Cast for A Little Night Music revival at Leeds Playhouse announced
© Sharron Wallace
Casting has been confirmed for the return of Opera North's A Little Night Music, which runs at Leeds Playhouse once more this summer, after first appearing last June.
Returning to the show will be Sandra Piques Eddy (Desiree Armfeldt), Quirijn de Lang (Frederik Egerman), Corinne Cowling (Anne Egerman), Sam Marston (Henrik Egerman), Josephine Barstow (Madam Armfeldt (for all performances excluding the evening performances on 9 and 13 July, with the role played by Fiona Kimm on those dates)), Amy J Payne (Petra), Malcolm Christopher Nairne (Count Carl-Magnus), Helen Évora (Countess Charlotte Malcolm) and Agatha Meehan and Lucy Sherman (both sharing the role of Frederika Armfeldt).
Also appearing are Gillene Butterfield (Mrs Nordstrom), Amy Freston (Mrs Segstrom), Claire Pascoe (Mrs Anderssen ), Dean Robinson (Mr Lindquist), Tim Ochala-Greenough (Mr Erlanson), Ivan Sharpe (Frid), Warren Gillespie (Bertrand), Kathryn Stevens (Osa) and Sarah Blood (Malla).
De Lang commented today: "Relationships are messy, but that's what makes us human, and Sondheim is a genius at putting that onto the stage."
Director James Brining, who is also set to helm a new revival of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at the venue and on tour, will once more stage the show, with a creative team also set to feature conductors James Holmes and Oliver Rundell, set and costume designer Madeleine Boyd, lighting designer Chris Davey, choreographer Lucy Hind and sound designer Sebastian Frost.
Featuring the much-loved numbers "Send in the Clowns", "It Would Have Been Wonderful" and "Every Day a Little Death", the show was first seen on Broadway in 1973 with a West End premiere two years later.
The piece, which has music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by Hugh Wheeler and original orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick, is inspired by the Ingmar Bergman film Smiles of a Summer Night and involves the romantic lives of several couples.
A famous 1996 National Theatre revival starred Judi Dench (Desiree), Siân Phillips (Madame Armfeldt), Joanna Riding (Anne Egerman), Laurence Guittard (Fredrik Egerman), Patricia Hodge (Countess Charlotte) and Issy van Randwyck (Petra).
