Filming A Little Night Music

[Gothampc]

Posted: 10/2/09 at 11:44am

I started talking about this on another thread, but I think it deserves its own thread. (And yes I know this is pure speculation, but that's what BWW is for).

The question: Will they film the Broadway revival of A Little Night Music?

I say yes they will, but it all depends on getting Catherine Zeta-Jones to agree to it.

Here are the reasons why I think they will do it:

1) Lack of availability of the show. The film version is next to impossible to get and is not a good representation of the show.

2) Sondheim has allowed "Sweeney Todd" "Sunday in the Park..." "Into the Woods" "Company" and "Passion" all to be filmed. I'm sure he'll be on board for having this filmed.

3) I know there are questions about someone stepping up to finance the filming, but I think someone will because with Catherine Zeta-Jones' name on it, it has more potential to sell to a wider audience.

4) Send in the Clowns. Everyone knows this song and it will be a selling point to see it in the context of the show.

Updated On: 10/2/09 at 11:44 AM

[Marianne2]

Posted: 10/2/09 at 11:50am

It's possible. But, I have seen a recording of some production in a class, so if that exists, they might not.

[blaxx]

Posted: 10/2/09 at 11:54am

Wouldn't they want to, you know, wait for it to open and see if it's any good first?

It's not like every single Broadway production of a Sondheim show has been filmed.

[Sondheim_Geek]

Posted: 10/2/09 at 11:57am

These reasons are minimal at best. I don't see it happening.

[sondhead]

Posted: 10/2/09 at 12:06pm

Updated On: 11/12/09 at 12:06 PM

[Paulyd]

Posted: 10/2/09 at 12:08pm

This is unlikely, but if the revival works on Broadway i wouldnt rule out another film version. Zeta Jones could do with a hit film and this might just be the vehicle.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 10/2/09 at 12:10pm

"Wouldn't they want to, you know, wait for it to open and see if it's any good first?"

Good doesn't matter. They filmed Passion didn't they?

With Zeta-Jones and Angela Lansbury it will be a good production. It's 90% fail proof.

[blaxx]

Posted: 10/2/09 at 12:11pm

I really doubt ALNM would work as a film. It would be a snooze fest.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 10/2/09 at 12:21pm

"i wouldnt rule out another film version."

I don't think the material is enough for a full fledged film. The music doesn't interest the 18-35 demographic.

[Marianne2]

Posted: 10/2/09 at 12:23pm

I guess my college professor recorded the Live from Lincoln Center thing then. It had Danielle Ferland from "Into the Woods," right? I remember watching that and thinking Little Red Riding Hood looked very familiar, and I guess that's why.

[blaxx]

Posted: 10/2/09 at 12:25pm

There is also the 1978 Liz Taylor film version.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 10/2/09 at 1:46pm

I have a feeling this actually may get a television/dvd broadcast unless Zeta Jones objects to it. A NIGHT MUSIC film remake is extremely unlikely. The stage musical is just not cinematic and we saw what happened when they tried to define it by conventional film standards last time they attempted a movie of it...

[binau]

Posted: 10/2/09 at 6:32pm

"Good doesn't matter. They filmed Passion didn't they? "

Cringe, though I disagree strongly that Passion isn't 'Good', can we agree that elements of it - such as Donna Murphy's performance especially - were worth recording :)?

[Pgenre]

Posted: 10/2/09 at 6:39pm

They filmed PASSION not once but twice.

P

[PalJoey]

Posted: 10/2/09 at 7:14pm

I have the Live from Lincoln Center burned onto a DVD from a good-quality VHS tape of the broadcast. It's a very good representation of the show. I believe most of the songs are on YouTube.

Seeing the Weekend in the Country can make me happy when I'm depressed.

Watching the Elizabeth Taylor film can make me suicidal, even when I'm happy.

Pauline Kael's infamous review of the film in The New Yorker:

"Harold Prince directs as if he had never even seen a film before."

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 10/2/09 at 8:03pm

Even that mess of a film has a few good points, mainly Diana Rigg and Hermione Gingold.

Posted: 11/15/09 at 11:50am

Kael HATED Sondheim though and wondered several times why anyone would enjoy his "sour" songs. I love reading her reviews, even when I disagree, but... The film isn't as bad as it's made out to be (before its DVD release it had the rep for being perhaps THE worse film of a musical ever--over such worse transfers like Chorus Line, etc)--it's well cast, has great tweaks to the score (I LOVE Hermione's new bit in Weekend in the COuntry, which is actually well filmed as a number), and... well maybe that's it. Its main fault IMHO is just a lack of energy.

I am mixed on Ellis' production filmed for Live at Lincoln Center with NYCOpera. It's a decent production. But the huge stage is filled with an oddly empty set (how I wish someone would bring back Aronson's gorgeous sliding birch trees set), the cast is just so so, I dunno there's a vibe about it that leaves me off. But again, Weekend in the Country is an almost perfect staging (it's performed by the same cast on the Sondheim Carnegie Hall DVD)

*glares at Gotham for his Passion comment*

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 11/15/09 at 11:55am

I would love any version of Night Music to get a DVD release. Though Sondheim's score is divine, Hugh Wheeler's book is one of the best ever written and deserves live preservation (I used to read the book over and over as a teenager).

[artscallion]

Posted: 11/15/09 at 12:10pm

"...The film version is next to impossible to get..."

The DVD was re-released for sale maybe a year ago. It's readily available...even on NetFlix.

Posted: 11/15/09 at 12:15pm

The DVD came out in 2007 and is still very much in print (it's out on the budget/art house label Hen's Tooth and they did nothing to try to remaster the pretty ****ty quality print they could find, but it's all we'll ever get I'm sure).

[Gothampc]

Posted: 11/15/09 at 1:07pm

"*glares at Gotham for his Passion comment*"

Sorry, I just think Passion is a dreary, boring show.

Posted: 11/15/09 at 1:08pm

Hahah I was trying to be humorous. I do know you hate the show--(and it's probably my second fave Sondheim...)

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 11/15/09 at 1:17pm

Me too Eric.