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Love's Labors Gained

Cast changes partners and sings in 'A Little Night Music'

By Philip Collins


Wiser Advisor: Lila Lloyd and Emily Ravenscroft sing "Night Music."

A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, anyone? Absolutely. This beguiling little musical by Stephen Sondheim is enjoying a terrific revival at the American Musical Theatre of San Jose (formerly the San Jose Civic Light Opera) that captures both its charms and deeper philosophical resonances in one fell swoop. Based on Ingmar Bergman's film Smiles of a Summer Night and set in Sweden in 1900, A Little Night Music ingeniously grafts a veneer of sitcom foolery atop seriously handled grown-up issues. It is love, in particular, that Sondheim is concerned with, and A Little Night Music hosts a variety of case studies that demonstrate both the joys and havoc that love wreaks upon the human condition.

Like all of Sondheim's work, it is premised intelligently and carried off with indefatigable wit. But there is also a great deal of heart in the piece, put across via one of Sondheim's most seductive scores. Sunday's matinee performance bore this out with fine singing all around and comely support from the orchestra--aside from fleeting exceptions--under the baton of music director William Liberatore.

Director Dianna Shuster (artistic director of American Musical Theatre of San Jose) lavishes the production with a superb cast, tight- fitting design work, and an overall attention to detail that parallels the composer's own fastidiousness.

The script's recurrent alternations in perspective between traditional storytelling and episodes of Greek choral commentary (handsomely provided by the Liebes-lieder Quintet) are accented by discerning treatment of all the elements at hand. With collaborative harmony and a delectable sense of atmosphere, Barbara DuBois' lighting and J.B. Wilson's set designs intertwine enchantingly toward these ends.

Shuster elicits emotionally informed performances from her cast, which does much to convey the truths and ironies that underline the show's complex coupling maneuvers. Characters' feelings remain credible despite the script's preposterous occurrences and hilarious turns. Considering that more partner switches and couple makeovers take place in a single evening of A Little Night Music than in most Loveboat episodes, it is a wonder that the piece's more serious intentions come across. They do so quite poignantly in this production.

Joe Vincent and Leslie Easterbrook warmly inhabit the principal roles of Fredrik and Desiree. Of the eight or so characters one could call central in A Little Night Music, Fredrik and Desiree shoulder most of the show's real drama. To his portrayal of Fredrik, Vincent brings touches of humanity that offset the elder attorney's bulldog gruffness. We can't help but root for him, despite his faults. Furthermore, Vincent's comic timing ticks impeccably and his strong baritone voice is a delight to the ears.

Easterbrook (whom you may recall as Rhonda in the television series Laverne and Shirley) is a casting coup for the role of Desiree. Her physical radiance and effective balancing of wryness with vulnerability make her Desiree believable as well as desired. As the weathered thespian, road weary and finally ready to roost, Easterbrook reminds us that existence is finite. She is also the flesh-and-blood metaphor for life and theater's uncanny resemblance.

Sondheim breathes a second wind into Shakespeare's overused adage and culminates the revelation quintessentially in Desiree's featured ballad, "Send in the Clowns." Easterbrook's rendition of this marvelously intimating song was as moving as one could ever hope to encounter.

"Send in the Clowns" marks a pivotal point in the show, whereupon all chitchat yields to the ways of the heart. Up until then Fredrik and Ann, his teenage wife of 11 months (played with a bit much sugar-coating by Jennifer Lee Andrews), have yet to consummate their union; while his deep feelings for Desiree remain packed away. The emotional candor of "Send in the Clowns" sends such truths to the surface and lets all of the lies fall away.

As Desiree's lover of convenience, Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm, Lee Lobenhofer lends especially radiant voice, not to mention commendable oafishness. Other supporting characters also come through with the goods. Timothy Gulan gives a vibrant account as Henrik, Fredrik's brooding son from a previous marriage. Henrik's protests of his father's adolescent infatuations for Ann and extramarital carousing with Desiree eventually prove less based on moral indignation than on his own romantic designs. One would not normally endorse a stepmother and son eloping, but given the circumstances of A Little Night Music, their union seems the purest of all.

Liana Young let loose a riveting performance of the show's single patter song, "The Miller's Son," though the orchestra's accompaniment dragged through the song's quick two-step sections. Perhaps this was due to the fact that it was one of the only sequences in the score that was not in triple time (waltz meter). The fact that the music remains fresh and engaging throughout, despite the composer's obsession with meters of three, is just one of the subtle uniquenesses of this work. Like love, A Little Night Music enchants beyond the sum of its parts; and, as with life, its run is limited, so get your tickets now.

A Little Night Music runs Jan. 18 at 8pm; Jan. 19 at 8:30pm; Jan 20. at 2 and 8:30pm; Jan. 21 at 2 and 7pm; and Jan. 23-24 at 8pm at the Center for the Performing Arts, 255 Almaden Blvd., San Jose. Tickets: $28-$43. (BASS)

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