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A Little Night Music at the Georgetown Palace theatre is a giddy delight. Stephen Sondheim’s elegant fable has the magic of a midsummer night in far northern Sweden. The sun never fully disappears, time is in suspension and the world hums with yearning and expectation. In this gentle world of lovers and fools the story is attractively simple . Sondheim’s music and lyrics lift in subtle fashion the sentimental dilemmas of the cast of vivid, idle upper class characters, transmuting a Feydeau-style farce into something far more touching and poignant. On opening night Palace Artistic Director Mary Ellen Butler reminded us that for this 1973 piece Sondheim and librettist Hugh Wheeler had been inspired by Ingmar Bergman’s 1955 film Smiles of A Summer Night. Bergman attended and appreciated the musical but commented simply, “These are not my characters.” Perhaps that’s just as well, for there's little of Bergman's darkness about this glittering tale. These elegant people are all fools for love, each in his or her fashion. Central to the story are a married pair: Frederik Egerman, a gentleman of middle age and considerable gravitas, and his blonde 18-year-old Anne, a breathless young thing who might more properly be his ward than his wife. Alas for Frederik, his young bride is skittish of the pleasures of the flesh. In their 18 months of marriage she has never admitted him to her bed. Ah, the flesh, its delights and temptations, and the keen edge of time! Love in a summer night “smiles three times,” we hear from the elderly grande dame Mme Armfeldt. A Little Night Music accordingly gives us the innocent intensity of ardent youth, the knowledgeable longing of middle age and the wry wisdom of age. Read more and view images at AustinLiveTheatre.com. . . .
Images of A Little Night Music by Elaine Funk, received directly; now playing at the Georgetown Palace, Fridays - Sundays through March 14: 
In early twentieth-century Sweden, middle-aged Fredrik Egerman brings his 18-year-old bride Anne to a play starring his former mistress, Desirée Armfeldt. Soon, Fredrik and Desirée resume their romance, incurring the wrath of her current lover, a pompous Count. The situation culminates in a weekend at a country estate, with Fredrik, Anne, Desirée and the Count in attendance, as well as Fredrik’s son (who is hopelessly in love with Anne), Desirée’s illegitimate daughter, the Count’s manic-depressive wife and the Egerman’s lusty maid. And there, under the summer night, things are set right.
Read more and see additional images at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .
UPDATE: KOOP's Lisa Schepps interviews director Cliff Butler, leading actors Joe Penrod and Wendy Zavaleta, and musical director Jonathan Borden, February 8Found on-line:The Georgetown Palace Theatre
presentsA Little Night Musica musical
by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler
based on Ingmar Bergman's film
February 19 - March 14
Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m.
Tickets available through the website or by telephone at 512-869-7469
One of Broadway’s most neglected masterpieces, the romantic and achingly beautiful A Little Night Music deals with the universal subject of love, in all its wondrous, humorous and ironic forms.
In early twentieth-century Sweden, middle-aged Fredrik Egerman brings his 18-year-old bride Anne to a play starring his former mistress, Desirée Armfeldt. Soon, Fredrik and Desirée resume their romance, incurring the wrath of her current lover, a pompous Count. The situation culminates in a weekend at a country estate, with Fredrik, Anne, Desirée and the Count in attendance, as well as Fredrik’s son (who is hopelessly in love with Anne), Desirée’s illegitimate daughter, the Count’s manic-depressive wife and the Egerman’s lusty maid. And there, under the summer night, things are set right.
General admission: $22 Seniors(55+): $20 Student(16+)/Active Duty Military (with ID): $12
Children(15 or younger): $8
