre debut, and I wasn’t one for missing this memorable opportunity. When I booked the tickets for A Little Night Music, I wasn’t exactly sure on what to expect in terms of the theatre itself, the seating, the set and the production. But one thing I was sure on was that I’d see an exciting and memorable performance by Jessie herself! I was quite worried about the seating before I arrived there as a few people told me they are a bit uncomfortable and there isn’t much room, which I later realised was correct! But that is my only criticism of this fantastic production.
The theatre space at the Menier is extremely small and intimate, so where ever you sit you have a great view and feel engaged with the show. My friend Georgina and I got our tickets from the box office and were showed to our seats by 3.15pm. We were sat in row D and were able to see every detail of the production which was amazing.
You know when the show is going to start as the lights dim and the theatre is literally pitch black Jessie first comes in with other members of the cast doing a waltz, and I was a bit surprised how they all managed to glide across the restricted floor space without bumping into each other! With the lighting being very dark, and every woman wearing the same outfit, I thought it would be hard to spot Jessie. How wrong I was! Whatever John Barrowman said about her movement on I’d Do Anything is wiped away immediately as she takes to the waltz with ease. I knew Jessie would be performing Anne with a posh English accent, but I was still shocked when I heard her speak without the Irish accent! She wasn’t Jessie, she was Anne.
The show includes some very funny lines, but what suck out for me were some of the ingenious lyrics in many of the songs. The scenes where Jessie was with the Countess, who was played by Kelly Price, were the scenes which made me laugh the most.
I had the pleasure of meeting Jessie after the show but I was so nervous that when I was talking to her I probably looked like a right doughnut! However, Jessie is the nicest person I’ve ever met. I was completely star struck and even she said ‘I’m only Jessie’ when I told her I couldn’t believe I was talking to her. Everything was perfect on Saturday – it really was the best day of my life! Jessie looked at home on the stage, and I know this is the beginning of a highly successful career for her, and I hope to be there every step of the way. Jessie, you are fabulous and I think the West End will be calling soon!"
