Coming to us as a production of the Orlando-UCF Shakespeare Festival is the Stephen Sondheim musical A Little Night Music. Fans of classical music might immediately think of the Mozart serenade "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik". You know that melody - it has been used in cartoons and cartoon commercials for years. Broadway fans might immediately respond to the name Sondheim, following his other plays such as Into the Woods and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. However, you'd be a little off if you were to make either of those assumptions.
The original musical, first premiered in 1973, is based on the Ingmar Bergman film Smiles of a Summer Night. The plot consists of a convoluted series of adulterous affairs and other infidelity-related zaniness, all leading up to an unfaithful husband and his wife and their friends spending a sexually charged weekend in a country estate. There are a couple of notable and unique features of this show, as well. There is a singing quintet the opens the performance reappears again and again through the story, serving as narrators comparable to a Greek choir. The most interesting feature of this show may be that all of the songs are in 3/4 time. For the lesser musically inclined, think of a famliar waltz or a German "oom-pah- pah" song and dance. According to Moonstruck Drama Bookstore's site, Sondheim has said that he wrote the songs in this less common meter to create the feel of a continuous waltz throughout the storyline. So if you think this musical is just another infidelity comedy, you'd be incorrrect.
The Orlando-UCF Shakespeare Festival grew out of the UCF Theatre's vision to creat a professional, classical theatre in the area. This idea began in 1987 and grew into the Orlando-UCF Shakespeare Festival in 1989. This partnership with the community has created one of the most renowned theatre programs in the Central Florida area as well as opportunities for theatre students for internships, independent studies and professional seminars. The Orlando-UCF Shakespeare Festival also provides K-12 educational programs and summer theatre programs for secondary school students in the Central Florida area. The Orlando-UCF Shakespeare festival is an integral party of the Orlando Fringe Festival - our Fringe being the first of its kind in the United States.
The show will be playing at the Lowndes Shakespeare Theatre on Rollins Avenue in Loch Haven Park. Showtimes are on Wednesdays and Thursdays
at 7pm, Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm, and Sundays at 2pm and 7pm starting Wednesday and running until Sunday, Oct. 10. Admission ranges
from $13-$18.