What Do You Think Of The 1990 Lincoln Center Production of A Little Night Music?- Page 2

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 12/18/09 at 3:21pm

That's an awful picture of her, but I've always thought Blair Brown possessed a real earthy sexiness. I didn't see or hear her Desiree, so I can't comment on that performance.

[ljay889]

Posted: 12/18/09 at 3:26pm

Oh, dear. I just listened to Juliet Stevenson's CLOWNS. And it's almost as bad as Blair Brown's. Both versions make me appreciate Sally Ann Howe's version much more now. Maybe Blair and Juliet came across better live? Updated On: 12/18/09 at 03:26 PM

[Pgenre]

Posted: 12/18/09 at 3:27pm

Her performance was abysmal. Kudisch was really the only highlight. Even Dossett seemed lost at sea.

That being said, the B-way revival somehow managed to have an even more ugly and unimaginative set than this production, it seems.

I tend to be the biggest fan of the Marcia Mitzman/Glynis Johns revival from the LA opera. They did just about everything right.

Yes, Johns as Madame Armfeldt. In a word: perfection.

P

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 12/18/09 at 3:34pm

Blair Brown can do no wrong to me, so I'll do myself a favor and steer clear of her Desiree.

[Pgenre]

Posted: 12/18/09 at 3:42pm

I will be revisiting this production this evening and thought I'd share the cast list, and what a cast it is! In addition, one of the best scenic designs since Aronson. Best acted, as well.

Los Angeles Music Center Production 1991
Directed by Gordon Davidson
Frederika - Polly Heard
Madame Armfeldt - Glynis Johns (my favorite Armfeldt)
Henrik - Frank D'Ambrosio (my fav Henrik)
Anne - Michelle Nicastro
Frederick - John McMartin
Petra - Kathleen Rowe McAllen (my fav Petra)
Desiree - Lois Nettleton
Carl Magnus - Jeff McCarthy
Charlotte - Marcia Mitzman (my favorite Charlotte)

P

[ljay889]

Posted: 12/18/09 at 3:44pm

I would really love to hear Johns as Armfeldt.

[wonkit]

Posted: 12/18/09 at 4:26pm

I love John McMartin but have to admit I just don't see him as Frederick.

[Pgenre]

Posted: 12/18/09 at 4:46pm

I actually do not like McMartin usually, not even in the OBC of FOLLIES, but I think he was excellent here, the best I've seen from him. Remember this was 20 years ago, before he became the cantankerous type he seems to play these days.

George Lee Andrews was the ideal Frederick, though, I will give you that.

P

[best12bars]

Posted: 12/18/09 at 5:40pm

re: Sally Ann Howes

I don't think Desiree has to be overtly sexy, especially at her age, when the story takes place. We have to believe that she is a star of the theatre, and a beautiful leading lady. But obviously sexy? No.

We do have to believe that Frederik REMEMBERS her when she was the younger, sexy "Desiree," however. That is essential to the romance of this piece. They both see each other as the young lovers that they once were.

Updated On: 12/18/09 at 05:40 PM

[callitquits]

Posted: 12/18/09 at 9:32pm

Just to avoid confusion about the Kennedy Center production with Blair Brown - absolutely no disrespect intended to you, Pgenre! - Kudisch was not in it (probably one of the only productions in the past decade in which he did not play Carl-Magnus). Douglas Sills was the Count, alongside Randy Graff as Charlotte. They were the real highlights of the production - along with Danny Gurwin as Henrik, whose "for God's sake" is probably the best I've heard.

[Pgenre]

Posted: 12/18/09 at 9:49pm

No, no you are right! It WAS Sills! I was thinking I had mis-remembered it, but he did give a very Kudisch-y performance. In my book that is a very good thing, meaning he sang it gloriously and appeared very masculine and domineering, almost necessary attributes for the role, something I wasn't so sure Sills could pull off after having seen him in PIMPERNEL. He was a true delight and I stand by what I said! Thanks so much for the correction, love!

I still would have loved to see what Sills would have done with his role in ASSASSINS before it was called off post-9/11. Would he have won the Tony like Cerveris did? I'd love to see what Esparza would have done as well.

P

[PalJoey]

Posted: 12/18/09 at 11:58pm

I wish I had seen Randy Graff as Charlotte, and Douglas Sills wouldn't have to give a Marc Kudisch-like performance. He is perfectly capable of giving a Douglas Sills-like performance as the Count and being as good as (or better than) a Kudisch count.

