PLAYBILL.COM'S THEATRE WEEK IN REVIEW, Dec. 12-18: A Littler Night Music

By Robert Simonson
18 Dec 2009

Angela Lansbury and Catherine Zeta-Jones
Angela Lansbury and Catherine Zeta-Jones
Photo by Joan Marcus

A Little Night Music took 36 years to get back to Broadway, but the memory of the original still seems to weigh heavily in the air at the new production of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler's classic, which stars Catherine Zeta-Jones and Angela Lansbury. Trevor Nunn directed the staging, which opened Dec. 13.

Critics generally liked it well enough, but nobody fell in love. The light was too sepulchral, said some; the production perhaps too pared down and scenically economical; Nunn's hand too heavy, some acting too obvious; and Zeta-Jones, though able and magnetic and looking fabulous, a touch too much of-this-earth as the jaded actress Desiree. Basically, owing to a lot of little things, the revival just didn't get there, reviewers claimed.

Legendary Lansbury, however — returning to Sondheim's work after decades — got kudos all around, as she usually does. Other voices were more supportive, but the ball was not knocked out of the park.

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Lend Me a Tenor, a hit comedy in the late '80s, and still the best known play of Ken Ludwig, will return to Broadway in April 2010.

Actor Stanley Tucci will direct Anthony LaPaglia and Tony Shalhoub in the Broadway revival, which will play at the Music Box Theatre. Tucci makes his Broadway directorial debut. Tenor will also feature two-time Tony nominee Jan Maxwell, Mary Catherine Garrison, Jennifer Laura Thompson, Jay Klaitz and Brooke Adams. Klaitz will play the bellhop in the 1930s set, opera-releated farce — perhaps the last role of a bellhop to ever have been written for the Broadway stage.

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Milo Twomey and Hannah Yeland in Brief Encounter
photo by Kevin Berne
The Kneehigh U.K.-created production of Noël Coward's Brief Encounter, an unusual hybrid of stage and film techniques, was greeted with enough acclaim upon opening at St. Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn that is has extended its run there through Jan. 17, 2010. The Olivier Award-nominated production began performances at St. Ann's Dec. 2 after an extended engagement at San Francisco's American Conservatory Theatre earlier this fall. Originally scheduled to close Jan. 3, 2010, a host of positive reviews from the New York press prompted the two-week extension. Next stop: Minnesota's Guthrie.

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The elimination of the Tony Awards' Special Theatrical Event category is already having its impact.

Productions that may have been eligible in that category are now only eligible in the Best Musical or Best Play categories. And so we learn that the dance extravaganza Burn the Floor and the solo Carrie Fisher evening, Wishful Drinking — Special Theatrical Events if there ever was one — will be eligible in the Best Musical category and Best Play category, respectively. Good luck, guys!

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Brooks Ashmanskas, Katie Finneran and Tony Goldwyn and have joined the cast of the first Broadway revival of Promises, Promises. Performances begin March 27 at the Broadway Theatre.

Goldwyn will play boss J.D. Sheldrake, Ashmanskas will play Mr. Dobitch, and Finneran will play Marge MacDougall, a choice, one-scene, one-song character. The join the previously announced Tony winner Kristin Chenoweth as Fran and Emmy Award winner Sean Hayes as Chuck Baxter.

Tony winner Rob Ashford directs and choreographs the new production, making his Broadway directorial debut.