{"id":24198,"date":"2017-05-05T03:49:02","date_gmt":"2017-05-05T10:49:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=24198"},"modified":"2017-05-03T18:21:31","modified_gmt":"2017-05-04T01:21:31","slug":"a-little-music-a-few-trysts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2017\/05\/05\/a-little-music-a-few-trysts\/","title":{"rendered":"A little music \u2026 a few trysts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Katey Wright and Warren Kimmel co-star in A Little Night Music<\/em>, which opens at Anvil Centre Theatre on May 13. (photo by David Cooper)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe end of Act One may just be the most brilliant piece of musical theatre writing ever,\u201d actor Warren Kimmel told the Independent <\/em>when asked about Stephen Sondheim\u2019s A Little Night Music<\/em>, which will have a limited run at the Anvil Centre Theatre, starting next week.<\/p>\n

And Jewish community member Kimmel knows of what he speaks when it comes to musical theatre. To name only some of the super-well-known musicals he\u2019s been in \u2013 Billy Elliot, Fiddler on the Roof, Les Mis\u00e9rables<\/em>, My Fair Lady<\/em>, Mary Poppins<\/em>, Sound of Music<\/em>, Beauty and the Beast<\/em>.<\/p>\n

In A Little Night Music<\/em>, which takes place around the turn of the last century, Kimmel plays Fredrik Egerman, who has just married 18-year-old Anne, many years his junior. One problem is that Fredrik\u2019s son also loves Anne. Two other problems are that Anne is reluctant to give herself to Fredrik and Fredrik hasn\u2019t quite doused the fire that exists between him and Desiree, a former girlfriend. Then there\u2019s Desiree\u2019s jealous (and married) lover. \u201cAll of these trysts and twists come to a head,\u201d reads the promotional material, \u201cwhen Desiree convinces her mother to host Fredrik and his family for a weekend on her lavish estate \u2013 where the count [Desiree\u2019s lover], with his wife \u2026 crash the party.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cApart from its sheer entertainment value \u2013 the incredible music and genius lyrics of Stephen Sondheim \u2013 A Little Night Music<\/em> is based on a film by Ingmar Bergman \u2013 Smiles of a Summer Night<\/em> \u2013 so the themes are eternal,\u201d said Kimmel. \u201cHow do you find love? How do you find the right person to love? How do you love the person you are with? How do you get the person you are with to love you? How do you remain faithful? Should you remain faithful? Like all great works of art, it doesn\u2019t so much speak to a modern audience as whisper and shout!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know if I can adequately state the importance of Stephen Sondheim and his work,\u201d director Peter Jorgensen told the Independent<\/em>. \u201cNo other single artist has thought more deeply about composition as a tool for telling stories. No other lyricist gives characters such distinctive, rich language. As a musical dramatist, he has set the gold standard for artistry and craftsmanship.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSondheim has a special place in the heart of all singer\/actors,\u201d agreed Kimmel. \u201cHis material is, without doubt, the most challenging and also the most satisfying to perform of anyone in the musical theatre canon. It\u2019s really hard to get right but thrilling every time you do. Fredrik has some particularly complicated and expressive songs, and that\u2019s the best and worst thing about this role.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Broadway musical \u2013 with music and lyrics by Sondheim and book by Hugh Wheeler \u2013 won six Tony Awards, a Golden Globe and a Grammy. In the local Patrick Street Productions mounting of the show, Kimmel co-stars with Katey Wright, who plays Desiree.<\/p>\n

Real-life husband-wife team Wright and Jorgensen founded Patrick Street Productions in 2007. Their mandate: \u201cto offer great productions of great plays and musicals for Metro Vancouver, with an emphasis on contemporary musicals that have not yet been professionally produced in the region.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFor Patrick Street Productions,\u201d said Jorgensen, \u201cit is important for us to program musicals that challenge conceptions of what a musical is and what a musical can do. That aspiration is never better matched than with a Sondheim musical.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs to why A Little Night Music<\/em>,\u201d he continued, \u201cin many ways it is similar to why Hal Prince (the show\u2019s original director) and Sondheim chose to create the show: we wanted to program something romantic and light that had a broad appeal, but that was still sharp and biting. Hal Prince described the show as \u2018whipped cream and knives.\u2019 There is no better statement that sums up the show\u2019s appeal than that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kimmel added, \u201cApart from \u2018Send in the Clowns,\u2019 which is perhaps Sondheim\u2019s best known song, A Little Night Music<\/em> is not as well-known as some of his other stuff, and certainly not as well known as Phantom of the Opera<\/em> or something like that, but this piece is a real gem. The end of Act One may just be the most brilliant piece of musical theatre writing ever. The brilliance of the material forces you to really step up \u2013 and everyone has. From the costumes to the lighting, from the orchestrations to the casting, the level of work and attention to detail in this production are quite wonderful. It\u2019s just worth seeing on every level.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Little Night Music<\/em> opens at Anvil Centre Theatre in New Westminster on May 13, 8 p.m., with previews on the nights of May 11 and 12. Show times are Wednesday through Saturday, 8 p.m., with 2 p.m. matin\u00e9es May 14, 20-21. Tickets are $25.50 for the previews and range from $25.50 to $39.50 for the run; they can be purchased at ticketsnw.ca or 604-521-5050.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Katey Wright and Warren Kimmel co-star in A Little Night Music, which opens at Anvil Centre Theatre on May 13. (photo by David Cooper) \u201cThe end of Act One may just be the most brilliant piece of musical theatre writing ever,\u201d actor Warren Kimmel told the Independent when asked about Stephen Sondheim\u2019s A Little Night […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24173,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[785],"tags":[6296,7029,7028,1699],"class_list":["post-24198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-performing-arts","tag-musical-theatre","tag-peter-jorgensen","tag-sondheim","tag-warren-kimmel"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24198"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24198\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}