I just watched "Smiles of a Summer Night", and now I want to watch "A Little Night Music." But it is nowhere to be had. "Night Music" is such a wonderful experience: the music, the acting, the entire performance. Why hasn't this been released on DVD? There must be many people out there who would love to see it. Every role, every song, the whole Sondheim genius is here. How do we get it out so we can see it whenever we feel the need? It has been so long since I have seen it - almost 15 years now- that specific comments are difficult to make. But I do remember Sally Anne Howes' rendition of "Send In The Clowns" as being a show stopper. And the comic tension between Egerman and Desiree's lover is just a delight. Let's get this musical converted to the DVD format. Everyone would benefit.
Live from Lincoln Center (TV Series)
New York City Opera: A Little Night Music (1990)
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Agreed
callingbrian30 December 2006
It's been a long time since I saw this, but I recall it being absolutely mesmerizing. I expected Sally Ann Howes to be good, and she didn't disappoint. But Regina Resnik was, again, as I recall, stupendous! I had it on VHS for a while, but it eventually disappeared in a move.
So far as I know, this was broadcast live, never repeated, and never released commercially on video. I seem to recall something about Sondheim not being willing to release video rights, and a lot of contractual hurdles with NYCO. But I might be wrong about that.
As these things tend to go, I wouldn't be surprised if it was long ago destroyed.
What a shame. I think it just might have been the definitive "A Little Night Music".
So far as I know, this was broadcast live, never repeated, and never released commercially on video. I seem to recall something about Sondheim not being willing to release video rights, and a lot of contractual hurdles with NYCO. But I might be wrong about that.
As these things tend to go, I wouldn't be surprised if it was long ago destroyed.
What a shame. I think it just might have been the definitive "A Little Night Music".
A Little Night Music - PBS Live at Lincoln Center
odavy15 July 2007
I recorded this live broadcast on VHS tape and converted it to a digital file, a couple of years ago. It's not as crisp as a commercial DVD - it was a twelve-year- old recording, made at an extended setting. The performance and intermission interviews, by Hugh Downs make the video almost three hours long - but I was able to digitize it before the VHS tape had degraded too much. It's quite watchable - which I do, every year or so. I never tire of it. The performances are superb. It's every bit as good as you remember it. I too wonder why it's not available on DVD.
Pester PBS to release it.
Dave
Pester PBS to release it.
Dave
The night smiles - and this performance does too!
christian_gil883 April 2008
This was a wonderful realisation of a gem. I first saw it in London with Jean Simmons and Hermoine Gingold and was suitably impressed. This version was a PBS telecast of a performance at The Lincoln Center (November 7, 1990.) For some reason it has never been commercially available, but inevitably copies have found their way around. Sally Ann Howes is just perfectly cast as Desiree and as her mother, Mme. Arnfeldt, the great mezzo Regina Resnick makes an equally indelible impression. The rest of the cast do not disappoint, and the production (a NYCO job) is great. All in all, Ingmar Bergman's tale is brought vividly to life and Stephen Sondheim's genius shines brightly, as it should. A complete opposite from the altogether miserable effort filmed a few years earlier. With Len Cariou, Hermione Gingold (both recreating their stage roles) and Elizabeth Taylor leading the cast there, one might have expected a great deal more but don't bother. Cariou and Diana Rigg are very good, but Miss Taylor is just not right. Try to get a copy of this one. Google it, borrow it, mortgage your house for it but get it!
"The smile for the fools was particularly broad tonight"
TheLittleSongbird11 October 2013
Stephen Sondheim's beautiful melodies and clever, intelligent lyrics always shine even when the story doesn't as much. A Little Night Music is alongside Sweeney Todd, Into the Wood, Follies and Sunday in the Park with George one of his best, Send in the Clowns is the most recognisable and most well-known number in the show as well as one of Sondheim's hits, and for good reason too. This performance is just wonderful, infinitely superior to the Elizabeth Taylor film which for this viewer a big disappointment. It is an attractive-looking production and the staging is charming and well-thought-out. The fabulously witty dialogue is delivered in a way that suggests that the performers are enjoying delivering it, and the story emotionally resonates too. The orchestral playing has grandeur and brings out the beauty and power of Sondheim's music, and the whole production is paced well in tempo while allowing everything to make their impact and breathe. The acting and singing are first-class by all, especially from Sally Ann Howes(her moving rendition, with her rich perfectly-tuned contralto-like voice, of Send in the Clowns was one of, perhaps the, best part of the performance), Regina Resnik(a great mezzo-soprano, close to incomparable as Klytamnestra from Strauss' Elektra) and George Lee Andrews(helped by having some of the wittiest and most meaningful dialogue of the show). But everybody shows good comic timing and are affecting in the more movingly dramatic moments. Overall, wonderful, a performance that will make you smile if you come across it in some way or form. Highly deserving of a DVD release, that it hasn't already is a great mystery. 10/10 Bethany Cox
Come and get your romantic advice for the day.
mark.waltz1 July 2021
Warning: Spoilers
An absolutely thrilling New York City Opera production of the 1973 musical version of Ingmar Bergman's "Smiles of a Summer Night" minimizes the giant sets and backdrops for intimacy and only strengthens the glamorous staging. This show didn't get a Broadway revival until 37 years after the original production, but there were numerous NYC opera productions, this one filmed for TV and starring the glorious Sally Anne Howes of "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" fame as Desiree Armfeldt, surrounded by a terrific ensemble with the production stolen by opera star Regina Resnick as her mother who really looks like an aging courtesan who was once a great beauty and is now left with only her wits.
