A Little Night Music - Synopsis
Act One
The setting is Sweden, around the year 1900.
The Liebeslieders—five singers who comment like a Greek chorus during the production—enter one by one in front of the curtain. Gradually, their vocalizing becomes the“Overture”, blending fragments of songs later to be heardand leading into the first "Night Waltz". The characters enter waltzing, each uncomfortable with their particular partner.
After they exit, the aged and wheelchair-bound Madame Armfeldt enters with her solemn granddaughter, Fredrika. Mme Armfeldt tells the child that the summer night "smiles" three times: first on the young, second on fools, and third on the old. Fredrika vows to watch the smiles occur.
Middle aged Fredrik Egerman is a successful lawyer. Previously a widower, he has recently married 18-year-old. Anne still protects her virginity. The two have been married for eleven months, but Fredrik laments his inability to make love to his wife ("Now").
His son Henrik, a year older than his stepmother, is frustrated. He is adivinity student whom the others never take seriously ("Later").
Anne promises her husband that she will soon consent to have sex ("Soon"). Anne's maidservant Petra, an experienced and forthright girl, slightly older than her mistress, offers her worldly but crass advice.
Desiree Armfeldt is an actress reduced to touring in small towns. Mme Armfeldt, who is Desiree's mother, has taken over the care of her daughter Fredrika. Fredrika misses her mother, but Desiree continually puts off going to see her, preferring "The Glamorous Life" (though it clearly isn’t). She is currently performing near Fredrik Egerman’s home, and he takes Anne to the performance. Desiree notices Fredrik in the audience. Theyhad been lovers years before. Anne, suspicious and annoyed at Desiree's playing directly to Fredrik, flees the theatre. Fredrik takes her home.
Fredrik takes a walk and goes to see Desiree. They share a happy but strained reunion, as the Liebeslieders sing "Remember". Fredrik tries to explain how much he loves Anne ("You Must Meet My Wife"). Desiree responds sarcastically, boasting of her own current affair, as she has been seeing the married dragoon Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm. Learning that Fredrik has gone for eleven months without sex, she agrees to accommodate him as a favor for an old friend.
Mme Armfeldt reflects poignantly on her own past, and wonders what happened to her refined "Liaisons".
At Desiree's, Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm proclaims his arrival in his typical booming voice, discovering a dishevelled Desiree and Fredrik. He takes an instant dislike to Fredrik, and though they fool him into more or less believing them innocent, he retains suspicions. The Count returns to his wife, Countess Charlotte. Charlotte is quite aware of her husband's infidelity, but Carl-Magnus is too absorbed in his suspicions of Desiree to talk to her ("In Praise of Women"). When she persuades him to blurt out more of the story, a twist is revealed—Charlotte's younger sister was a school friend of Anne's.
Charlotte visits Anne and describes Fredrik's meeting with Desiree. Anne reacts with horror. Charlotte explains to Anne that such is the lot of a wife, and that marriage brings pain ("Every Day A Little Death").
Meanwhile, Desiree asks Mme Armfeldt to host a party for Fredrik, Anne, and Henrik. Though reluctant, Mme Armfeldt agrees. She sends an invitation. Its receipt sends the women into a frenzy, imagining "A Weekend in the Country": Anne does not want to accept , but Charlotte convinces her to in order to heighten the contrast between herself and an older woman.Meanwhile, Carl-Magnus has plans of his own: as an alleged birthday treat forCharlotte, the pair will attend the Armfeldt party uninvited. Actually, Carl-Magnus plans to challenge Fredrik to a duel, while Charlotte hopes to seduce Fredrik to make her husband jealous and end his philandering.
Act Two
MmeArmfeldt's country estate is bathed in the golden glow of a seemingly perpetual summer sunset at the latitude ("Night Waltz One and Two"). Everyone arrives, each with their own amorous purposes and desires—even Petra, who catches the eye of Mme Armfeldt's manservant, Frid. The women begin to act against each other. Fredrik is astonished to learn that Desiree has named her daughter Fredrika. Henrik meets Fredrika, and confesses to her his love for Anne.
Meanwhile, in the garden, Fredrik and Carl-Magnus reflect on how difficult it is to be annoyed with Desiree, agreeing "It Would Have Been Wonderful" had she not been quite so wonderful. Dinner is served, and the characters' "Perpetual Anticipation" enlivens the meal.
At dinner, Charlotte flirts with Fredrik, while Anne and Desiree trade insults. Soon, everyone is shouting and scolding everyone else, except for Henrik, who finally stands up for himself. He criticises them for their immorality and flees the scene. Stunned, everyone reflects on the situation and wanders away. Fredrika reveals to Anne Henrik's secret love for her, and the two dash off searching for him.
Meanwhile, Desiree meets Fredrik and asks if he still wants to be "rescued" from his life. Fredrik answers honestly that he loves Desiree, but only as a dream. Hurt and bitter, Desiree can only reflect on the nature of her life ("Send in the Clowns").
Anne finds Henrik, who is attempting to commit suicide but too clumsily to complete the task. She tells him that she has feelings for him, too. The pair embrace.
Meanwhile, not far away, Frid sleeps in Petra's lap. The maid thinks of the joy and freedom that she longs for before becoming she is trapped by marriage ("The Miller's Son").
Henrik and Anne run away together. Charlotte confesses her plan to Fredrik, and the two commiserate on a bench. Carl-Magnus, though preparing to hve his way with Desiree, sees them and challenges Fredrik to play Russian roulette. Fredrik's ear is grazed. Victorious, Carl-Magnus begins to make love to Charlotte, granting her wish at last.
After the Count and Countess leave, Mme Armfeldt discusses the chaos of the recent events with Fredrika. The elderly woman asks Fredrika, "What is it all for?" Fredrika decides that it "must be worth it". Mme Armfeldt is surprised, ruefully noting that at Fredrika's ageshe rejected love for material wealth. She praises her granddaughter and remembers true love's fleeting nature.
Fredrik at last confesses his love for and to Desiree and acknowledges that Fredrika is his daughter. The two promise to start a new life together ("Finale").
MmeArmfeldt sits alone with Fredrika. Fredrika tells her grandmother that she has watched carefully, but still has not seen the night smile. Mme Armfeldt laughs and points out that the night has indeed smiled twice: at Henrik and Anne, the young; and at Desiree and Fredrik, the fools. As the two wait for the "third smile",Mme Armfeldt closes her eyes, and dies peacefully.
adapted from Wikipedia and sleeve notes to the original cast recording
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