One of the many Sondheim classics has hit the stage at Ipswich!
A Little Night Music is a 1973 Broadway musical with music and lyrics by the legendary Stephen Sondheim and book by Hugh Wheeler. The show is inspired by Ingmar Bergman’s Smiles of a Summer Night film: involving different aspects of this into the narrative. The story follows a group of individuals who are romantically entangled spend an enchanted weekend together in Sweden. This results in joyful, uplifting and hilarious moments between the characters. A Little Night Music is being performed by The Gallery Players at their home The Gallery Studio Theatre Ipswich. This award-winning community theatre company perform more niche productions, which other companies may not. The message behind using niche, lesser-known shows is brilliant: giving audiences opportunities to see productions they not see elsewhere, with this particular musical having not been seen on the West End since 2009. As someone who has not seen A Little Night Music, I appreciate The Gallery Players’ enthusiasm to bring this to stage and develop a captivating performance!
To bring this classic musical to stage, a directing team has been working hard to polish the show. Helen Clarke, Lesley Burrows and Gary Avis have formed a strong directing team which is evident in the production. Supporting the team, Matt Snow is the musical director and choreography is from Rebecca Darcy. Snow’s musical direction allowed Sondheim’s score to soar and you can tell that a lot of care has been put into this. Darcy’s choreography was fantastic at capturing the pieces, giving some traditional movement opportunities in the songs.
The story is intriguing throughout as these individuals become entangled in love scandals until they ultimately find the correct person. Using curtains, projection and set pieces we are transported into each location effortlessly: working incredibly well to keep the pacing of the show going. The lighting and sound design by James Aleksic is perfect, adding ambience into each scene. Another note is the programme for this production by Steve Taplin. It is one of the most polished, professional programme booklet I’ve seen in amateur shows: a fantastic design.
The Quintet of Servants consists of Steph Brown playing Malla, Jon Tavener playing Sven, Evie Capon playing Osa, Martin Leigh playing Bertrand and Charlotte Sampson playing Petra. They worked incredibly well together to change the stage and have their individual moments to shine throughout the production. Likewise, Mike Kwasniak plays Frid and is able to support in many scenes. The show wouldn’t work as fluently without these cast members who worked tirelessly to sing harmonies, support scenes and change set. Also of note, Sampson’s rendition of ‘The Miller’s Son’ was vocally very strong.
Evie Snow plays Countess Charlotte Malcolm. Snow was able to capture the essence of the Countess really well, being snarky and confident. Her dynamics with Cope were hilarious at times and her vocals during ‘Every Day a Little Death’ were fantastic. Ryan Cope plays Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm. Cope embodied his confident, self-righteous character and was able to have the audience laughing throughout. His performance during ‘It Would Have Been Wonderful’ with Holder was really good. Rose Bennett plays Fredrika Armfeldt. Bennett was very talented for her age, working effectively alongside the rest of the cast in her role.
Josh Day plays Henrik Egerman. Day had strong vocals and was talented with his musical instrument. His relationship and feelings for Britchfield felt genuine and made for great tension. Riley Britchfield plays Anne Egerman. Britchfield was able to play this charismatic character incredibly well, being a joy to watch. Her vocals, especially during ‘Soon’ sounded phenomenal. Tim Holder plays Fredrik Egerman. Frederik is a complicated character and Holder was able to capture this in his performance. Holder’s vocals were solid especially in ‘Now‘. Helen Wheatley plays Desiree Armfeldt. Desiree is navigating love throughout the show, trying to figure out where her heart belongs. Wheatley is able to capture this character effortlessly on stage, giving a phenomenal performance. Her rendition of ‘Send In The Clowns‘ sounded brilliant. Shirley Lyons plays Madame Armfeldt. Being present throughout the show, Lyons is able to matriarch of the story and this production. Her presence is felt throughout and her acting was commendable.
A Little Night Music is sold out as of writing this review. Keep a look out for any returns so you don’t miss this wonderful production!
Tickets for this production were provided complimentary. Many thanks to The Gallery Players for organising and for the fantastic evening of entertainment!
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