Stephen Sondheim: A Little Night Music
List Price:
Our Price: $14.78
You Save: $8.20 (36%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $10.99 (click here)
Category: Music CD
See more new music releases
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store
Canadian Music Store
Music CD Cover
Composer: Stephen SondheimPerformer: Catherine Zeta-Jones
Performer: Angela Lansbury
Performer: Alexander Hanson
Performer: Hugh Wheeler
Edition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown)
Format: Cast Recording
CD Release Date: 2010-04-06
Music Label: Nonesuch
Soundtracks:
Music CD 1
- Overture / Night Waltz
- Prologue: 'The night smiles...'
- Now
- Later
- Soon
- The Glamorous Life
- Remember?
- You Must Meet My Wife
- 'A virgin'
- Liaisons
- In Praise of Women
- Every Day a Little Death
- 'The tour's over for a while...'
- A Weekend in the Country
- The Sun Won't Set
- Night Waltz II
- It Would Have Been Wonderful
- Perpetual Anticipation
- Send in the Clowns
- The Miller's Son
- Soon (reprise) / You Must Meet My Wife (reprise)
- 'A wooden ring'
- A Weekend in the Country (reprise) / Every Day a Little Death (reprise)
- Send in the Clowns (reprise)
- Last Waltz
Free Music Notes for Stephen Sondheim: A Little Night Music
Free Music Review: Warm and Friendly
Hit: 5 Stars
I am a fan of the 1973 recording, having listened to it quite a bit in anticipation of seeing the show on Broadway in May of 2010. While that version is excellent, I think that this on has its charms as well.
The two-disc format allows for a lot of dialogue to be included, which is a big plus, especially on songs like "Send in the Clowns," where Fredrick's presence explains a lot of Desiree's emotions. Catherine Zeta-Jones sounds great, as she did on the stage. A bit brassy, yes, but she's playing an actress, so it works for me. I wish the bedroom scene with the Count, Fredrick and Desiree had been included, as it was played to comic perfection on the stage, with spot-on timing and a healthy dose of chemistry. We had excellent seats and I was a bit awe-struck by Ms. Zeta-Jones, who looked amazing.
Mr. Hanson is wry and self-deprecating here, and his "Now" is perfectly syncopated and enunciated, a very tricky thing for a singer to pull off. I would like to see him with Bernadette Peters, just to see what, if any, chemistry they have together.
I also liked Aaron Lazar's take on Carl-Magnus and Erin Davie's on Charlotte. Their chemistry on stage was also palpable, and Ms. Davie turns in a wonderful take on "Every Day a Little Death" that has a much more palpable sad edge to it than the '73 version.
I am less a fan of Mr. Herdlicka as Henrick; too shrill and whiny, as others have said. His "for GOD's sake!" on "Later" is about an octave too high and is cringe-worthy for me! Ms. Mallory is neither great nor bad for me, just a little too overwrought. Ms. Larkin has a nice turn on "The Miller's Son," another tricky one for a singer, but she handles it with aplomb. Her scenes with Frid were gems on-stage, very sexy and playful.
Finally, Ms. Lansbury is as legendary as I'd hoped, although she enunciates "Liasons" as "Lay-sons," where I am used to Hermoine Gingold's "Lee-ay-sons," a minor point, but she also injects some life into that song and it is much less "plodding" than the original. It's great that we can still see an adult, intimate show like this in 2010 - stop grousing, people!
Stephen Sondheim: A Little Night Music Poster
'A Little Night Music,' a bittersweet tale of romantic longing and furtive liaisons unfolding over a single midsummer's evening in the Swedish countryside, remains among composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim's most admired and best known works, as well as one of his most commercially successful. The musical, inspired by Ingmar Bergman's classic film 'Smiles of A Summer Night' and featuring a book by Hugh Wheeler, logged in 601 performances during its first Broadway run in 1973.Back then, the New York Times theater critic called the lavish Harold Prince-directed production 'heady, civilized,
sophisticated and enchanting.' The sumptuous score even yielded an enduring adult pop hit in the rueful 'Send in the Clowns,' brought to Top 40 and adult contemporary radio via Judy Collins' elegant, contemplative interpretation on Elektra Records.
New York magazine has called this new, more intimate, chamber-style production, developed at London's Menier Chocolate Factory by acclaimed director Trevor Nunn, 'stunning..., devastatingly good.' Nun himself describes his daringly pared-down approach as 'a good deal more Chekhovian in its intentions.' Oscar-winning actress Catherine Zeta-Jones
(Chicago) makes her long-awaited Broadway debut in the lead role of Desiree, originated in '73 by Glynis
Johns. The Hollywood Reporter called Jones' performance 'captivating' and her rendition of 'Send In the Clowns' a
'revelation... she handles the poignant and comic aspects of her character with equal aplomb.' USA Today concurred: 'Zeta-Jones brings great warmth and vitality to the role and makes it easier to see why Desiree's old lover, Fredrik the
male lead, played with suave brio by Alexander Hanson would vie with a blustering dragoon for her affections.' The New York Times hailed Jones' show-stopping co-star Angela Lansbury, without a doubt the hardest working octogenarian on Broadway, as 'indomitable and invaluable,' calling her performance as a wise and omniscient former courtesan 'quite delicious.'