I love them both--as smart, comic actors and handsome sexy men.

Updated On: 12/19/09 at 11:58 PM

[Schmerg_The_Impaler]

Posted: 12/19/09 at 12:31am

You know, I was just thinking that Sills would be a great Carl-Magnus (or even Frederik now). I never knew he played the role.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 12/19/09 at 12:33am

I agree Randy Graff is a handsome man.

Watch THE COURT JESTER and see how sexy Johns was,
and smart and funny.
Is there video of her Armfeldt?

[best12bars]

Posted: 12/19/09 at 8:58am

Johns is very sexy in The Court Jester, but it was released in 1955, a full 18 years before she played Desiree on Broadway.

[Schmerg_The_Impaler]

Posted: 12/19/09 at 9:52am

I agree Randy Graff is a handsome man.

Haha!

I used to be obsessed with Glynis Johns in Mary Poppins when I was little... that was one of my favorite movies, and she was my favorite character. I still picture her with that sufragette ribbon on whenever I hear her voice.

[wickedfan]

Posted: 12/19/09 at 10:06am

Besty- I guess the problem I still have with Howes, is not only that she isn't sexy, but she doesn't even resemble her younger self. She looks like a grandmother compared to everyone else in the cast. Perhaps live, this wasn't the case. But on video, she definitely looks old. VERY old. I know Desiree is supposed to be mature, but Glynis Johns didn't look ancient.

[wonkit]

Posted: 12/19/09 at 11:21am

Howes did seem a shade older than the rest of the cast, and a little too old to have a 13-year-old daughter frankly. I blame (of all things) her hair style which was ponderous and not particularly becoming. What saved it for me was the wonderful chemistry with George Lee Andrews - completely warm, funny and sincere.

[TheatreFreak05]

Posted: 12/19/09 at 2:42pm

I absolutely loved Danielle Ferland as Fredrika!

[ljay889]

Posted: 12/19/09 at 2:44pm

I think she's a horrible Fredrika, lol. I love (sarcasm) when productions cast a 20-25 year-old as a 13-year-old. The current revival has a 13 and 15 year-old playing the role, and it works much better.
Updated On: 12/19/09 at 02:44 PM

Posted: 12/19/09 at 2:51pm

I hadn't heard of the Ken Center production (well I knew it happened during their Sondheim festival but for some reason it was one of the 6 productions least talked about it seemed to me--maybe cuz it was one of the worse?) but I think Blair Brown still can be very sexy--look at her in Fringe even.

I'm pretty mixed on this production. It's certainly better than no Night Music having been filmed (and while I am always defending the film version I admit that's not a happy or accurate represnetation of the stage piece). But something's really missing for me in this production--one thing is I do feel even on camera it's lost on that GIGANTIC stage (with such a bloody empty set no less). I also find many of the director choices odd (though I like most ofthe performances).

If only someone would revive it with those magnificent Boris aronson birch trees...

[best12bars]

Posted: 12/19/09 at 3:41pm

I think Danielle Ferland is terrific as Fredrika.

Posted: 12/19/09 at 4:13pm

I like he in the role as well

[callitquits]

Posted: 12/19/09 at 4:27pm

My issue with Ferland isn't her age, really - it's the same problem I have with Michael Maguire in the production: they just SOUND incredibly out of place. They both have very American-sounding ways of speaking that they chose not to tone down, and with the pseudo-British dialect that most actors in Night Music employ, both Ferland and Maguire sound like they were dropped in from a completely different musical.

It's particularly noticeable in Maguire's scenes with Maureen Moore, and Ferland's scenes with Regina Resnik, and it just sounds BIZARRE to me.

[best12bars]

Posted: 12/19/09 at 4:47pm

callitquits---I don't mind their American accents, but you're right, they certainly have them. And it puts people off.

I know some were bothered by the American accents in the movie "Amadeus."

I'm not sure where or when we (as audiences) became conditioned to think that every European period piece automatically requires a British accent. It's pretty weird when you think about it. These aren't British characters. So it's just as odd for them to have British accents as it is American accents.

I think the worst is when it's mixed. Some British, some American. Very confusing. At least in the movie "Amadeus," the leads all use American accents across the board. Some minor characters have accents, but that's it.

EDIT: I guess it's irrelevant, which is why it doesn't bother me with Daniele Ferland or Michael Maguire. Night Music is set in Sweden, and unless they're all speaking Swedish, it isn't "realistic" with any accent.

Updated On: 12/19/09 at 04:47 PM