In 2021, the Royal Conservatory of Music had a roaring success with Stephen Sondheim’s Follies in Live performance. Using the wave of that triumph comes Sondheim’s A Little Evening Music in Live performance, showcasing the various abilities of Cynthia Dale and Eric McCormack (who have been additionally the celebs of Follies).

The present opens at Koerner Corridor on Friday (Might 26), however be warned. Friday and Sunday are virtually bought out, so your greatest guess for a ticket are the 2 Saturday performances.

A Little Evening Music premiered on Broadway in 1973, with music and lyrics by Sondheim and e book by Hugh Wheeler. The musical was impressed by the 1955 Ingmar Bergman movie Smiles of a Summer time Evening. Nominated for a whopping 12 Tony Awards, the manufacturing received six, together with Greatest Musical. The plot offers with a weekend within the nation and numerous romantic entanglements.

Through the years, the present has grow to be the darling of each musical theatre and opera firms. It has actually by no means been off the stage, and by that, I imply worldwide. The musical was even made right into a 1977 movie starring Elizabeth Taylor.

Stage director Richard Ouzounian, who additionally helmed Follies, is arguably considered one of Canada’s most educated gurus on each musical theatre and Sondheim. The large shock is David Briskin as music director. Ballet aficionados will know Briskin because the esteemed conductor of the Nationwide Ballet.

Each males joined me for a full of life Zoom dialog about Sondheim and A Little Evening Music. I talked to Ouzounian first, with Briskin becoming a member of me later, and I found that they’re as excited in regards to the present as any Sondheim aficionado.

Richard Ouzounian on Sondheim and A Little Evening Music

I collect that the journey taken by A Little Evening Music is a bit smoother than Follies.

Follies was meant to each rejoice Sondheim’s ninetieth birthday and be a fundraising gala for the RCM. We have been one of many first exhibits to hit the stage after the pandemic, however we might solely have 50% capability. 5 days earlier than we opened, Premier Doug Ford introduced theatres might have full capability. It was not simple promoting 50% of the home in 5 days.

So how did Evening Music come to be?

All of us had such enjoyable doing Follies that Mervon Mehta, the RCM’s govt director of performing arts, requested, What can we do subsequent?

Koerner Corridor has such lovely acoustics that it makes it a beautiful place to listen to a musical rating. The 2 most “orchestra” exhibits of Sondheim are A Little Evening Music and Sweeney Todd. We selected the previous as a result of it requires much less assets by way of singers. It’s a smaller present. When requested, each Cynthia Dale and Eric McCormack instantly mentioned they’d come again.

The present just isn’t billed as a gala this 12 months.

No — it’s a part of the RCM’s common season, with an added fourth present. What’s attention-grabbing is that these performances are a type of celebration as a result of it’s A Little Evening Music’s fiftieth anniversary. It opened in 1973.

How did David Briskin grow to be concerned? I’ve to say I’m actually trying ahead to him conducting Evening Music. For me, he’s anchored within the ballet world.

Paul Sportelli was the music director for Follies, however he’s at present concerned in one other present. David and I’ve been associates for years, so I knew his background. He truly started his conducting profession in summer season inventory, placing on a distinct musical every week. He’s an actual musical theatre junkie.

I perceive you’re utilizing an uncommon model of the present.

It’s the unique orchestration by the good Jonathan Tunick that has six extra strings. Tunick is considered one of Broadway’s greatest arrangers, and with regards to Sondheim, he’s nearly psychic in deciphering the composer. Sondheim trusted him fully.

What has your rehearsal interval been like?

We turned the rehearsal course of on its ear. The stage director doesn’t often sit in on the music rehearsals, however David and I have been each there. The primary week we had one-on-one with every singer individually, the place we’d discuss in regards to the songs and discover interpretations. It was an ideal expertise, exhilarating, even. The singers and I might see David’s respect for Sondheim, and the way completely he knew the present.

Has Evening Music all the time been a favorite of yours?

To inform the reality, no, at the very least not till we began to work on it. When the present first opened, I used to be simply 23. I used to be too younger to understand it.

Isn’t it true that live performance variations often lower the e book half?

Sure. They often embody all of the songs, and simply sufficient textual content to sew the songs collectively. We’re doing the entire present — songs and textual content. We’re even having a easy set of birch bushes designed by Nick Blais and choreography by Robin Calvert.

Sondheim has the popularity of being musically tough.

That’s true. For instance, he has underscores, the place somebody is singing one music, whereas one other music performs beneath. Additionally, the songs are all the time altering that means, and a reprise all the time conveys one thing totally different. For instance, there’s a part of 5 earlier songs which might be sung, not by the unique characters, however by others, which adjustments all the things. There are additionally double and triple rhymes within the lyrics.

I do know that Hugh Wheeler’s e book is far admired.

And the solid is discovering simply what an ideal e book it’s. All of us are. Wheeler was impressed by the Bergman movie, however he made adjustments, so you can say that his e book was “urged” by the movie. Wheeler’s tone is totally different. Within the movie, Madame Armfeldt is only a tiny position, whereas Desirée has a son, and never a daughter. Wheeler has additionally included literary allusions.

Sondheim all the time had nice collaborators. Like Wheeler, they gave him the instruments to create the phrases and music. It’s magical the way in which the e book works with the music. The extra we discover the present, the extra complicated we discover the rating. Always, an entire vary of human feelings are on the centre of the songs.

