On Feb. 25, 1973, A Little Night Music opened at the Shubert Theatre, running on Broadway for 601 performances. After the success of She Loves Me, Hal Prince asked Stephen Sondheim about writing a romantic musical. Their first choice to adapt was Ring Round the Moon, but playwright Jean Anouilh wanted Leonard Bernstein to write the music, so Prince and Sondheim moved on to Jean Renoir’s The Rules of the Game and Ingmar Bergman’s Smiles of a Summer Night. Librettist Hugh Wheeler thought Bergman’s film was better suited, and Bergman granted permission — provided they didn’t use the film’s title, which was moot since Sondheim had already chosen A Little Night Music. Below is the original trailer for the 1955 Swedish film.
“The original concept was that of a fantasy-ridden musical. It was to take place over a weekend during which, in almost game-like, fashion, Desiree would have been the prime mover and would work the characters into different situations,” Sondheim has said. “The way all this worked was that Madame Armfeldt, who was like a witch figure, would reshuffle the pack of cards and time would revert and we’d be back at the beginning of the weekend again.” That idea changed, but the final script maintained the light-hearted weekend excursion with darker tones bubbling underneath.
In addition to producer-director Prince, composer Sondheim, and librettist Wheeler, the creative team included Jonathan Tunick (orchestrations), Harold Hastings (music direction), Patricia Birch (choreography), Boris Aronson (sets), Florence Klotz (costumes), Tharon Musser (lights), Jack Mann (sound), and Charles La France (hair). The cast was led by Len Cariou (Fredrik), Hermione Gingold (Mme. Arnfeldt), and Glynis Johns (Desiree). The production received 12 Tony nominations, winning six, including musical, book, score, actress (Johns), featured actress (Patricia Elliott), and costumes. Below is Johns singing “Send in the Clowns.”
The show made its West End premiere on Apr. 15, 1975 at the Adelphi Theatre, where ran for 406 performances. The cast was led by Joss Ackland (Fredrik), Hermione Gingold (Mme. Armfeldt) from the original Broadway cast, and Jean Simmons (Desiree), who had headlined the first national US tour.
Nearly all of the score is written in variations of a waltz meter (3/4 time). The variations also extend to the lyrical shape of the songs, with many performed by trios or by duets about a third person. Judy Collins recorded the show’s “Send in the Clowns,” reaching the Top 40 in 1975 and then the Top 20 in 1977, after the song won the Grammy for Song of the Year. Below is Collins with the Boston Pops in 1976.
The film adaptation premiered in 1977. In addition to its setting being moved from Sweden to Austria, Sondheim wrote lyrics for the “Night Waltz” theme (“Love Takes Time”) and a new version of “The Glamorous Life,” now often incorporated into productions, while “In Praise of Women,” “The Miller’s Son,” and “Liaisons” were cut. The creative team included Prince, Sondheim, Wheeler, Tunick, Birch, and Klotz from the stage version, in addition to Elliot Kastner (producer), Arthur Ibbetson (cinematography), John Jympson (editing), Hertha Jareiter (art direction), Hans Ziegelwagner (set decoration), and Paul Gemignani (music direction).
The film cast was led by Len Cariou (Frederick), Hermione Gingold (Mme. Armfeldt) from the original Broadway production, and Elizabeth Taylor (Desiree). Critical reaction was mostly negative but Tunick won an Oscar for his orchestrations and costumer Florence Klotz received a nomination. Below is Taylor singing “Send in the Clowns.”
There have been three London revivals so far. The first, directed by Ian Judge, ran for 144 performances in 1989 with Peter McEnery (Fredrik), Lila Kedrova (Mme. Armfeldt), and Dorothy Tutin (Desiree). The second, directed by Sean Mathias at the Royal National Theatre, received four Olivier nominations. It starred Laurence Guittard (Fredrik), Sian Phillips (Mme. Armfeldt), and Judi Dench (Desiree), who won an Olivier for best actress in a musical. Below is Dench singing “Send in the Clowns.”
The third London revival opened in 2008 at the Menier Chocolate Factory, directed by Trevor Nunn, with Alexander Hanson (Fredrik), Maureen Lipman (Mme. Armfeldt), and Hannah Waddingham (Desiree). This production, which featured new orchestrations by Jason Carr, transferred to Broadway in 2009 with a new cast led by Alexander Hanson (Fredrik), Angela Lansbury (Mme. Armfeldt), and Catherine Zeta-Jones (Desiree). The Broadway production received four Tony nominations, with Zeta-Jones winning for best actress. Below is Zeta-Jones singing “Send in the Clowns” at the 2010 Tonys.