Smiles of a Summer Night Music

[MarkBearSF]

Posted: 6/7/15 at 4:21am

After seeing "A Little Night Music" in SF last night, tonight we watched the source film, Bergman's "Smiles of a Summer Night." Of course, a wonderful movie in its own right, but it was also fascinating to see what changes Sondheim and Wheeler made from the source material. Whenever I get dismayed at musical adaptations that simply take a movie and add songs ("Heathers" last weekend) - I'll recall this shining example of taking the same basic characters and situations, but creating different people with songs that illuminate them in the way musicals can Rather than just adding jazz hands to a popular laugh line.

I also started wondering about how much of A Little Night Music came over from the first attempt at the show. I recall that he and Hal Prince had planned on doing an adaptation of a film by Jean Anoulih and had already hired Hugh Wheeler and started work before they were finally refused by Anoulih. The started looking for similar human farce comedies where things come together in a house over a weekend and Sondheim suggested Renoir's "Rules of the Game" and Bergman's "Smiles of a Summer Night."

Obviously, most of the early discussions must've been conceptual, and I can see them early on locking onto the concept and discipline of an all-waltz show to mirror the dances of the characters. I started thinking of songs from the current version that might have had earlier incarnations in the process, before becoming attached to the Eggermans et al. (Being handicapped in that I haven't seen the other two films)

  - Pieces of the Liebersleider songs could have been used differently earlier
  - A Weekend in the Country (with totally different verses) seems possible in other concepts. The refrain is quite broad too.
  - The Count Malcolm songs are somewhat non-specific and I can see similar songs in similar tales.

  - Every Day a Little Death so clearly and beautifully illuminated that scene from the film, so it was clearly written for the Night Music version
  - Send in the Clowns was written for Glynnis Johns, I believe, so it would've been late
  - The Miller's Son so perfectly captures the movie Petra that I've gotta believe it came later. Likewise Liaisons for Mme Arnfeldt.
  - Now, Later, Soon and Glamorous Life seem specifically expository for the current characters.

Any thoughts?

Mark

Updated On: 6/7/15 at 04:21 AM

[Auggie27]

Posted: 6/7/15 at 10:54am

"Clowns" was written so late, and it never replaced an existing song. It always startles me that they headed to Boston without something in that place in the show. I've always wondered what Johns thought of her role before that.  She had no real solo, and doesn't even have verses in "Weekend in the Country" (which I never fully appreciated until I saw Bernadette Peters as Desiree). The song was written after Sondheim watched the scene repeatedly.  Apparently (I need to check "Finishing the Hat," which I will do) there was impetus to give Frederick a number, yet Desiree is the character who needed one.  It's hard to imagine the show without the iconic song, yet it rehearsed without it.

Edit: I just checked "Finishing the Hat" and the above is basically true. The song slot was considered Frederick's, Desiree the passive role in the scene. Sondheim watched the scene, wrote the first verse, got approval, wrote the second.  There's no discussion about when the song went in, but perhaps it was just before leaving for Boston.  Someone will correct me.

Updated On: 6/7/15 at 10:54 AM

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 6/7/15 at 11:06am

My understanding is that "Send in the Clowns" (not "Bring in the Clowns" per OP,) was written midway through rehearsals in New York before the show went to Boston to try out. Sondheim has said he responded to the way Prince staged that scene to focus on Desiree rather than Frederick, and picked up on Glynis Johns' rueful delivery of Desiree's lines to create the song. Similarly, "A Weekend in the Country" was also written during rehearsals after seeing how the various mini-scenes were staged. No-one has claimed they never planned a song for those beats at the outset.

If you think it unusual that the show began rehearsals lacking these great numbers, you'd be wrong. Remember that the early version of the score had all sorts of other numbers that have since fallen by the wayside: "Two Fairy Tales", "Bang!", "My Husband the Pig" and "Silly People" were there originally. (I'd love to see a production  that re-instates "Two Fairy Tales" to set up the pairing of those two young people who will end up together by the curtain.)

[Auggie27]

Posted: 6/7/15 at 11:14am

I completely agree about "Two Fairy Tales."  And "A Little Night Music" is one show that might actually handle more music. 

And in revisiting that chapter of "...Hat", it's interesting to remember that Sondheim and Prince cast Johns without expecting her to sing.  The role was never expected to carry any percenage of the score. Yet Desiree lacked an act two song, not even contributing to another.  Fascinating that they originally felt Frederick needed a number in the climax of the show (though story wise, it makes sense; it's his crisis, technically speaking, since Desiree has had her sights on him since at least the end of act one. He's the character who must undergo catharsis for the plot to move forward, i.e., to shift his gaze back to Desiree.)

OT but not off-show: does anyone know why "Night Music" moved from the comfortable Shubert (2/73 - 9/73) to the Majestic?  (9/73 - 8/74)

Updated On: 6/7/15 at 11:14 AM

[MarkBearSF]

Posted: 6/7/15 at 2:07pm

"My understanding is that "Send in the Clowns" (not "Bring in the Clowns" per OP,) "

 AAGH! Thank you (now edited) - I hang my head in shame!
...although I must confess I'm likely to call that song from Follies "One Last Kiss" 

[gypsy101]

Posted: 6/7/15 at 2:26pm

...although I must confess I'm likely to call that song from Follies "One Last Kiss"

There was a thread last year, someone had a friend that thought Follies and Bye Bye Birdie both had a song by that title, I thought it was pretty funny.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 6/7/15 at 2:51pm

Another bubble has been burst.