Theo Ubique’s “A Little Night Music,” with Chamaya Moody and J Alan, 2024/Photo: Elizabeth Stenholt
RECOMMENDED
Musicals are typically about young love—golden boys and girls falling into the snare for the first time. But Stephen Sondheim’s “A Little Night Music” celebrates mature love—the kind that happens after you’ve been around for a while; less fireworks, more bemusement.
Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre offers a perfect way to experience this sophisticated 1973 farce—in a small, intimate setting with a fine, four-piece band and a talented cast that can handle both the wit of Hugh Wheeler’s book and the difficulty of Sondheim’s score. Under the direction of Mercury Theater’s L. Walter Stearns in his Theo debut, this production captures the show’s charm, humor and pathos without tipping into sentimentality.
Adapted from the Ingmar Bergman film “Smiles of a Summer Night,” the play is set in Sweden in the early twentieth century and revolves around a celebrated actress, Desirée Armfeldt (three-time Jeff Award winner Colette Todd). Desirée has a complicated past, which includes a daughter out-of-wedlock (Tessa Newman). Young Fredrika stays in the country with her formidable grandmother (Honey West), while Desirée is on stage enjoying (as the song goes) “The Glamorous Life.”
Theo Ubique’s “A Little Night Music,” with the Theo cast, 2024/Photo: Elizabeth Stenholt
One of Desirée’s past liaisons is Fredrik (Patrick Byrnes), unhappily married to a shockingly young wife (a winsome Chamaya Moody), who is drawn to Fredrik’s son Henrik (a delightfully nervous J Alan). Also in the mix are Desirée’s soldier lover (Kevin Webb) and his jealous wife (Maya Rowe). The group goes on a weekend in the country, which acts as an emotional clearinghouse, like the forest in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Things get sorted, but it’s going to be messy. Here are varieties of romance—mature love, one-night stands, young love’s frenzy, and remembrances of loves past.
The songs are mostly in waltz-time, with complex, Gilbert and Sullivan-style lyrics. The high level of the music makes it more of an operetta than a musical, with a story both silly and sad. You need strong singing actors to carry this off, and Theo has them, with particularly strong performances from Byrnes, Todd, West, Rowe and Webb. Webb supplies the silly, playing a puffed-up Miles Gloriosus who thinks he can cheat but no one else should. As his wife, Rowe goes from stiffly wounded to vengeful to sexy. Count Malcolm doesn’t need to stray, as he already has more than he can handle.
Theo Ubique’s “A Little Night Music,” with Kevin Webb and Colette Todd, 2024/Photo: Elizabeth Stenholt
Also excellent is West as Madame Armfeldt, a former courtesan now issuing earthy pronouncements from her wooden wheelchair. Her solo, “Liaisons,” cut from the movie version, is one of Sondheim’s best songs, and West’s dark, expressive delivery is spellbinding. “Too many people muddle sex/With mere desire/And when emotions intervene/The nets descend/It should on no account perplex/Or worse, inspire/It’s but a pleasurable means/To a measurable end….”
Byrnes and Todd as the lead couple have great chemistry—you cheer for them despite their questionable choices. Todd’s restrained, soulful rendition of the show’s best-known song, “Send in the Clowns,” makes it new again and drew tears from the Saturday night crowd.
One quibble is that some cast members attempted posh accents in their speaking parts. There’s no need for this. We’re in pretend Sweden, and nobody’s speaking Swedish, so why sound British?
I would continue my campaign against head mikes, used in this production despite strong voices and a small space. But it appears to be a lost cause—nearly every theater is using them. At least they weren’t turned up too loud and didn’t glitch.
“A Little Night Music” is through July 14 at Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre, 721 Howard Street, Evanston. Thursday-Saturday, at 7:30pm, Sunday at 6pm. Tickets are $44-$49, available via (773)939-4101 or at theo-u.com.
