A little night music original production information- Page 4

[morosco]

Posted: 1/11/10 at 11:33am

[morosco]

Posted: 1/11/10 at 11:34am

[morosco]

Posted: 1/11/10 at 11:35am

[morosco]

Posted: 1/11/10 at 11:36am

[morosco]

Posted: 1/11/10 at 11:37am

Updated On: 1/11/10 at 11:37 AM

[best12bars]

Posted: 1/11/10 at 12:19pm

Love seeing these photos of Jean Simmons and Margaret Hamilton (who apparently also stood during Liaisons).

[wickedfan]

Posted: 1/11/10 at 12:46pm

There's a photo of "The Glamorous Life" with Hermione Gringold standing. Whoever mentioned arthritis basically captured my thoughts. Based on the photos, and previous productions I've seen, I always got the impression that Madame Armfeldt COULD walk, just rather weakly and for only short distances. Based on the photos, I got the impression that Gringold stood for tiny bits during Act 1, making her standing in "Liaisons" not quite a questionable moment. In the revival, it felt just that to me, as Lansbury is paralyzed the entire show and then, quite randomly, stands up and walks around for about one verse of "Liaisons."

[PalJoey]

Posted: 1/11/10 at 12:51pm

The only time Hermione moved on her own during the show was during Liaisons. All other times she was deliberately used as a living prop and was moved, either in the wheelchar, being already set in place or being carried.

Thank you, WOSQ. I remember now her being carried in by Frid, who was very strapping.

[WOSQ]

Posted: 1/11/10 at 1:39pm

In the Shaw Festival production of a few seasons back, Madame Armfeldt's decline was shown in a through arc of its own in unspoken actions on stage.

For instance at one point in Act Two, she was given an injection to calm an attack of some sort. This steep decline in such a short time period made her death at the end of the play more sensical.

In many productions her death comes out of the blue. In the original many of us were not sure if she dies or merely falls asleep.

And then:
I've seen many Night Music's. Most actors bring new things to their roles. Most times they are good, a few have been less so. However no one, repeat no one, has 'gotten' Desiree like Glynis Johns did. I still hear her line readings every time I hear Desiree's lines performed by someone else, and I'm talking 35+ years after the fact.

[ljay889]

Posted: 1/11/10 at 1:51pm

Well Lansbury's Armfeldt's death doesn't come out of the blue. What she does is chilling, in my opinion. Some of the critics praised it too. She slowly changes the characters physicality and tone of speech in act 2. I found it rather moving. And from I've heard from the people I brought to this production, they knew she died. I think Angela makes it clear.

Updated On: 1/11/10 at 01:51 PM

[Scripps2]

Posted: 1/11/10 at 1:58pm

"In the original many of us were not sure if she dies or merely falls asleep."

And that applies to many of the productions I've seen too. And, like Ijay said in another thread, in the film it's so unclear that the night may only smile twice.

That's why I like the way the cards get scattered in this production. I found that to be chilling and I'm pleased to read that Angela is doing that on Broadway. The sound of the cards as they went, was rather like the sound of a last breath.

[ljay889]

Posted: 1/11/10 at 2:08pm

"The sound of the cards as they went, was rather like the sound of a last breath."

YES. I completely agree.

And while we're on this subject. I've recently listened to the final scene from the audio of the Boston tryout. I am sure many of you have heard this. And the final scene was completely different. Towards the end of the scene, it sounds like Fredrika says "I think the night has smiled for the last time." And then she repeatedly says "Grandmother? Grandmother?" And then in more of a whispered eerie tone "Grandmother? Grandmother?" All of this under some beautiful underscoring. It sounds very chilling, and seems very apparent that the character died.
But I do LOVE how the final scene is written now.

[wickedfan]

Posted: 1/11/10 at 3:39pm

Well, I don't know if my performance was different but Angela Lansbury's death was VERY sudden. She literally seizured and then plopped out. It wasn't chilling. It was just...odd. I liked the idea of the cards falling.

[ljay889]

Posted: 1/11/10 at 3:47pm

The two times I've seen her, it wasn't sudden at all. She uses the entire second act to build up to that moment. The change in her tone of voice made it pretty clear she knew her final moment was coming. She also physically gets weaker throughout the show. And I'm not pulling this out of my ass, lol. Critics and other people have noted these choices.

