Bernadette and Elaine in Night Music

[PalJoey]

Posted: 9/29/10 at 1:25am

Saw them tonight. Bernadette is, as always, a revelation. She wrings nuance out of each line and sings and acts a rendition of "Clowns" that is doubly etched in loss and pain: the pain of Desiree's losses and the pain of her own.

Elaine gives a performance that is oddly, shockingly, deliberately odd. She turns "Liaisons" into a sad number, filled with the kind of rue and regret that actresses usually find in Desiree and Charlotte. As Reginald Tresilian said, "Who would have thought that anyone would make you cry at the end of 'Liaisons,' least of all Elaine Stritch?" But in the end, she is no more right for Madame Armfeldt than Angela was: two great actresses, in the waning years of their long careers, playing a great role and missing entirely its essential characteristic.

Trevor Nunn's direction, on re-examination, is worse than before. The man who has created such brilliance in his life in the theater just doesn't get what makes Night Music perfect. The actors overact and over-emote and misplay key elements in ways that can only be attributed to a director who doesn't "trust" the material.

His instincts and choices--from the incompetent staging of the opening number (which should be thrilling!) and the "Soon"/"Now"/"Later" trio (which should be awe-inspiring), through the flat-and-boring "Weekend in the County" (which should be pulse-racing), through the complete misunderstanding of the lyrics sung by the Lieder Singers about "Perpetual Sunset" and "The Sun Won't Set," down to that contemptible directorial notion of make the dinner party a picnic, down to the ugly sets and costumes and the stupid misunderstanding of "The Miller's Son"--all his choices are wrong, wrong, wrong.

He directs Night Music like a first-time high-school-student director who has always hated musicals and thinks he has a way to do them better.

But if you haven't seen Bernadette and Elaine together at last, go! To paraphrase Hamlet, "When shall we see their like, together, again?

Updated On: 9/29/10 at 01:25 AM

[binau]

Posted: 9/29/10 at 2:11am

Elaine looks so upset in Liaisons.

Having only seen Lansbury and a (boring) performance in a local Australian production, I still don't quite understand what kind of character Armfeldt 'should' be?

Also, I guess Nunn's direction to new-comers is a bit of 'ignorance is bliss' because I thought the opening Waltz was very tense and exhilarating, and during Now/Soon/Later I sat thinking "wow, I can't believe I am seeing what I am seeing". It was just hilarious and clever, for me.

Updated On: 9/29/10 at 02:11 AM

[Here I Am]

Posted: 9/29/10 at 2:14am

I'm SO glad that somebody else said that about Elaine! I felt silly for crying at the end of 'Liasons', but I really did. It was a beautifully nuanced, dimensional performance.

[mikem]

Posted: 9/29/10 at 6:50am

PalJoey, I haven't seen Stritch in the role and don't really know the material that well, but Liaison's lyrics seem to lend themselves to a rueful interpretation ("Liaisons, what's happened to them"). How is the song generally played, and what do you think the "essential characteristic" of Madame Armfeldt is that you think both Stritch and Lansbury were unable to capture?

[RaisedOnMusicals]

Posted: 9/29/10 at 8:10am

PalJoey, what makes you the authority that you seem to be claiming you are?

[madbrian]

Posted: 9/29/10 at 8:11am

I had never seen Night Music before this revival, so my familiarity was limited to the songs, but I came with no preconceptions about what the roles were 'supposed' to be. I caught both sets of leading ladies, and MUCH prefer Peters and Stritch. I like the show with CZJ and Lansbury, but seeing with Stritch and Peters was incredible. In almost every facet, the current ladies exceed their predecessors. Stritch's performance makes Lansbury's seem lightweight, and though CZJ was fine, she's just not the stage performer that Peters is.

[Kalimba]

Posted: 9/29/10 at 8:18am

"PalJoey, what makes you the authority that you seem to be claiming you are?"

It's called an opinion, honey. Just like yours above.

[D2]

Posted: 9/29/10 at 9:06am

ROM, Pal Joey has earned his opinions by having a wealth of theater knowledge based on a lifetime of living in the theater as both an audience member and a professional. The productions he has seen, often with the original casts, and his razor-sharp memories (to say nothing of his extraordinary ability to write about them) is enough to convince me the man knows what he is talking about and he has earned his authority. You may not agree with what he has to say but more often than not he makes his arguments clearly and intelligently without resorting to snark (usually ) and his passion for the art is remarkable. He is someone to engage with, not fight against.

