{"id":699,"date":"2023-06-07T00:51:02","date_gmt":"2023-06-07T00:51:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stageraw.com\/remake\/?p=699"},"modified":"2023-06-12T00:45:27","modified_gmt":"2023-06-12T00:45:27","slug":"a-little-night-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stageraw.com\/remake\/a-little-night-music\/","title":{"rendered":"A Little Night Music"},"content":{"rendered":"[vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” column_margin=”default” column_direction=”default” column_direction_tablet=”default” column_direction_phone=”default” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” row_border_radius=”none” row_border_radius_applies=”bg” overflow=”visible” overlay_strength=”0.3″ gradient_direction=”left_to_right” shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_tablet=”inherit” column_padding_phone=”inherit” column_padding_position=”all” column_element_direction_desktop=”default” column_element_spacing=”default” desktop_text_alignment=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_backdrop_filter=”none” column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” column_link_target=”_self” column_position=”default” gradient_direction=”left_to_right” overlay_strength=”0.3″ width=”1\/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” animation_type=”default” bg_image_animation=”none” border_type=”simple” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][vc_column_text]\n

A Little Night Music<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Pasadena Playhouse<\/strong>
\nReviewed by Taylor Kass<\/strong>
\nThrough May 28<\/strong><\/p>\n

RECOMMENDED<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Everyone\u2019s thinking about it, but no one\u2019s doing it. Sex, of course. The characters in the late, great Stephen Sondheim\u2019s\u00a0A Little Night Music\u00a0<\/em>are confused, corseted and cheated on until love and sex turn into a \u201chumiliating business.\u201d But glamorous actress Desir\u00e9e Armfeldt (performed by powerhouse Merle Dandridge) is here to shake things up \u2013 and when she reconnects with ex-lover Fredrik (Michael Hayden), liaisons are at once broken and rekindled. Pasadena Playhouse\u2019s production of this sexy Sondheim piece, directed by veteran of the stage and screen David Lee, is sumptuous, hilarious, and pitch-perfect.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoesn\u2019t anything begin?\u201d laments Henrik Egerman (Chase del Rey), a sexually repressed seminary student who\u2019s home to visit his straight-laced lawyer father Fredrik and his scandalously young step-mother Anne (Kaley Ann Vorhees). It\u2019s been nearly a year since Fredrik and Anne wed, but she\u2019s still a virgin. Feeling frustrated and foolish, Fredrik visits his former flame Desir\u00e9e to\u2026 reminisce. She invites him and his family to her mother\u2019s country home for the weekend, but her other lover Count Carl-Magnus (Ryan Silverman) crashes the party with his wife Charlotte (the scene-stealing Sarah Uriarte Berry) and a pair of dueling pistols in tow.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>As tensions rise and the misguided lovers head to the country, Wilson Chin\u2019s scenic design bursts out of austere walls and high ceilings and into a lush woodsy landscape. Birch trees cast shadows against the deliriously elongated twilight (lighting design by Jared A. Sayeg) and the Scandinavian sun seems to take all night to set. Costumes by Kate Bergh transform from turn-of-the-century high necks and satin bustles to weekend uniforms of white linen and gauze. As in\u00a0Into the Woods,\u00a0<\/em>Sondheim sets his characters free in the woods, where they can follow their natural impulses without regard for society\u2019s stuffy rules.<\/p>\n

The production design is sensual from top to bottom, not to mention the gorgeous score performed by a full orchestra directed and conducted by Alby Potts (with music supervision by Darryl Archibald). Each and every vocalist is up to the challenge \u2013 this cast not only masters Sondheim\u2019s notoriously demanding music and lyrics, but has fun illuminating each pearl of humor in the score.\u00a0A Little Night Music\u00a0<\/em>is a rare treat for Sondheim-loving Angelenos; catch it before the sun sets.<\/p>\n

Pasadena Playhouse, 39 S. El Molino Ave., Pasadena; Tues. \u2013 Fri. 8 p.m., Sat. 2 p.m. & 8 p.m., Sun. 2 p.m. & 7 p.m.; through May 28. 626-356-7529 or\u00a0pasadenaplayhouse.org<\/a>. Running time: 2 hours and 45 minutes with one 15-minute intermission.<\/em><\/strong>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” column_margin=”default” column_direction=”default” column_direction_tablet=”default” column_direction_phone=”default” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” row_border_radius=”none” row_border_radius_applies=”bg” overflow=”visible” overlay_strength=”0.3″ gradient_direction=”left_to_right” shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_tablet=”inherit” column_padding_phone=”inherit” column_padding_position=”all” column_element_direction_desktop=”default” column_element_spacing=”default” desktop_text_alignment=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_backdrop_filter=”none” column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” column_link_target=”_self” column_position=”default” gradient_direction=”left_to_right” overlay_strength=”0.3″ width=”1\/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” animation_type=”default” bg_image_animation=”none” border_type=”simple” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][image_with_animation image_url=”902″ image_size=”full” animation_type=”entrance” animation=”None” animation_movement_type=”transform_y” hover_animation=”none” alignment=”center” border_radius=”none” box_shadow=”none” image_loading=”default” max_width=”100%” max_width_mobile=”default”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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