What’s the magic of Sondheim to you?

It’s the identical as rising into Shakespeare. You may see a Shakespeare play many instances and all the time discover one thing totally different. Sondheim is like that. You like his musicals in a different way, relying on the age you’re. You all the time discover new riches.

Has something influenced your method to A Little Evening Music?

Harold Prince directed the unique Broadway manufacturing, and he informed his solid that he wished to see darkish chocolate displaying via. My coronary heart belongs with Hal Prince.

Davis Briskin on the Music of Stephen Sondheim & A Little Evening Music

What analysis did you do, David, coming again to musical theatre after so a few years?

Discovering out what a composer has to say about his work is necessary. I did plenty of studying on how Sondheim approaches composing, each via his personal essays, and what others have written. I additionally poked round YouTube to see what I might discover on him.

Watching Sondheim in interviews was fascinating. He was often trying into the space and stroking his beard. You would see the wheels handing over his head. These previous interviews have been very illuminating. I imagine that Sondheim may need been on the spectrum — Asperger Syndrome. He liked puzzles and phrase video games, and his vitality stage was a bit an excessive amount of.

As for A Little Evening Music itself, it demanded in depth analysis due to its complexities.

Is Evening Music a favorite of yours?

I’ve all the time liked the present, however I by no means had an opportunity to do it. That’s why this has been a labour of affection. It’s been extra than simply routine. It’s been a undertaking, if you already know what I imply.

What do you suppose you’ve gotten delivered to the present because the music director?

I believe I deliver a broader musical perspective. I educated as a singer myself, and I coached singers for auditions. I’ve performed operas so I do know the voice. After which there’s my data of classical composers like Ravel and Debussy who influenced Sondheim. Most of all, musicals have been an enormous a part of my life, given all of the years I spent in summer season inventory.

How did you method working with these musical theatre actors?

I knew they noticed me because the Nationwide Ballet music director, so I needed to construct belief, and I gained that belief via the work we did collectively. They have been receptive to all of the element and thought I delivered to the rating, based mostly on my analysis. As soon as I had their belief, I might give diction notes, and work on clarifying lyrics.

It’s been nice to be in a room with musical theatre stars once more. In actuality, being music director on this present meant going again to a set of instruments that I hadn’t utilized in years. It’s truly been refreshing — a pleasant change. Engaged on Sondheim is such a pleasure.

What’s on the coronary heart of Sondheim’s music typically?

It’s the richness, in addition to his craft and intelligence. The rating is full of allusions to classical composers, significantly Ravel. I believe that Sondheim wrote twentieth century artwork songs. Not solely that, each single quantity has its personal identification, and his method to rhyme is sensible.

He’d begin with a scene, after which do the lyrics and melody, however actually, his lyrics are a very powerful factor. His songs are all in regards to the textual content, and the connection of rhythm to textual content. His exhibits lie within the textual content. Singers simply must observe the road of the music. It’s all there. They need to simply let the songs carry them — simply be a vessel for the music.

When it comes to the historical past of musical theatre, I imagine that Sondheim is on a parallel street, blazing his personal path.

What in regards to the rating of A Little Evening Music?

Sondheim intentionally wrote all of the music in 3/4 time — waltz time. The assemble of the piece is triangular — comparable to three individuals in a relationship, so their music overlaps, with three tunes becoming collectively like a fugue. This rating is heady stuff.

Evening Music is uncommon as a result of it has 5 singers who perform as a Greek refrain.

In truth, when unique Broadway director Hal Prince first acquired the rating, he mentioned, “What am I going to do with them?” They have been initially referred to as The Quintet, however through the years, they’ve grow to be often known as the Liebeslieder Singers. In regular productions, they’re musical theatre performers. In casting this present, nonetheless, Richard made the choice that they need to all be educated classical voices. He wished an operatic tone for them.

What’s the general form of the orchestra?

You would name it a chamber orchestra or a salon orchestra. There isn’t a rhythm part, and as an alternative of a piano, there’s the celeste.

The place is the orchestra coming from?

It’s the RCM’s Glenn Gould Faculty Orchestra. The varsity is heavy on strings, and so is the rating for A Little Evening Music, so it’s an ideal match. Utilizing the scholars means we don’t must double. In a Broadway orchestra, one participant could be doing the saxophone, clarinet and flute — in different phrases, a variety of woodwinds — however we are able to have devoted gamers.

Richard talked about that you just have been utilizing Jon Tunick’s unique orchestration.

This rating is sort of a level of departure as a result of it marks the expansion of the present by notating when issues have modified, so it’s a fund of background data.

How did the Nationwide Ballet react to you engaged on Evening Music?

They have been excited for me, whereas I’m excited to point out audiences a facet of me nobody is aware of.

Test for tickets [HERE].

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Paula Citron is a Toronto-based freelance arts journalist and broadcaster who hosts her personal web site, paulacitron.ca. For over 25 years, she was senior dance author for The Globe and Mail, affiliate editor of Opera Canada journal, arts reviewer for Classical 96.3 FM, and dance previews contributor to Toronto Life journal. She has been a visitor lecturer for numerous cultural teams and universities, significantly on the position of the critic/reviewer, and has been a panellist on COC podcasts. Earlier than assuming a full-time journalism profession, Ms. Citron was a member of the drama division of the Claude Watson Faculty for the Arts.

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