A Little Night Music is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Hugh Wheeler. Inspired by the 1955 Ingmar Bergman film Smiles of a Summer Night, it involves the romantic lives of several couples. Its title is a literal English translation of the German name for Mozart's Serenade No. 13, K. 525, Eine kleine Nachtmusik. The musical includes the popular song "Send In the Clowns", written for Glynis Johns.
Since its original 1973 Broadway production, the musical has enjoyed professional productions in the West End, by opera companies, in a 2009 Broadway revival, and elsewhere, and it is a popular choice for regional groups. It was adapted for film in 1977, with Harold Prince directing and Elizabeth Taylor, Len Cariou, Lesley-Anne Down, and Diana Rigg starring.
Synopsis Act One The setting is Sweden, around the turn of the 20th century. One by one, the Quintet – five singers who comment like a Greek chorus throughout the show – enter, tuning up. Gradually, their vocalizing becomes an overture blending fragments of "Remember," "Soon," and "The Glamorous Life." The other characters enter waltzing, each uncomfortable with their partner ("Night Waltz"). After they drift back off, the aging and sardonic Madame Leonora Armfeldt, a wealthy former courtesan, and her solemn granddaughter, Fredrika, enter. Madame Armfeldt tells Fredrika that the summer night "smiles" three times: first on the young, second on fools, and third on the old. Fredrika vows to watch the smiles occur.
Middle-aged, successful lawyer Fredrik Egerman has recently married an 18-year-old trophy wife, Anne, a naive girl who loves Fredrik but is not attracted to him. The two have been married for eleven months, and Anne still protects her virginity. Upon coming home from work, Fredrik surprises Anne with tickets to a play, starring Desiree Armfeldt, a glamorous actress whom Anne greatly admires. Anne giddily fantasizes about what it would be like to be as beautiful and beloved as Desiree, and starts talking at Fredrik about her day. Fredrik, distracted by his lust, considers various ways he might seduce his wife but ultimately rules each one out and elects to take a nap instead ("Now"). Meanwhile, his son Henrik, a seminary student a year older than his stepmother, is frustrated and ignored ("Later"). Anne promises her husband that shortly she will consent to have sex even though she can't help recoiling at his touch ("Soon"), and all three of them lament at once. The number concludes with Fredrik sighing Desiree's name in his sleep, which Anne overhears. Anne's maidservant Petra, an experienced and forthright girl, slightly older than the teen herself, offers her worldly but crass advice.
Desiree Armfeldt, although once prominent, is now a fading flower clinging onto what's left of her past fame. Desiree tours in small, obscure towns with her theatre troupe. Madame Armfeldt, Desiree's mother, has taken over the care of Desiree's daughter Fredrika. Fredrika misses her mother, but Desiree continually delays seeing her, preferring, somewhat ironically, her life on tour ("The Glamorous Life"). As Fredrik and Anne take their seats at Desiree's play, Anne's previous excitement quickly devolves into anxiety, suspicious that Fredrik and Desiree have a romantic history that he never disclosed to her. The play begins and Desiree immediately notices Fredrik in the audience, and the Quintet reveals their shared memories and passionate relationship ("Remember"). Desiree, ironically playing a sexually irresistible countess, exchanges amorous glances with Fredrik and delivers her lines in an overtly suggestive tone, confirming Anne's suspicions as true. Anne, upset and overwhelmed, demands that Fredrik take her home. Meanwhile, Petra tries to seduce a nervous and petulant Henrik.
That night, as Fredrik remembers his past with Desiree, he sneaks out to see her. The two have a happy but strained reunion, reflecting on their new lives. Desiree sarcastically boasts of her own adultery, as she has been seeing the married dragoon, Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm. Following, Fredrik tries to explain how much he loves Anne, fending off Desiree's interjecting quips, but he ultimately reveals his sexual frustration ("You Must Meet My Wife"). Upon learning that Fredrik has gone for eleven months without sex, she agrees to accommodate him as a favor for an old friend.
Madame Armfeldt offers advice to young Fredrika. The elderly woman reflects poignantly on her own checkered past and wonders what happened to prior refined styles of living ("Liaisons"). In Desiree's apartment, Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm proclaims his unannounced arrival in his usual booming tones. Fredrik and Desiree fool the Count with an innocent explanation for their disheveled appearance, but he is still suspicious. He boasts of his many duels and the various wounds he has suffered before demonstrating his skills in knife-throwing. Fredrik responds sarcastically, causing the dragoon to dislike him immediately. Carl-Magnus returns to his wife, Countess Charlotte. Charlotte knows of her husband's infidelity, but Carl-Magnus is too absorbed in his suspicions of Desiree to talk to her ("In Praise of Women"). When she persuades him to blurt out the whole story, a twist is revealed—Charlotte's little sister Marta is a schoolfriend of Anne's.
Charlotte visits Anne and describes Fredrik's tryst with Desiree. Anne is shocked and saddened, but Charlotte explains that such is the lot of a wife, and love brings pain ("Every Day a Little Death"). Meanwhile, Desiree asks Madame Armfeldt to host a party for Fredrik, Anne, and Henrik. Madame Armfeldt reluctantly agrees and sends out a personal invitation; its receipt sends Anne into a frenzy, imagining Desiree further seducing Fredrik at the estate. Anne does not want to accept the invitation, but Charlotte convinces her to do so to heighten the contrast between the older Desiree and the young and beautiful teenager. Charlotte relates this to the Count, who (much to her chagrin) decides to visit the Armfeldts, uninvited, as well. Carl-Magnus plans to challenge Fredrik to a duel, while Charlotte hopes to seduce the lawyer to make her husband jealous and end his philandering. The act ends as all characters head to Madame Armfeldt's estate ("A Weekend in the Country").
