Excerpted from The Toledo Blade, Toledo, Ohio, May 9, 2002

Players’ ‘Night Music’ has ups, downs

By NANCIANN CHERRY
BLADE STAFF WRITER

If the Village Players’ production of A Little Night Music is more like California champagne than Dom Perignon, the Stephen Sondheim musical still produces a heady feeling.

Basically, the story is this: Actress Desiree Armfelt wants to wed a former lover, lawyer Fredrik Egerman, the father of her 13-year-old daughter, Fredrika. Egerman, however, has wed the 18-year-old Anne, who is afraid to consummate the marriage. Egerman’s young son, Henrik, who is studying for the ministry and still sees life in shades of black and white, is in love with Anne. But he believes that love to be a sin, because Anne is his stepmother (even though she’s younger than he is).

Then there’s the problem of Desiree’s lover, Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm, a very jealous dragoon with an equally jealous wife, Charlotte.

The entire situation comes to a head at the estate of Desiree’s mother, Madame Armfeldt, a woman who made a highly rewarding career out of being a courtesan.

Sondheim based his play on Smiles of a Summer Night, Ingmar Bergman’s 1955 comedy. Like Bergman’s work, A Little Night Music is funny and bittersweet all at the same time, and the Village Players’ cast has no problem making those emotions come through.

The problem is, unfortunately, with the music. Except for Dana Pilrose’s spine-tingling version of "Send in the Clowns," the singing ranged from painful to quite pleasant. On the bright side, it got better as the play progressed.

The cast, headed by Pilrose as Desiree and Steve Horowotiz as Fredrik Egerman, is wonderfully suited for the tale of mismatched lovers. Especially notable were Jean Mills as the ascerbic Madame Armfeldt and Thereasa Rinderknecht as the lusty maid, Petra. Her song, "The Miller’s Son," was another show stopper. Jake Gordy plays Henrik Egerman.

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"A Little Night Music" continues at 8 p.m. today-Saturday and May 16-18 and 2 p.m. Sunday in the Village Players theater, 2740 Upton Ave. Tickets are $12 for students and seniors and $14 for the general public. Information: 419-472-6817.

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