|
 |
THE DVD SHELF: Lerner & Loewe's "Camelot" With Harris; Sondheim's "A Little Night Music" With Liz
By Steven Suskin
17 Jun 2007
The 1978 film version of A Little Night Music [Hen's Tooth Video] is famously flawed. Elizabeth Taylor was at the end of her usefulness, cinema-wise; watching this film today, you can see her pass from actress to caricature before your eyes. As for director Hal Prince, the Night Music film pretty much destroyed any possibilities of a cinema career. Which turned out okay for us, as he went back to the rehearsal hall for Evita, Phantom and other pleasures.
If the screen Little Night Music is a mess, let us spend this column dwelling on the good parts. For the many Sondheim fans who did not get to see this 1973 musical on the stage, Prince and his producers have preserved many a treat. First and foremost is Len Cariou reprising his stage role, back in the days before he lifted his first razor. Cariou is joined by Laurence Guittard as the Count, a lesser but equally juicy role. Watch the pair have a go at "It Would Have Been Wonderful" ("… but the woman was perfection…"); this is what the original A Little Night Music was like, and the film is something of a musical candybox. The "Now-Soon-Later" trifecta, too, is what might be termed perfecta. Cariou performs with Lesley-Anne Down and Christopher Guard rather than the superb couple who supported him on Broadway, but no matter. This might be the best-translated screen rendition of a sequence from a Sondheim musical. Watch it and enjoy yourself. "A Weekend in the Country" is here, too, although slightly chopped and truncated; even so, it is "A Weekend in the Country." The opening sequence presents a facsimile of Pat Birch's stage opening, with the principals in kind of a musical chairs dance, on a stage set with sliding trees not unlike those of Boris Aronson. That sleek and mustachioed conductor waving his baton from the podium, by the way, is none other than Jonathan Tunick.
True, a great deal of the score has been dropped. True, Ms. Taylor is — well, Ms. Taylor. But we do get, as a present, the presence of Diana Rigg as Charlotte. Rigg made a splendid Phyllis some years later in the London production of Follies, which did not come as a surprise to anyone who remembered her performance here (featuring a sharply-delivered and keenly felt rendition of "Every Day a Little Death"). Ms. Gingold is on hand to reprise her original role; as someone who didn't much enjoy her stage performance, I can only say that I'm not overly upset that they cut her big solo ("Liaisons") from the film.
As a bonus, Mr. Sondheim went so far as to write us a new song. "The Glamorous Life" ("unpack the luggage") is one of our favorites, and an unofficial anthem for anyone who has traveled with a Broadway-show-on-the-road in the last 30 years. For the film version, though, the composer saw fit to come up with a very different replacement "Glamorous Life," a solo for Fredericka to sing while the camera shows us scenes from her mother's touring life. This second "Glamorous Life" is among Sondheim's most delectable treats, which — in itself — helps justify the film A Little Night Music.
Cinema fans take note; this DVD is not a state-of-the-art affair. At numerous places, there are vertical black lines splitting the screen, making the whole thing look like it's transferred from a tired print that traveled around the world and back. (For a film that was a quick and unlamented flop, it's almost impressive that they found such a worn-out copy to work from.) Broadway fans, though, will overlook the numerous weaknesses of the film, and the DVD, and appreciate this A Little Night Music for what it is. Watch Mr. Cariou in the trio, and in the duet with Mr. Guittard, and Ms. Rigg's "Little Death" and that new "Glamorous Life." For a Broadway fan, that makes a satisfying night's music in itself.
(Steven Suskin is author of "Second Act Trouble," "A Must See! Brilliant Broadway Artwork," "Show Tunes," and the "Opening Night on Broadway" books. He can be reached at Ssuskin@aol.com.)
Contact Us | Advertise | Privacy Policy
Send questions and comments to the Webmaster
Copyright © 2008 Playbill, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
|
|
|
|
|