Act Two Madame Armfeldt's country estate is bathed in the golden glow of perpetual summer sunset at this high latitude ("Night Waltz One and Two"). Everyone arrives, each with their own amorous purposes and desires—even Petra, who catches the eye of Armfeldt's fetching manservant, Frid. The women begin to quarrel with one another. Fredrik is astonished to learn the name of Desiree's daughter. Henrik meets Fredrika, and confesses to her he deeply loves Anne. Meanwhile, in the garden, Fredrik and Carl-Magnus reflect on the difficulty of being annoyed with Desiree, contrasting her immoral actions with her physical beauty ("It Would Have Been Wonderful"). Dinner is served, and the female Quintet singers comment on the characters’ suspense regarding the coming meal ("Perpetual Anticipation").
At dinner, Charlotte attempts to flirt with Fredrik and trades insults with Desiree. Soon, everyone is shouting and scolding everyone else, except for Henrik, who finally speaks up. He accuses the whole company of being amoral, and flees the scene. Stunned, everyone reflects on the situation and wanders away. Fredrika tells Anne of Henrik's secret love and the two dash off searching for him. Meanwhile, Desiree meets Fredrik and asks if he still wants to be "rescued" from his life. Fredrik answers honestly that he loves Desiree but cannot bring himself to hurt Anne. Regretful and hurt, Desiree can only reflect on the nature of her life and relationship with Fredrik ("Send In the Clowns"). Anne finds Henrik, who is attempting to commit suicide. The clumsy boy cannot complete the task, and Anne tells him she loves him, too. The pair begins to kiss, which leads to Anne's first sexual encounter. Meanwhile, not far away, Frid sleeps in Petra's lap. The maid imagines advantageous marriages but concludes that in the meantime, "a girl ought to celebrate what passes by" ("The Miller's Son"). Charlotte confesses her plan to Fredrik, and both watch Henrik and Anne, happy together, run away to start their new life. The two commiserate on a bench. Carl-Magnus, preparing to sleep with Desiree, sees this and jealously challenges Fredrik to Russian Roulette; Fredrik nervously misfires and merely grazes his own ear. Feeling victorious, Carl-Magnus reaffirms his love for Charlotte, finally granting her wish.
After the Count and Countess leave, Fredrika and Madame Armfeldt discuss the recent chaotic turns of events. The elderly woman asks Fredrika a surprising question: "What is it all for?" Fredrika thinks about this and decides that love, for all of its frustrations, "must be worth it." Madame Armfeldt is surprised, ruefully noting that she rejected love for material wealth at Fredrika's age. She praises her granddaughter and remembers true love's fleeting nature.
Fredrik finally confesses his love for Desiree, acknowledging that Fredrika is his daughter, and the two promise to start a new life together ("Send in the Clowns" (Reprise)). Madame Armfeldt sits alone with Fredrika, who tells her grandmother that she has watched carefully but still has not seen the night smile. Madame Armfeldt laughs and points out that the night has indeed smiled twice: first on Henrik and Anne, the young, and second on Desiree and Fredrik, the fools. As the two wait for the "third smile... on the old", it occurs: Madame Armfeldt closes her eyes and dies peacefully with Fredrika beside her ("Last Waltz").
Musical numbers
Act I Overture – Mr. Lindquist, Mrs. Nordstrom, Mrs. Anderssen, Mr. Erlanson and Mrs. Segstrom (the "Quintet") "Night Waltz" – Company "Now" – Fredrik Egerman "Later" – Henrik Egerman "Soon" – Anne Egerman "Soon/Later/Now" – Anne, Henrik and Fredrik "The Glamorous Life" – Fredrika Armfeldt, Desiree Armfeldt, Madam Armfeldt and Quintet "Remember?" – Quintet "You Must Meet My Wife" – Desiree and Fredrik "Liaisons" – Madam Armfeldt "In Praise of Women" – Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm "Every Day a Little Death" – Countess Charlotte Malcolm and Anne "A Weekend in the Country" – Company
Act II Entr'acte – Orchestra "Night Waltz I (The Sun Won't Set)" – Quintet "Night Waltz II (The Sun Sits Low)" – Quintet "It Would Have Been Wonderful" – Fredrik and Carl-Magnus "Perpetual Anticipation" – Mrs. Nordstrom, Mrs. Segstrom and Mrs. Anderssen "Dinner Table Scene" – Orchestra "Send In the Clowns" – Desiree "The Miller's Son" – Petra "The World Won't End/Every Day a Little Death (reprise)" – Desiree and Charlotte Reprises ("Soon", "You Must Meet My Wife", "A Weekend in the Country" and "Every Day a Little Death") – Quintet "Send in the Clowns" (Reprise) – Desiree and Fredrik "Last Waltz" – Orchestra
Additional musical numbers Stage: "Two Fairy Tales" – Henrik and Anne (cut in rehearsals when the tone of the musical changed) "Silly People" – Frid (cut for time when "The Miller's Son" was added in Boston) "Bang!" – Carl-Magnus (replaced by "In Praise of Women") "My Husband the Pig" – Charlotte (replaced by the second half of "In Praise of Women")
Screen: "Love Takes Time" – Company (lyrics added to Night Waltz) "The Glamorous Life" – Fredrika (solo version; later used combined with the original in the RNT revival) A new introductory verse to "Every Day a Little Death" Additional lyrics for "A Weekend in the Country", including a short section for Mme. Armfeldt
Characters Fredrik Egerman: A successful widowed middle-aged lawyer. He is married to the 18-year-old Anne and has one son, Henrik, from his previous marriage. In the past, he and Desiree were lovers. Bass-Baritone A2–E4"Key information: Fredrik Egerman", stageagent.com