BWW TV First Look: Peters & Stritch Star in A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC!

[Rob]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 11:11am

Click Here to Read BWW TV First Look: Peters & Stritch Star in A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC!

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 11:42am

:)

[Unknown User]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 11:53am

nice...

[GottaHaveAGimmick]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 11:55am

My oh my! This looks incredible. Bernadette is just heartbreaking in "Clowns."

[backwoodsbarbie]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 11:56am

Now I am even more heartbroken that I haven't seen the show yet

[PalJoey]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 12:00pm

That's great!

[Broadwayboy2631]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 12:04pm

Her choices are so different from Catherine's. I liked Catherine, but I LOVE these clips of Bernadette’s performance. I love me some Stritch, but she kind of seems to be in a different musical from everyone else. I can’t wait to see them live!

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 12:06pm

Stritch is Stritch (much as people who saw the original remember that Hermione Gingold was pretty much playing Hermione Gingold) but her talent for reinventing a song and finding new layers in a character is extraordinary.

[ljay889]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 12:21pm

It's even better in person!

We just have to get used to the fact that Stritch is the only one up there not using an accent. It will take a moment to get used to as she is surrounded by accents.

[RaisedOnMusicals]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 12:28pm

I saw the CZJ/AL version twice, and saw a VERY early preview performance with Bernadette and Elaine. I will tell you that in my opinion, this is an absolute MUST SEE, CANNOT MISS production. There is so much added nuance and texture to these performances that it will leave your breathless. These clips give you a good sense of this, but to see Bernadette's extraordinary rendition of "Send in the Clowns" from beginning to end is to be transported to Broadway heaven. I think that this performance will be considered legendary and that she will go down as the best Desiree ever (and yes, I am including GJ in that assessment.) I only hope that somehow this production will be recorded for posterity. And until you see Elaine play Mme. Armfeldt (to me a completely new take on the role), you ain't seen nothin' yet.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 1:17pm

To add to what you say LJay, frankly you have to let go of all the accent work in the production, none of which is consistent to one region, country or even continent.

To my ears:

Hanson, Davie and Lazar seem to be distinctly 'British'
Peters and Mallory are doing standard 'English'
Herdlicka and Stritch are pretty much continental USA
Leigh Ann Lark's dialect work is anyones guess.

No matter.

[madbrian]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 1:26pm

I agree with Michael Bennet regarding the 'accents' in this production. I would add that Leigh Ann Larkin is coming across as some sort of Irish accent.

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 1:27pm

Aren't an English and British accent the same thing?

[RaisedOnMusicals]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 1:32pm

I heard mostly Irish as well (hints of a brogue)but every once in a while, I heard traces of a southern US accent creep in. She described her accent as "West Country", which is, according to Wikipedia:

"an informal term for the area of south western England roughly corresponding to the modern South West England government region. It is often defined to encompass the historic counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and Somerset and the City of Bristol, while the counties of Gloucestershire and Wiltshire are also often included."

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 1:51pm

No British is what most layman would call an "English Accent" - standard English is a sort of theatrical idiom that is somewhere between an overt 'English' and non-dialectic 'American.'

It doesn't really make sense for an actress in an American production of a play taking place in Sweden to use a 'West Country' regional British accent - but I guess they are going for a class distinction thing (not that Frid uses one).

The dialects were a kind of similar mess in the Broadway SUNDAY IN THE PARK which also came from the Meiner.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 1:54pm

I don't see how Stritch not using an accent would be distracting, especially since the accents are all over the place in this production (as MichaelBennett pointed out), especially that of Leigh Ann Larkin who should just give up and use her regular accent.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 1:59pm

In defense of ljay, the accents were something that a LOT of people picked apart when the production first opened. People here on the boards had issues with the all over accents, but no one mentioned the fact that there are about 18 different accents floating around the cast of La Cage Aux Folles across the street. However, now that everyone has jumped on the bandwagon and suddenly loves the production, the accents are no big deal. I understand the frustration.

[ACL2006]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 2:02pm

you have to wonder if Peters would of won the Tony if she was in the original company instead of CZJ.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 2:13pm

Well of course she would have, but that is not to take anything away from CZJ, who I saw twice and thought was quite wonderful both times (Shame the clip on the Tony awards and the cast recording are going to ber her legacy when she wasn't like either when I saw her in the role).

I think the difference with La Cage, is that everyone seems to be doing pretty much the accent they speak with normally - whether they are British, American or Puerto Rican...


The accents in NIGHT MUSIC don't really bother me -- Im definitely able to look past them.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 2:21pm

I think the difference with La Cage, is that everyone seems to be doing pretty much the accent they speak with normally - whether they are British, American or Puerto Rican...

I had no idea that Christine Andreas normally speaks with such a heavy French accent!

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 2:29pm

"you have to wonder if Peters would of won the Tony if she was in the original company instead of CZJ"

Bernardette is playing "Bernardette Peters" in ALNM. Not Desiree Armfelt.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 2:34pm

How do you know? Do you know her in real life?

HA - I forgot about Andreas! Well I guess 'european' for current Broadway productions is a mish mash of dialects from across the continental divide.

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 2:42pm

No, but I saw her playing other roles.

[ljay889]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 2:48pm

Notice how Stritch is singing Liaison not Liaisons. Angela did something similar early on in her run....she sang What happened to them? instead of "What's". Many people pointed that out, but that was when it was "cool" to bash the production. It's all LOVE now!!



Updated On: 7/26/10 at 02:48 PM

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 2:58pm

Yes, and I suspect that the reviews will (in addition to the natural raves for Stritch and Peters) be much more favorable to the other aspects of the production (and cast) than they were last November.