“A Little Night Music, which opened at the Shubert Theater last night, is heady, civilized, sophisticated and enchanting. It is Dom Perignon. It is supper at Laserre. It is a mixture of Cole Porter, Gustva Mahler, Antony Tudor and just a little of Ingmar Bergman. And it is more fun than any tango in a Parisian suburb… Good God! – an adult musical!” ~ Clive Barnes. New York Times. 1973.
I was introduced to A Little Night Music by the 1977 film. The cast featured three members of the
Broadway company, a game Elizabeth Taylor and a star turn from Diana Rigg. I
loved it and was surprised to learn the film is widely despised by fans of the
show (which is despised in turn by fans of Bergman’s original film). Looking
back on my first visit to the Sweeney
Todd film I can sympathize. Even the popular Into the Woods has caused some to clung to their PBS
DVD’s and weep bitter tears. While the Night
Music film cut the Greek Chorus and a considerable portion of the score it
inspired some lovely new material from Sondheim.
Judy Khan sings the "Dying by inches" stuff on the CD reissue bonus tracks, so IDK if that means it was written in 72 and not used or not.
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