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Music & Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by Hugh Wheeler
Based on the Ingmar Bergman film Smiles of a Summer Night, Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music tells the story of middle-aged Fredrik Egerman and his teenage bride, Anne, with whom he has never had sexual relations in spite of the fact that they have been married for eleven months. The couple lives in the same house with Fredrik's son Henrik, a seminary student one year older than Anne. The lack of intimacy aside, things seem to be going tolerably well for the couple until they attend a comedy at the theatre that features Desiree Armfeldt, an actress with whom Fredrik once had an affair. Although Anne can't stomach the thought of sleeping with Fredrik, she doesn't like the thought of any other woman performing that particular service for her husband either, and when she notices Desiree making eyes at Fredrik, she demands to be taken home immediately.
Once home, however, Fredrik can't stop thinking of his former lover, and when he goes to visit her, his eleven months of forced celibacy get the best of him, and he is soon in bed with the actress. No sooner have they done the deed, however, than they are interrupted by Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm, a married man with whom Desiree is having an affair. Malcolm is a self-proclaimed man of the world and knows how these things work, but the situation grows more complicated the next morning when the Count baldly relates the evening's events to his wife Charlotte who's little sister happens to be a girlhood friend of Anne's. Later, when the Count drifts to sleep, Charlotte decides to tip Anne off about Fredrik's activities. Meanwhile, however, Desiree has issued an invitation to Fredrik and his family to spend a weekend with her at her country estate. In spite of what she now knows, Anne decides to accept the invitation looking as young as possible so as to shame Desiree back behind her wrinkles. When Malcolm learns of the invitation, he announces that he and Charlotte will attend as well, invited or not, as he is detemined not to lose his mistress. Once all of the players arrive at the isolated estate, the stage is set for a sexually-charged weekend of thinly veiled accusations and unexpected revelations. |