[TheEnchantedHunter]

Posted: 3/30/10 at 11:45pm

"But I guess it isn't meant for directors and designers, or students, to go into a further analysis of a text and bring their own ideas and visions to the table."

Correct. It's not their job to impose their own paltry
'ideas' and 'visions' on the property but to do what is so rarely done today: realize the intentions of the AUTHORS.

[Q]

Posted: 3/30/10 at 11:48pm

I'm sorry, but if you fancy yourself a 'writer', and want to create a product that stands on its own, write a book.

Theater is colaborative, and is a creation of MANY minds, not just the 'authors'.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 3/31/10 at 11:07am

I saw the revival last night, and had very mixed feelings about it.

This is the first production of the musical that I've ever seen. I saw the movie version of the musical years ago on TV, and thought it was pretty dreadful. I'm a big fan of the Bergman original film, for what that's worth. I've been a great admirer of the OCR since my early teens.

With the lackluster reviews, lackluster casting (sorry, but it will take more that CZJ to get me to shell out for a ticket) and the really appallingly inflated ripoff ticket prices and the dread words Directed By Trevor Nunn on the poster, I was going to give it a pass, until a TDF ticket came my way.

Well, I'm glad to have finally seen it, and I enjoyed the performance of Ms. Jones' understudy whose name I just can't remember right now. She hit all the right notes -- she was appealing and funny and very moving. Her "Send In The Clowns" was by very many miles the highlight of the evening.

Alas, there are some major problems. The actress playing Anne seems to have been directed to make the character into a shrill shrieking nightmare of stupid girly horror. What on earth Fredrik was supposed to see in this poisonous little bitch is a mystery, and as a result the big scene where Fredrik tells Desiree that he has decided to stay with Anne came off as completely outrageous: there's no way that any sensible male, certainly not the male I'd been watching for over two hours, would have done anything other than throw himself at Desiree's feet and beg her to rescue him from the Teen Medusa he's stuck with.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 3/31/10 at 12:55pm

Thank you, Pal Joey, for these wonderful photos. I still have the souvenir book -- that long, grey edition -- but these are extraordinary. And I saw Simmons and Hamilton at the Kennedy Center in DC the year after I saw the original in NY. I liked them both, but nothing equalled the first company. Then I saw Virginia (BORN FREE) McKenna and one of the Badley sisters in London, after Simmons departed. That's when the Desirees began to get abit wan. Glamour but no comedy, nothing close to the Johns' perfection. The original, as documented here, was a visual and aural feast. The only problem I experienced with the stunning Aronson designs was the lighting reflecting on the panels. I recall sitting in the first row center at the Shubert (my favorite seats on broadway, that row at that theater) and sometimes seeing the strong reflections. Minor quibble.

I always wondered who was in the pipeline, had Johns left. She played the entire Broadway run. Unheard of today.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 2/14/11 at 9:21pm

A live performance of "Liaisons" by Hermione Gingold that was cut from the commercial release of the recording of the Sondheim tribute that was known as the "Scrabble album."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKUuGtkbzC8

It is, in many ways, far superior to the more-polished rendition Hermione gives on the OBCR, and more like the performance she gave.

[alterego]

Posted: 2/15/11 at 7:56am

Reportedly there were three actresses under consideration for Desiree. They were Glynis Johns, Tammy Grimes and Taina Elg. The first production outside of New York/U.S.A was the Australian production. The Australian Desiree was Taina Elg (a real Swede) and Anna Russell was Madame Armfeldt. At the time of production Hal Prince sent a telegram (!) to the producers congratulating them on their choices.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 2/15/11 at 9:23am

Anna Russell must have been brilliant. I wonder if she was funnier than most Madame Armfeldts?

"I'm not making this up, you know!"

[wiggum2]

Posted: 2/15/11 at 8:26pm

Thanks for the link for the Scrabble cover songs.
Did the OBC have any TV spots/videos that have survived? I looked at bluegobo and nada. What tv shows would have showcased broadway in the early 70's?

[JOak]

Posted: 2/15/11 at 9:41pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAl-EawVobY

[alterego]

Posted: 2/16/11 at 7:10am

PalJoey, she was wonderful and distinctly remember her using a cane for Liaisons.

[wiggum2]

Posted: 2/16/11 at 3:50pm

Thanks for the link JOak, That's actually from a special from the early 80s(correct?), I have this on VHS... I love it!