Thoughts On Patti LuPone Revival Of Little Night Music — Page 2

I know that at one point, John Doyle mentioned in an interview that he wanted to direct "A Little Night Music" as his next Sondheim/Actors-playing-instruments musical...

I mean, I loved his "Sweeney Todd" and "Company," and any way that the show is revived, I would not care.

Patti as Desiree? Eh, I love her, and would want to see her as the role, but I just do not know...

Cerveris as Fredrick: YES.

I know that Beth Leavel has played Charlotte in the past, she could return to the role!

i wish patti played the witch in into the woods.. or the bakers wife.

I'd probably cry if LuPone ever got near this musical, to echo the sentiments found elsewhere on the thread, she just lacks the subtlety and nuance that you would find in a warm Desiree. Yes she is a fantastic actress, but this is a role that you can't cast someone who'd just barrel through the score as I've seen her do too many times. I agree with what was said earlier about her originating a role or sticking to the Merm catalog.

I'd love for Ebersole to take a stab or Bernadette even. They have a very natural, warm feel to them, but also have that wit and life emanating from them onstage. This is perhaps the most overdue Sondheim revival and we need it to be done classy with no watered down or altered score. It should have that grandeur and classic feel to it Amen.

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Victoria Clarke is my choice, she can do comedy and break your heart also.

I actually believe it is fairly important that Desiree be played by a relative non-singer.

The score is constructed for a non singer and when you really analyze the show and the way all the characters are expressed musically, it makes perfect sense. I think when you start casting the Patti LuPone and Betty Buckleys (and the Victoria Clarks) of the world in the part, it really throws off the balance of the material. Great "singing" of SEND IN THE CLOWNS is really not an asset to the piece....

Annette Bening would probably be a pretty wonderful Desiree, though as nobodyhome says, even she is getting a little old for it now. Julianne Moore has all the right qualities for the role(and is the right age) but perhaps not the stage chops. Its just a very difficult role to cast perfectly.

How about Laura Linney?

Updated On: 1/6/07 at 01:31 AM

I was in a production of this show and our Desiree was really strong singer and I always felt something lacked maybe it was more to much of something. I love Patti as well but I really started this thread because I was thinking how she did the Sweeney Tood concert and then the revival so I wondered if she would so I thought I would see other people's thoughts

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I'm liking the idea of Brooke Shields. She might need a little more training in the area of expressing emotion through song, but otherwise I think she would be an interesting choice. Better than these 60 year olds.

I couldn't see Patti as Desiree myself. However, I have been pining away for Emma Thompson or Elaine Paige to play the part, but those seem increasingly unlikely. Perhaps Imelda Staunton?

~K

I've heard more than one interview of Elaine Paige where she expressed interest in playing Desiree. I think she would be awesome however I'm sure my dream of seeing her on Broadway would never happen. If she got the part it would almost definitely be in the West End.
I agree with others that Patti doesn't have the right look or voice. She's not European enough to pull it off! Glenn Close--please don't make me cry!

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I have always wanted to see Carolee as Desire

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Emma Thompson as Desiree? OMG, I've died and gone to heaven! But who would be a good Frederick for her?

And, as an aside, can we PLEASE stop assuming that every John Doyle production will be patterned as COMPANY and SWEENEY? Doyle is doing fully orchestrated productions even as we speak, namely, The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny on the West Coast? He is a good, sound, thorough director, and I cannot imagine any way to use that approach in ALNM!

I'm actually not a huge fan of the Scott Ellis/NYCO production at least as filmed for tv in 1990. I dunno why--as there's not much explicitly wrong with it and of course it's great to have a full orchestra, etc but something about the empty stage of a set maybe? hrmm...

(Of course I'm a huge Boris Aronson slut and would give anything to see his plexiglass birch trees used to disolve scenes within scenes as they role across the stage in action--but I guess that'll never happen)

Then again I'm prob in the minority--while I really don't want a new John Doyle "instruments on stage" production of this I do think the show works pretty well in a paired down setting even if we lose some of the orchestra (remember the original cast album doesn't even reflect the original stage orchestrations with I believe a very large amount of added strings). I saw a tiny production by an opera school a few years ago that worked *very* well. (Then again I also am perversely fond of the movie so what do I know...)

E