After the roaring success of Pasadena Playhouse’s wonderful production of Sunday in the Park with George, now comes A Little Night Music, which officially opens May 1, 2023. This is the second mainstage production of the theater’s six-month-long celebration of the works and impact of Stephen Sondheim, the first major festival honoring his legacy since his passing in 2021. The cast of A Little Night Music is led by Merle Dandridge as Desiree Armfeldt, Michael Hayden as Fredrik Egerman, and Jodi Long as Madame Armfeldt. The production also features Sarah Uriarte Berry (Broadway’s Les Misérables and The Light in the Piazza) as Countess Charlotte Malcolm, Chase Del Rey (Will Smith and Warner Bros’ King Richard) as Henrik Egerman, Adam James King (In The Heights at Park Playhouse, The Staircase on HBO Max) as Frid, Ruby Lewis (Broadway’s Cirque du Soleil Paramour, Marilyn Monroe in Marilyn! The New Musical at the Paris Theatre, Las Vegas) as Petra, Ryan Silverman (Broadway’s Side Show and Chicago) as Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm, and Kaley Ann Voorhees (Broadway’s Prince of Broadway, The Phantom of the Opera) as Anne Egerman. The cast also includes Georgia Belmont as Mrs. Nordstrom, Jared Bybee as Mr. Lindquist, Kim Dawson as Mrs. Segstrom, Oriana Falla as Mrs. Anderssen, Arnold Geis as Mr. Erlanson, and Christanna Rowader as a standby for Countess Charlotte Malcolm and Desiree Armfeldt. Additional casting and creative team will be announced at a later date. Casting is by JZ Casting (Geoff Josselson, CSA and Katja Zarolinski, CSA). A Little Night Music follows Sunday in the Park With George directed by Sarna Lapine. Tickets and information for both are available at pasadenaplayhouse.org, by phone at 626-356-7529, and at the box office at 39 South El Molino Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91101. A Little Night Music features a book by Hugh Wheeler, music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and is suggested by a film by Ingmar Bergman. In honor of its 50th Anniversary, the Playhouse is proud to present this unsung sensation in its full and soaring orchestration. Boasting one of the most singular and sumptuous scores in Broadway history, Sondheim’s enchanting, hilarious romantic farce is a bona-fide classic of American musical theater. About A Little Night Music A Little Night Music (1973) represents Sondheim’s long time collaboration with producer-director Harold Prince, who worked with Sondheim from his Broadway debut with West Side Story in 1957 to Merrily We Roll Along in 1981. At the time of its opening on Broadway, Time Magazine called A Little Night Music “Sondheim’s most brilliant accomplishment to date.” Based on Ingmar Bergman’s Smiles of a Summer Night, and featuring a score primarily in waltz time, the production was one of the composer’s greatest commercial successes. Recipient of three Tony Awards including Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, and Best Original Score, A Little Night Music is “heady, civilized, sophisticated and enchanting.” – New York Times Set in 1900 Sweden, A Little Night Music explores the tangled web of affairs centered around actress Desirée Armfeldt, and the men who love her: a lawyer by the name of Fredrik Egerman and the Count Carl-Magnus Malcom. When the traveling actress performs in Fredrik’s town, the estranged lovers’ passion rekindles. This strikes a flurry of jealousy and suspicion between Desirée; Fredrik; Fredrick’s wife, Anne; Desirée’s current lover, the Count; and the Count’s wife, Charlotte. Both men – as well as their jealous wives – agree to join Desirée and her family for a weekend in the country at Desirée’s mother’s estate. With everyone in one place, infinite possibilities of new romances and second chances bring endless surprises.
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Saw it the other night. Loved it. Had never seen it. The only thing though was the vibrato by the ‘greek chorus’ was a little too much and made it difficult to understand the words. other than that, great costumes, great production! I love the Pasadena Playhouse. One of my favorite theaters cause of the comfy seats. Hey I’m old, that matters! Such great songs and the hilarious, witty dialogue was just spot on Sondheim!