"A Little Night Music" revival ending question (SPOILER ALERT)- Page 2

[singtopher]

Posted: 5/14/10 at 8:38am

I saw it about a month ago, an Angela definitely forcefully flung the cards. It's a troublesome moment for directors to stage, and Nunn's is the best i've seen it done.

[Ryan4]

Posted: 5/14/10 at 10:09am

I saw it last night and thought the death was convincing, and I'd never seen the show before. The beginning and the ending were actually two of favorite moments in the production.

Overall, I think the show is a bit of a snooze. But I saw "Smiles of a Summer Night" a while ago and thought the same about that; not one of Bergman's best. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed Zeta-Jones and Lansbury -- both terrific -- but can't say that for anyone else in the cast, except perhaps Leigh Ann Larkin. The actress playing Ann drove me nuts. I thought the design of the production was very good, and am surprised it didn't get a Tony nod for costumes.
Updated On: 5/14/10 at 10:09 AM

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 5/14/10 at 11:23am

While I totally loved Night Music, I still don't get that it's considered a happy ending. The audience cheers and applauds that basically a promiscuous actress gets a young girl's sloppy seconds. Are we supposed to be happy for Desiree? I feel kinda bad for her. If Anne stuck around she'd still be waiting for the clowns, right? Frederik sticks around because he realizes he can't do any better.

[singtopher]

Posted: 5/14/10 at 11:31am

I've always seen it as Desiree and Fredrick (and the rest of the characters, frankly) getting exactly what they desire.

[wickedfan]

Posted: 5/14/10 at 11:37am

bettyboy- I've always seen it that Fredrick doesn't originally go with Desiree because he thinks that Anne loves him, and despite the fact that he doesn't love her (he married her for all of the wrong reasons) and that in the end she could be bad for him, he can't leave her because of the pain he thinks it will cause.

Then, when he sees her running off with Henrik, he admits that it has become a release. He's happy that she is gone because he no longer has any obligations to her. Now he can be with Desiree, who does make him happy, whom he does love, and who, in the end, will be good for him. That's always how I've viewed it.

And technically, Fredrik isn't Anne's sloppy seconds. Desiree had him before Anne ever did (and Fredrick's wife had him before Desiree).

[ljay889]

Posted: 5/14/10 at 12:29pm

It is a happy ending because Fredrika finally has a happy home with a mother and father. Madame Armfeldt can die peacefully because she knows Fredrika will be ok. It is really touching when you think about it.

I love when the audiences applaud and cheer for Desiree and Fredrik at the end, but I do not get applauding for Madame Armfeldt's death. I think the audiences might be applauding more for Lansbury than Armfeldt. Updated On: 5/14/10 at 12:29 PM

[newintown]

Posted: 5/14/10 at 1:54pm

I've seen this show soooo many times, and the moment is always different.

There was the production in which Madame A actually fell out of her wheelchair (she sort of slid under the attached table) and rolled to the lip of the stage, where she twitched until the curtain came down.

I enjoyed the one in which a much more spry old gal climbed a step-stool by the proscenium, threw a noose over a branch on one of those pesky birch trees that seem to cover Sweden, and hanged herself. Everyone then waltzed around, smacking her dangling legs like a bell clapper.

A very dark choice was the production where everyone, beginning with Frid and ending with Frederika, stabbed the poor old lady one by one - in the back, the chest, the throat - with great gushes of blood coming from each wound. Very like Murder On The Orient Express mixed with Sweeney Todd.

But I still await the perfect Madame Armfeldt death scene. It hasn't come yet.

[philcrosby]

Posted: 5/14/10 at 2:15pm

Newintown, I think those other productions must have been wonderful!

[choitoy]

Posted: 5/14/10 at 2:55pm

"A very dark choice was the production where everyone, beginning with Frid and ending with Frederika, stabbed the poor old lady one by one - in the back, the chest, the throat - with great gushes of blood coming from each wound. Very like Murder On The Orient Express mixed with Sweeney Todd. "

This version it seems like the night didn't really "smile" on the old. More like "Stabs of a Summer Night". The more I think about it, the more this really doesn't make sense. Someone's weird fever dream perhaps?

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 5/14/10 at 4:21pm

Very strong choices, newintown. Thanks for sharing!

Now if Angie could do any of those three (or all three) as the show's Tony performance, I think they'd sell some tickets!

~Steven

[aasjb4ever]

Posted: 5/14/10 at 6:12pm

^except they leave a week later...