Oozing with sophistication and wit, Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s A Little Night Music (based on Ingmar Bergman’s film Smiles on a Summer Night) is a passionate story of intertwined love affairs, regret and longing centred on elegant actress Desirée Armfeldt, and her family and flirtations.
When Desirée performs in the town of her former lover, old passions rekindle and during a weekend in the country, the entangled romances of four couples are laid bare. With the magic of music on a summer’s night, love’s joys and complications play out in three-quarter time.
Filled with beautiful iconic numbers, including ‘Send in the Clowns’ and ‘A Weekend in the Country’, A Little Night Music is a romantic musical by one of our greatest living composers.
It opened on Broadway at the Shubert Theatre in February 1973 in a production directed by Harold Prince, winning Best Musical at the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Awards and the Tony Awards.
The musical premiered in the West End at the Adelphi Theatre in April 1975. It has since enjoyed professional productions in the West End, by opera companies, in a 2009 Broadway revival, and elsewhere, and it is a popular choice for regional groups. It was adapted for film in 1977, with Harold Prince directing.
‘Heady, civilised, sophisticated and enchanting. Sondheim’s breathtaking lyrics have the kind of sassy poetry that Cole Porter mastered’
— New York Times
Best Musical, New York Drama Critics’ Circle Awards
Best Musical, Tony Awards