That said: PJ, I've seen the production 4 times now (once in London, 3 times in NY) and each time I've become less entranced with Nunn's direction. I loved Hannah Waddingham in London, despite her youth; I thought CZJ was underrated and unfortunately will be remembered for that dreadful Tony Awards fiasco rather than the genuinely moving performance I saw in January. I've seen Bernadette Peters twice now, and the first time I thought she was still trying to find the role, although the scene with Fredrick in her bedroom leading into "Send In The Clowns" was a sublime moment pointing to what her Desiree could be. When I saw the show again last week, that promise had been fulfilled and she is absolutely brilliant in the role from start to finish. Beautiful, beautiful performance.

I agree with your assessment of Stritch - totally miscast but she makes it work in unexpected ways and is ultimately very moving. I'm not sure what your take on the role is, but the only Madame Armfeldt I've seen who absolutely nailed it (IMHO) was Maureen Lippmann in London last year. She was regal, arch, brittle, flipped out the lines with perfect comic timing and yet underneath it all was a sense of rueful regret mixed with genuine pride in her lifetime accomplishments. Her death scene was also the only one I've ever seen that worked completely, partly because throughout the show she subtly made it clear she knows she is dying and time is running out. I don't know if that's how you see the role, but it gave me a sense of the character I've never had before (or since.)

I wish I'd seen the original production; alas I did not. And I had the opportunity about a month before it closed and decided to see GREASE instead. (I was only 14. Dumb.) Talk about rueful regret... Ah, well.

Updated On: 9/29/10 at 09:06 AM

[BellatrixxLestrangee]

Posted: 9/29/10 at 10:05am

I saw it on Saturday night and it was amazing. I was in the second row and I just could not believe my eyes. It was awe-inspiring and I can't wait to see it again! My only problem was Elaine Stritch's eye. It was bright red. Does anyone know if she popped a blood vessel or something?

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 9/29/10 at 10:09am

What makes RaisedOnMusicals the opinion police?

[RaisedOnMusicals]

Posted: 9/29/10 at 10:18am

Thanks, D2 for filling me in a bit about Pal Joey's background. And I don't want what I said to misconstrued. I don't begrudge anyone his or her opinion, we're each entitled to our own, and I posted my own long review of this show that I saw last Thursday night last week. And PJ's post was extremely well written, and there's much I agree with. What I was questioning, more than anything, was his statement that both AL and ES "missed the essential characteristic" of Mme. Armfelt, without even defining his opinion of that characteristic. So, that statement reads more like "fact" than opinion. In other words, PJ may have his opinion of what Mme.'s essential characteristic is, but others are free to disagree without being wrong, including either or both Trevor Nunn or Elaine Stritch.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 9/29/10 at 10:22am

That's true, RaisedOnMusicals, and I'm eager to hear PJ's further thoughts on the role.

While Elaine is far from my dream Mme. Armfeldt, I would argue that she unearthed at least some essential qualities that other actresses have missed.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 9/29/10 at 12:17pm

RaisedonMusicals--I'm delighted to make your acquaintance. Anyone who was raised on musicals is a friend of mine, no matter whether we agree or disagree. Some of my favorite posters on BroadwayWorld are people I disagree with.

I have no authority other than my experience. Others on BroadwayWorld have heard this so many times they can recite it, but when I was 14, 15 and 17, I was obsessed by the trio of Sondheim/Prince musicals and saw Company 4 times, Follies 5 times and Night Music 6 times. The writing, staging and design of those three musicals formed my taste in theater--and, in some ways, my personality.

When this production opened, I tried not to log on to BroadwayWorld and rail against it. I've done that recently with other revivals I felt missed the boat--I was particularly mean-spirited about the West Side Story--and I came to realize BroadwayWorld should be about celebrating enthusiasm not pissing on the enthusiasm first-timers feel for material I once adored.

I didn't go into more detail last night because it was one-thirty in the morning. The Mme. Armfeldt question is a fascinating one to me. She has a strength and an indomitablity...an imperiousness...a hauteur...she has attained a position of power in her life and she rules from it. Any vulnerability she displays either is doled out on rare occasions or slips out inadvertently because she is getting old and losing bits of her grip. Without that veneer of toughness, there's no surprise element when vulnerability or affection slips out. Also, Desiree says she always loses her fights with her mother. The woman has to start from a place where she is hard-as-nails.

There are many similar characters in European literature and drama in nineteenth-century: Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest is referred to as a "gorgon." Laurence Olivier's mother in The Prince and The Showgirl has that quality. The grandmother in Jean Anouilh's Ring Round the Moon...

Those characters are, for the most part, from the upper classes. What's most fascinating about Mme. A is that she is a self-made woman, who used her courtesan status to attain land and power. So the facade of respectability she has is her own creation.

