Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Timeless Classic Restored to Magnificence, April 20, 1999
By A Customer
Night Music has been my favorite musical since I first heard it on LP, then stood in the back of the theatre for 10 consecutive performances of this cast. This show exemplifies the best of the Broadway idiom for me and, like the previous reviewer, it made me a devotee of Sondheim for ever and ever, amen. Dated? Excuuuuse me! Len Cariou is so perfect as Frederik -- his was the only version of the character that makes him seem real -- fallible, virile, rueful and ultimately a perfect match for Desiree. And speaking of Desiree, Glynnis Johns played her with elegance and panache. If her performance of the music was more sprechstimme than song, so be it -- Sondheim wrote the music for her style and it works beautifully. The score and lyrics -- well what can one say? Fiendishly clever words and music that soars, dances and subtly shifts its mood to suite the events of the endless summer night. The great songs follow one after the other -- from the marvellous interplay of "Soon/Later/Now" to "Ordinary Lives" to "Liasons," "The Miller's Son," and, yes, "Send in the Clowns." This tune has been so bastardized by crooners and lounge lizards, it's become a cliche. But, just listen once to Ms. Johns' rendition and it becomes fresh and new once again. I realize and remember that this is not a song of sorrow; but of frustration and anger at a universe that would let two people who love each other get so far apart. I could go on and on -- but don't listen to me. Get this CD and listen to it. THen listen to it again. You'll be hooked, I guarantee.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant! Absolutely Brilliant!, December 5, 2005
This is Sondheim at his best. Beautiful music pared with complex, witty word play:
Now, as the sweet imbecilities
Tumble so lavishly
Onto her lap,
Now, there are two possibilities:
A, I could ravish her,
B, I could nap.
.
.
.
Perhaps I could read.
In view of her penchant
For something romantic,
De Sade is to trenchant
And Dickens too frantic,
And Stendhal would ruin
The plan of attack,
As there isn't much blue in "The Red and the Black."
De Maupassant's candour
Would cause her dismay,
The Brontes are grander
But not very gay,
Her taste is much blander,
I'm sorry to say,
But is Hans Christian Ander-
Sen ever risque?
Once again Sondheim shows us why, though not as commercially a success as Lloyd Webber, his legacy will endure long after Webber's name is forgotten. To Kay: get beyond the music. You call Sondheim overrated and Webber a musical genius - you're obviously not listening to the whole. Webber's written some pretty music but musical theater is so much more than just pretty music.
Tracks to savor:
Now/Soon/Later
You Must Meet My Wife
Liasons (Hermoinie Gingold is fabulous!)
A Weekend In The Country
In Praise of Women
If you love musical theater, this is a must for your collection.
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the Greatest Musicals Ever Written, September 26, 2002
Stephen Sondheim managed a theatrical hat-trick in the early 1970s, writing the scores to three landmark musicals-- "Company", "Follies" and "A Little Night Music". ALNM was a financial success and an artistic smash-- one of the most perfect marriages of gorgeous score, intelligent and witty book, and superb cast. The original cast album brought legendary producer Goddard Lieberson out of retirement, and the whole piece is like an aural slice of theatre on your CD player. The remastering not only cleans up the (already amazingly clean) sound, but slows down two songs to their original keys ("The Glamorous Life" and "Remember?") and restores one deleted cut ("Night Waltz II").The actors' performance on this recording is nothing short of ideal. Len Cariou and Glynis Johns lead a remarkable cast through the demanding score. The title refers ironically to Mozart's "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik"-- but musically the score is closer to Ravel's "Valses nobles et sentimentales", with sumptuous melodies and piquant twentieth-century harmonies (Sondheim studied with Milton Babbitt, one of the most avant-garde modern composers of his time). "The Miller's Son" is a masterpiece-- an awe-inspiring song in praise of "Bring on Mr. Right, but in the meantime, bring on Mr. Right-Now!", performed in breathtaking fashion by a fantastic singer (D. Jamin Bartlett). A fantastic CD. Get it!!
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