The Times also praised the intricacy and delicacy of Mr. Sondheim's score, 'which sets a deep-blue wistfulness to
three-quarter time.' Nunn's austere, reconceived staging, says the Hollywood Reporter, 'does a wonderful job of accentuating the emotional complexities and endlessly witty dialogue of Hugh Wheeler's book.' London's Daily Telegraph
gave this Broadway transfer an equally enthusiastic assessment: 'Far from another star vehicle, this thoroughly British affair is good, old-fashioned entertainment at its sparkling best.' Perhaps most importantly, Sondheim himself, who is also represented on Broadway this season with a bilingual staging of 'West Side Story,' reacted positively in a recent New York Times interview: 'You get to concentrate on the piece of work,' he says of the current staging, which features eight
musicians and a five-voice chorus. 'I'm just pleased that somebody wants to do it, and that it gets a chance to be seen again... It's a greater pleasure when these pieces get another outing.'
As theatergoers - and listeners to this newly recorded cast album - will surely attest: the pleasure is decidedly ours. This new Broadway production is scheduled to run at least through June 2010.
Broadway & Vocalists Music CDs
Music Genres
Top music charts in Broadway & Vocalists Music CDs
George Shearing, Mel Torme - Elegant EveningSHEARING,G/TORME,M; Release date: 1990-10-25; Music CD
Best price: $6.93
Price in other shops:
Stan Getz - Spring Is HereRelease date: 1993-01-11; Music CD
Price in other shops:
Rosemary Clooney - Girl SingerRelease date: 1999-04-01; Music CD
Best price: $8.97
Price in other shops:
The Blenders - NogRelease date: 1998-10-20; Music CD
Best price: $9.64
Price in other shops:
Brave Combo, Tiny Tim - GirlTIM,TINY/BRAVE COMB; Release date: 1996-03-19; Music CD
Best price: $10.36
Price in other shops:
Belleville a Cappella Choir - Southern Journey, Vol. 11: Honor The Lamb - The Belleville A Cappella ChoirRelease date: 1998-02-10; Music CD
Best price: $83.93
Diane Schuur - Love SongsRelease date: 1993-05-11; Music CD
Best price: $4.00
Price in other shops:
![Love Is the Thing [Vinyl] Image](/images/noimg.gif)
Nat King Cole - Love Is the Thing [Vinyl]Release date: 1996-11-19; Music CD
Best price: $169.99
Linda Ronstadt - Linda Ronstadt: Greatest HitsRelease date: 1998-01-13; Music CD
Price in other shops:
Buddy Rich, Sammy Davis Jr - Sounds of 66Release date: 1996-09-17; Music CD
Price in other shops:
Top Rated Albums
Look, I Made a Hat: Collected Lyrics (1981-2011) with Attendant Comments, Amplifications, Dogmas, Harangues, Digressions, Anecdotes and Miscellanyby Stephen Sondheim
Knopf; Published: 2011-11-22; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $24.78
Price in other shops:
Douglas Hodge, Kelsey Grammer - La Cage Aux Folles: New Broadway Cast RecordingRelease date: 2010-09-28; Music CD
Best price: $9.70
Price in other shops:
Sunday in the Park with George (1984 Original Broadway Cast)Release date: 2007-03-20; Music CD
Best price: $6.79
Price in other shops:
Promises, PromisesRelease date: 2010-06-21; Music CD
Best price: $10.27
Price in other shops:
Sondheim on SondheimPBS; Release date: 2010-08-31; Music CD
Best price: $14.82
Price in other shops:
How to Succeed in Business Without Really TryingRelease date: 2011-06-07; Music CD
Best price: $9.98
Price in other shops:
Anything Goes - Anything Goes / N.B.C.R.Release date: 2011-09-20; Music CD
Best price: $11.97
Price in other shops:
Women on the Verge of a Nervous BreakdownRelease date: 2011-05-10; Music CD
Best price: $12.45
Price in other shops:
The Book of Mormon (Original Broadway Cast Recording)Release date: 2011-06-07; Music CD
Best price: $11.15
Price in other shops:
Follies (New Broadway Cast Recording)Release date: 2011-11-29; Music CD
Best price: $12.00
Price in other shops: