Any production of A Little Night Music promises dazzlement and wit from Desiree Armfeldt, that flighty touring actress juggling two lovers, and droll bon mots from her ex-courtesan mother. At Maine’s venerable Ogunquit Playhouse, Broadway diva Julia Murney (Wicked) and Hollywood legend Kathleen Turner (Body Heat), respectively, deliver big time in those roles. But the real star turns out to be Broadway veteran-turned-director Hunter Foster, who has found the key to Hugh Wheeler’s libretto – adapted from Ingmar Bergman’s Smiles of a Summer Night – in a permeating sexuality that in most incarnations is merely talked about, but here is deeply felt. The engine of this revival isn’t 3/4 time. It’s body heat.
There is an authentic erotic past that radiates from Murney and old flame Fredrik Egerman (Mike McGowan). His shy proposal of an old-time’s-sake tumble in the sheets is no cute plot device, but an expression of genuine need. The very same need, in fact, torments son Hendrik (Steven Telsey), the young seminarian hopelessly desiring stepmother Anne (Lauren Maria Medina), flirtatious but clearly panting for a chance to break free. The aching of both, and the release when they find each other amidst the birch trees, is for once palpable. Ordinarily, I find it’s only the free-spirited Petra (Gianna Yanelli) in whose libido you can believe. Here it’s everyone’s, rooting Stephen Sondheim’s magnificently romantic score in the sensual ebb and flow of real life.
Foster’s passion-forward approach results in unexpected characterization dividends. Lora Lee Gayer’s Countess Charlotte is so paralyzed by the crude inattention of husband Carl-Magnus (Nik Walker) that she’s become a not-so-secret drinker, à la the title character of The Drowsy Chaperone. Her dragoon is her perfect obstacle, preening and strutting with utter sang froid and not a moment of self-doubt. The confrontations between Gayer’s unstoppable force and Walker’s immovable object yield more hilarity, and more heartbreak (I mean it), than I’ve ever seen in these roles.
None of it is vulgar, mind you. The staging and playing are executed in the same impeccable taste as Riw Rakkulchon’s décor, redolent of 19th century theatricality in every drop and set piece. It’s just that you’re always made aware that what lies beneath Hunter Kaczorowski’s lavish costumes isn’t just bustles and undershirts; all the spicy chat isn’t just period-acting affectation. Even the famous narrating quintet gets into the act, portrayed as house servants who really know whereof they “Remember” in that classic five-part musical sashay down sexual Memory Lane.
The musical elements on opening night were less accomplished than the others. Though the company is in fine voice, Jonathan Tunick’s orchestrations – reduced to nine-pieces, under Jeffrey Campos’ direction – sounded thin and tinny. And there was a good deal of unwanted reverb from those executing Daniel Lundberg’s sound design. I expect all of that has improved or will over time. But I was willing to accept a measure of first-night aural roughness given the exquisite care with which this favorite musical is otherwise packaged.
And then of course, there is Turner, whose work in the ’80s amounted to a cultural touchstone of sensuality, from Body Heat and Crimes of Passion to the sultry Jessica Rabbit. No one carries with her more appropriate associations as the doyenne of a weekend of horny houseguests. And no wheelchair can diminish the authentic recollections of one who’s been there and knows the follies of it all. She nails “Liaisons” like the pro she is, and like the queen of love Mme. Armfeldt once was.
A Little Night Music opened July 20, 2024, at the Ogunquit Playhouse (Ogunquit, Maine) and runs through August 17. Tickets and information: ogunquitplayhouse.org
