A Little Night Music

Sondheim, Stephen

album cover

Night Time Is the Right Time

Early in A Little Night Music, his tale of foolish romance in the Swedish countryside, Stephen Sondheim establishes three major characters with three distinct songs. "Now" introduces Fredrik Egerman, a lawyer whose girl bride is still a virgin after eleven months of marriage. "Later" shares the thoughts of Henrik, Fredrik's son, who's in divinity school but in love with his stepmother. "Soon" begins with the bride, Anne, responding to Fredrik's advances. Before long, the three themes intersect in a burst of carefully coordinated counterpoint. As the thoughts of these smart, perhaps too smart, people vie for prominence, their impulses converge in a hormonally charged and tastefully buttoned-down cacophony.

And that's just the opening gambit. Though it's got knotty moments, much of this musical, which draws its title from Mozart and some inspiration from Ingmar Bergman's Smiles of a Summer Night (1957), is lighter and more immediately accessible than most Sondheim—without sacrificing the composer's arch wit or his knack for enchanting spiral-staircase melodies. Much of the music is written in 3/4 time, and yet never dissolves into a waltzapalooza. On some tunes, Sondheim offers traces of tempo in the distance; others have no organizing pulse at all. He tosses out lots of different rhythms and devices, and somehow avoids the mannered air of so much theater music.

A Little Night Music is home to some of Sondheim's wittiest lyrics. Fredrik, wondering when the "right" moment might be, observes: "Now, as the sweet imbecilities tumble so lavishly onto her lap, there are two possibilities: A, I could ravish her, or B, I could nap." It also contains his one big hit. "Send In the Clowns," sung here by Glynis Johns, is that rare perfectly formed jewel—a showstopping solo that pulls listeners through hurt, disappointment, malaise, anger, and obsession with disarming ease. Johns sings the stately theme with a matron's stoicism; she uses the weathered imperfection of her voice to underscore the message, knowing that those imperfections (the singing she can't quite manage) make the music devastating. "Send In the Clowns" freezes time for just a little while, long enough for Sondheim to catch some truth about the corrosive nature of regret, but not so long that his characters tire of the waltz.

Genre: Musicals
Released: 1973, Columbia
Key Tracks: "Now," "Later," "Soon," "The Glamorous Life," "A Weekend in the Country," "Send In the Clowns."
Catalog Choice: Company, Original Broadway Cast
Next Stop: Jule Styne: Gypsy, Original Broadway Cast
After That: Jerry Herman: Mame, Original Broadway Cast
Book Page: 723