“If I were perfect for you, wouldn’t you tire of me?”
By Eric George Tauber
SAN DIEGO — The onslaught of information –and misinformation- in our digital age has us escaping into the past, specifically the turn of the twentieth century. That’s why Masterpiece Classics like Downton Abbey enjoyed such a devoted following. They let us imagine life when we enjoyed the countryside because our motorcars weren’t much faster than horses. Most meals were home cooked and people of means and good breeding still dressed for dinner.
This is the world of Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music now playing at the Cygnet Theatre in Old Town. The Chorus, elegantly clad in evening gowns and tailcoats, pour champagne and waltz us through the overture. Hats off to Costume Designer Jeanne Reith who beautifully captures both the age and the personalities of the characters. Also to Choreographer David Brannen, whose graceful steps give us our first glimpse of the intrigues to come.
Sean Murray is charmingly witty with subtle facial expressions as the stiff and proper Frederik Egerman, esq. whereas Katie Sapper is bright and bubbly as Anne, the young bride who has not yet consummated with the husband she used to call “Uncle Freddy.”
Nick Eiter burns with frustration as the dour Henrik, Frederik’s son. As a young Lutheran seminarian, he wants to do good in this world, but his earthly flesh hungers and for his stepmother, no less. It can make one envy the freedom of Petra, the strong, sensuous and sexually independent housemaid played by Megan Carmitchell.
Karole Foreman shines as Desirée Armfeldt. A veteran actor, she travels from town to town, hopping trains, performing and packing up again through the sardonic melody, “The Glamorous Life.” She’s still lovely and desirable in her maturity, but she knows she can’t keep playing Juliet forever. And so she hatches a plan to win back Frederik, a long lost paramour. But first, she has to ditch her lover du jour.
David S Humphrey is a shouting, heel-clicking cartoon as the “puffed up egomaniac” Carl-Magnus while Sandy Campbell couldn’t be more delightful as his forlorn wife, Charlotte. She knows all about the affair with Desirée, but she has cards of her own tucked into her big feathered hat.
Anise Ritchie carries herself with a proud, haughty air as Madame Armfeldt. Herself a relic of a bygone era, the Madame was one of the last of the courtesans. More than a mistress, a courtesan comported herself like a lady, entertained at parties and set the trends in fashion. She had to be graceful and witty as well as good in the sack. The Madame reminisces wistfully about grand parties with gallant, blue-blooded lovers in “Liaisons.”
An engraved invitation brings everyone to the Armfeldt Manse in the country. And that’s when the soup really starts to bubble…
Katie Sapper and Sandy Campbell develop a nice, sisterly rapport whereas the mother-daughter relationship between Karole and Anise is comically prickly. Karole breaks our hearts, grinning through her tears in “Send in the clowns.”
In the Torah, we are commanded not to covet our neighbors’ wives (Ex 20:17). And well we shouldn’t. But if nobody else did, that wouldn’t leave us with much theatre.
If you weary of today’s barrage of tweets and posts, and yearn for the richness of elegance, intrigue and wit, then turn off your phone and waltz through the graceful world of A Little Night Music playing at the Cygnet Theatre through April 22, 2018.
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Tauber is a freelance writer specializing in coverage of the arts. He may be contacted via eric.tauber@sdjewishworld.com