A gay A Little Night Music - could it work?

I mean, a gay man as Petra or two men as the count and countess might be fun? But considering the primary storyline revolves around questions of parentage, it wouldn't work to make the characters of Fredrik and Desiree gay.

If it was just a matter of the casting and not changing the written material, then I guess anything goes.

Could it work? Yes.

Should it be done? Not in my opinion.

"A Little Night Music" isn't the same kind of show as say, "The Fantasticks". The Fantastcks is an example of allegory. Allegory is intended to be reinterpreted. Allegory uses symbolic fictional figures and actions to express a deeper meaning than what is literally written.

Night Music is my favorite musical of all-time, so I'm admittedly biased. I don't (or can't) find any reason/need to change a note. I (again - my bias) don't see that altering the plot or characters would improve the show in any way, shape or form.

I can admit that a gay version would be a novelty - but I feel reducing this show, in particular, to being a novelty is demeaning. The show and the original movie (Ingmar Bergman's Smiles of a Summer Night) are intended to be about heterosexual relationships. They're both perfectly successful as-is.

The Broadway Backwards version of one, isolated number worked very well, and in that specific Broadway Backwards context was also very successful. To reconstruct the entire show, though? Not for me. I feel it's unnecessary - and even "wrong" ().

Updated On: 9/18/26 at 04:12 PM