A Little Night Music: No Strings Attached

How was Armfeldt's fetching manservant Frid?

Frid was OK. Nothing more, nothing less. After seeing the show, go home and listen to the OCR or the Judi Dench to hear how it should have been done. But you cannot fault Catherine and Angela.

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I'm still mad about "Later." I mean, the whole conceit of the song is that he's practicing the cello, so to have him get up and walk around during it doesn't make sense. It loses all the humor.

You've gotta be kidding me Re: "Later." Ridiculous!

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Well, errr, he plays it during the overture instead.

Just try to think of it as in The Witches of Eastwick when Jane Smart leaves her cello mid-song and it continues to play itself.

I heard he was taking classes to learn the cello, but he honestly plays about two notes, and then just leaves it meander around the room. It's badly staged and acted. I thought he was fine otherwise, but that song was a huge letdown.

Stephen Sondheim has said that the cadenza for those Bb were written to be sung as if he was the cello. Just listening to all of "Later" it reminds you of someone playing the cello, as he is supposed to do! I can't believe that he walks around for most of the song.

Saw the show again tonight. It's grown so much from the first preview. Angela forgot some lyrics in the middle of LIAISONS, but she recovered quickly. Her performance is really something worth seeing. Her act two is just absolutely incredible. There isn't enough words to express the way she displays the physical and mental decline of the character. It's just stunning.
Zeta-Jones has grown a lot as well. Her Clowns is very touching. She is really inhabiting the character now.
I still feel Act 1 drags here and there. The lighting is definitely much better. I actually loved the dim lighting for the opening and closing Waltz. It's called "Night Waltz", and it makes sense to have it waltzed in dim lighting. But that's just my opinion.

And regarding LATER. He starts the song with the cello, walks around during the middle of it, but finishes the song playing it. Nunn does have the character playing it for the majority of the song. It's not as drastic as some are making it sound here.

Updated On: 12/17/09 at 12:34 AM

Thank you, ljay, for clearing up the cello bit!

I sat in the balcony last night. It wasn't as bad as people made it sound. I would rather sit there than the rear mezz. I also didn't mind it because I've already seen the show from 2nd row orchestra. So maybe I would have felt differently if I saw it from the balcony my first time.

Updated On: 12/17/09 at 08:58 PM

Yeah, I went to the first preview. So I checked everyday until I saw the best seats possible.

But I looked at the view from the rear mezz, and it's quite far back.

If you didn't mind waiting, I bet you could get a great seat from the cancellation line.