Hermione Gingold was a relatively minor character actress with a strange voice. She had to fight for the role--they didn't want to give it to her at first. But she had played a less well-off and more desperate version of the same character in Gigi and she tought she would be perfect. She was right. She didn't just create a character--she created a world for the audience.

And it was NOT a world where the princes are lawyers.

mikem--I don't know if that answered your question.

I could talk about this show for hours. I could talk about Follies for days.

Updated On: 9/29/10 at 12:17 PM

[Roscoe]

Posted: 9/29/10 at 12:28pm

Pal, is Madame Armfeldt really a courtesan, that is, a prostitute? I always read her as being more of an adventuress, sort of a Lola Montez without the spying.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 9/29/10 at 1:26pm

Read where?

[Roscoe]

Posted: 9/29/10 at 1:48pm

I meant I always saw her as being more of an adventuress than a whore.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 9/29/10 at 2:03pm

I always took her to be a courtesan, a la Lea in "Cheri."

[PalJoey]

Posted: 9/29/10 at 3:11pm

The word you're using ("whore") is usually used with a pejorative meaning. There was always a kind of class difference between a courtesan and a prostitute. But the Night Music script is quite clear: Madame Armfeldt used sex to get where she is. She just did it with refinement. It's not the immorality of Desiree's life she objects to..."merely its sloppiness."

Courtesan originally meant a woman at court who provided service to the king. It came to mean a woman who served as a sometime mistress to wealthy or powerful men. Compensation was not just cash for sexual services, but money, possessions, homes and social position in exchange for sex, discretion and "fitting in" with the social and political worlds in which their clients moved.

Mme. Armfeldt was probably never a street prostitute, but many courtesans began as prostitutes and worked their way up. Camille, Madame Du Barry, Madame Pompadour, actresses Nell Gwyn and Lillie Langtry, Odette in Proust's Remembrance of Things Past--they were all courtesans, not prostitutes.

In the 20th century, President Francois Mitterand had a longtime mistress who attended his funeral, next to his wife. The first President Bush had a longtime mistress named Jennifer Fitzgerald, who was disregarded by the media even as they covered Bill Clinton's affairs obsessively.

Watch the movie Gigi (or read the novel!) and you'll see how a courtesan is different from what you refer to as a "whore."

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 9/29/10 at 3:31pm

I think we've gotten a weensy bit off track.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 9/29/10 at 3:38pm

I know. Madame Armfeldt would have considered my mentioning Jennifer Fitzgerald by name to be "indiscreet."

Did I mention how much I loved the Fredrika? her every moment was filled with wonder and amazement. She "got" it, almost better than any of the others.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 9/29/10 at 3:44pm

I meant no particular pejorative in the word "whore" but meant to clarify that I didn't think she has sex for money, as in runs a brothel or something like that, however incredibly high class.

The comparison with Proust's Odette is a good one, and clarifies a good deal.

I still think I prefer Mme Armfeldt in Bergman's film, whose past is left very much in the dark, with just that one glorious line about getting that fabulous mansion for promising not to write her memoirs.

[dwperkins]

Posted: 9/29/10 at 3:49pm

"s/he had refinement"

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Check out elaine stritch singing it on YOUTUBE!

It is a pleasure to read your beautifully written posts PalJoey!

Did you catch my posts about the horrid singing of Alice Ripley a while back? No one seemed to care that she sang completely off key. I'm old school. Sorry if people don't like that but I expect the technique to be there.

Updated On: 10/4/10 at 03:49 PM

[Q]

Posted: 9/29/10 at 4:19pm

The wonderful production we saw here had Zoe Calwell as Armfeldt, and she captured everything that PJ just described.

My husband saw Margaret Hamilton, and she was his favorite.

[RaisedOnMusicals]

Posted: 9/29/10 at 4:21pm

And PalJoey, I'm delighted to make yours as well. As I once posted on the other board, what I love about these boards is that one day, I might think a particualr poster is a blithering idiot and the next day I might think the same poster to be one of the world's great minds.

I get my screen name honestly. I saw the original South Pacific when I was four years old (thanks, Grandma.)

As I said in my very lengthy review last week, I got things from Elaine's interpretation of the role of Mme. that I did not get from Angela's, though I thought Angela was just fine. I found a tenderness in Elaine (which deeply surprised me), particularly with respect to her relationship with Fredricka. She was so strong in conveying (at least to me) that she didn't want Fredricka to make the same fundamental mistake that she did.

[perfectlymarvelous]

Posted: 9/29/10 at 4:35pm

PalJoey, which Frederika did you see? I've seen both girls and they are both wonderful and probably the least "act-y" kid actors I've ever seen, if that makes any sense.