Seven Oaks Magazine.

It would have been difficult for the Vancouver Playhouse to have followed up their season-opener – the intensely personal and political Syringa Tree – with a greater shift of gears than that represented by A Little Night Music. Where Syringa was a one-woman, minimalist meditation on a site of great political trauma, A Little Night Music is self-consciously lavish and light; a bawdy, bougie Stephen Sondheim musical with a massive cast and orchestra. Don’t let the fact that the play is billed as being “suggested by a film by Ingmar Bergman” fool you – this is less Scandinavian angst, more escapism, with some of Vancouver’s finest stage actors singing their hearts out (sometimes on key).

The plot of A Little Night Music centers around the myriad romantic entanglements of its cast of characters: An older man married to a far-too-young bride with whom his puritanically religious son is in love; an aging, voluptuous leading lady involved with an adulterous and pompous Count; a Countess treated shabbily by her husband. The first act is devoted to setting up the intricacies of the story’s various romantic interests; the second – and far more engaging – act transpires over the course of an awkward weekend in the country, where the leading lady’s mother’s home is transformed into a pressure cooker of jealousy, sexual tension and comedies of manners.

Because it is a musical (a genre against which I am admittedly biased, despite my fervent defense of gay marriage rights), the sundry lovers tend to commiserate through song. Unlike many musicals, however, the action between songs is not ignored and is often, in fact, the more compelling part of the play.

Part of that may be because the casting for this production breaks with a fairly longstanding rule around musicals: Generally, it is considered most important that performers can sing, and acting ability comes in at a distant second. Here, that logic seems to be reversed, so that the acting in A Little Night Music is generally far, far better than the singing. Whether or not the trade off is worth it is another question.

Nevertheless, there are some truly wonderful and compelling performances here: Nora McClellan is excellent as Desiree Armfeldt, the leading lady who hosts her rival lovers in her mother’s home. Bard on the Beach veteran Jennifer Lines plays Petra, the sexpot housemaid, and anyone who has seen Lines perform knows that there is no one better suited to this incredibly seductive role (I’m pretty sure I wasn’t supposed to be aroused during Merchant of Venice; this time, I didn’t feel so guilty). Lines’s immense talent and extraordinary beauty have long since made her one of the best excuses to go see live theatre in Vancouver. Another good sign for theatre in the city is that the cast for this production includes three graduates of local theatre programs at Langara’s Studio 58, Capilano College and the University of British Columbia.

By far Night Music’s best performance, though, was turned in by the magnificent David Marr. Marr’s enormous comic charisma is balanced pitch perfectly (just like his singing, I’m happy to say) as he steals each and every scene he’s in. Though stilted singing and sometimes-shaky opening night performances by the other cast members often threatened to slow the action down, Marr’s flawless acting and intensely enjoyable stage presence always brought the energy back up. As we already know from his nine seasons doing Shakespeare at Vanier Park, Marr is a treasure.

A Little Night Music is a lot of fun; a light, pleasant night out over the holidays that’s sexy enough to make for a wonderful date, but not so steamy that I felt uncomfortable watching it with my Aunt. And with the prospect of the homophobic Stephen Harper’s political ascendance looming on the horizon, now might be a good time to stock up on musical theatre.