Co-starring George Lee Andrews as the attorney who was once Desiree's lover, and now married to the still virginal Beverly Lambert, and Michael McGuire as her current married dragoon lover, this is a sophisticated sexual bit of musical farce where serious themes brings everyone together for a confrontational weekend in the country. Maureen Moore is the cynical but desperately depressed countess wife of McGuire, expressing her daily little bit of death with Lambert that really makes you think about the bitter words coming out of her mouth.
The beautiful orchestrations of this production will have you entranced by the opening of the "Night Waltz", a brilliant piece of music that along with the opening to Sondheim's "Follies" thrills me every time I hear it because it goes into places that other composers would not have dared to take it. Each musical moment is gloriously recreated and they got more thrilling with each passing one. I can't think of a more thrilling act one finale than "A Weekend in the Country" that always sends the audience out into intermission buzzing with excitement and the anticipation of what happens in Act II.
Of course everything that occurs leads up to Desiree's big Act Two number, "Send in the Clowns" which is of course one of the greatest moments in musical theater history. It is equal in its impact to Resnick's glorious "Liasons". Her Madame Armfeldt is delightfully theatrical, one of the great supporting characters in any musical, the Lady Bracknell of Sondheim's world, and you see such stage Legends as Dame Judith Anderson and Tallulah Bankhead in Resnick's characterization. This is a quite different part for young Danielle Ferland who had been seen in the cable TV filming of Sondheim's "Into the Woods". I can't think of a better way to film it than this production, a step above the movie version, nearly flawless, and one that will remain in the musical memory of your brain long after it has concluded.
Co-starring George Lee Andrews as the attorney who was once Desiree's lover, and now married to the still virginal Beverly Lambert, and Michael McGuire as her current married dragoon lover, this is a sophisticated sexual bit of musical farce where serious themes brings everyone together for a confrontational weekend in the country. Maureen Moore is the cynical but desperately depressed countess wife of McGuire, expressing her daily little bit of death with Lambert that really makes you think about the bitter words coming out of her mouth.
The beautiful orchestrations of this production will have you entranced by the opening of the "Night Waltz", a brilliant piece of music that along with the opening to Sondheim's "Follies" thrills me every time I hear it because it goes into places that other composers would not have dared to take it. Each musical moment is gloriously recreated and they got more thrilling with each passing one. I can't think of a more thrilling act one finale than "A Weekend in the Country" that always sends the audience out into intermission buzzing with excitement and the anticipation of what happens in Act II.
Of course everything that occurs leads up to Desiree's big Act Two number, "Send in the Clowns" which is of course one of the greatest moments in musical theater history. It is equal in its impact to Resnick's glorious "Liasons". Her Madame Armfeldt is delightfully theatrical, one of the great supporting characters in any musical, the Lady Bracknell of Sondheim's world, and you see such stage Legends as Dame Judith Anderson and Tallulah Bankhead in Resnick's characterization. This is a quite different part for young Danielle Ferland who had been seen in the cable TV filming of Sondheim's "Into the Woods". I can't think of a better way to film it than this production, a step above the movie version, nearly flawless, and one that will remain in the musical memory of your brain long after it has concluded.
Love is in the air.
akoaytao123417 March 2023
Apparently based on Bergman's Sex Farce Smiles of a Summer Night, it tells the intertwined love stories of an actress, her military lover and his family, her lawyer with his young wife ,and his son. Not really easy to summarize into a simple plot but each meet and tries to mend the little quirks of each relationship into mixed result.
Another wonderful Sondheim that mixes light comedy and warmth dozed with complex relationship that is almost never really expect on musical theater. Movie Musicals tend to oversimplify for the sake of clarity but this show just went for it. Everyone of the characters are well written and complex, with feelings that neither here or there. I love that none of the characters feels like they are victims and while sad, has at least clarity not by simplicity but by pure characterization that they are ironically trapped on their own little bubbles.
This was an euphoric experience. A bunch of people experiencing very rational question and feelings about topics that are really grounded and build up naturally. Highly recommended.
Another wonderful Sondheim that mixes light comedy and warmth dozed with complex relationship that is almost never really expect on musical theater. Movie Musicals tend to oversimplify for the sake of clarity but this show just went for it. Everyone of the characters are well written and complex, with feelings that neither here or there. I love that none of the characters feels like they are victims and while sad, has at least clarity not by simplicity but by pure characterization that they are ironically trapped on their own little bubbles.
This was an euphoric experience. A bunch of people experiencing very rational question and feelings about topics that are really grounded and build up naturally. Highly recommended.
I have a VHS copy of this from PBS.
stagehog81-121 August 2008
I have a copy of this performance on VHS that I purchased from PBS shortly after it originally aired on TV. They usually sell copies of the Great Performances series for a short time after they show them. A Little Night Music is my favorite stage show of all time. I have had the privilege of running the Soundboard for a production of this in a community theatre back in 1999 and will have the pleasure of seeing it performed again in the same community theatre in a few months.
For those of you who have never seen this show, search theatre listings to find a production of this show and go see it. It is one of Stephen Sondheims greatest (of course every show he has ever done I consider to be one of his greatest.)
For those of you who have never seen this show, search theatre listings to find a production of this show and go see it. It is one of Stephen Sondheims greatest (of course every show he has ever done I consider to be one of his greatest.)
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