THEATER REVIEWS : A Little ‘Night’ Magic Doesn’t Do the Trick

Stephen Sondheim’s “A Little Night Music” seems an odd choice for the premiere production of the new Musical Theatre Company, currently at the Gem Theatre.

It isn’t an easy piece of musical theater, full as it is of potholes for the unwary. The fact, according to a program note, that it’s a longtime favorite of producer-director George Quick, and that the role of Desiree Armfeldt is a favorite of lead Beth Hansen, isn’t enough.

The story, based on Ingmar Bergman’s film “Smiles of a Summer Night,” is a tangled web of loves lost and found, romances lasting and brief and, probably most important, finding one’s place in the world’s oldest game.

What Quick has not found in his sluggish staging is the magic.

The setting is Sweden at the turn of the century, seen through an antique mirror, the passions as fervent as the twirling skirts, the humor as sly as a winking star. There is an aura in the air, a zephyr of perfume, the faraway ripple of a young woman’s laughter, the clop of horses’ hoofs.

But with a few exceptions, everything here is dishearteningly down-to-earth.

Even some very good performances have not been brought into this special and individual world. Doug Carfrae’s Fredrik Egerman, the aging lawyer married to a teen-age bride but still dreaming of Desiree, is a solid, thoughtful and interesting performance, and he has the firmest grasp of the special quality of Sondheim’s songs.

Fredrika, Desiree’s daughter, is played by Kate Staiger with a marvelous control and humor, wise beyond her years yet young enough to be amused by it all. Jo Black-Jacob is a fine, starchy grandmother, Madame Armfeldt, reminiscences swirling around her heart like summer breezes.

Melissa Rain Anderson as the young wife is a delight, giddy and pretty and proud. Petra, the servant who tries to educate Egerman’s seminarian son, Henrik, in the ways of love, is given the slightly ribald but ultimately gentle shading the role deserves by Karen Angela.

*

As the libidinously backward, fervently moralistic Henrik, Chris D. Thomas is a bit too rigid for the humor usually found in the role but has a fine underlying sense of the rake he wants to be. And Patti McClure’s bitchy Countess couldn’t be more right.

It’s just that the world Quick has given them to live in is not in focus. Nor is his Desiree. The character is supposed to be the premiere serious actress in the Sweden of her day--grand, elegant and romantic. But Hansen doesn’t give her Desiree the authority, the sweeping personality or the stature she deserves.

This Desiree is no more than a music-hall trouper. If her rendition of the heart-wrenching “Send in the Clowns” brings a tear to the eye, it is, after all, a win-win number. And Egerman’s Act II paean to his rediscovery of Desiree contains some unfortunate lyrics that may cause a slight giggle in the audience.

There is one odd piece of casting: Mark Wickham as the egocentric, pseudo-macho, unconsciously comic Count Carl-Magnus. Vocally, he seems uncomfortable in his efforts, and although he is referred to as a tin soldier, he needn’t walk like one, nor overact so blatantly.

Whatever is left of the Bergman/Sondheim magic he erases, as does Susan Errickson’s choreography.

“Clowns” retains its legerdemain, as does the Countess’ and Anne’s “Every Day a Little Death” and, gratefully, Karen Angela’s spirited, randy “The Miller’s Son,” which Petra sings lovingly to Madame’s butler Frid (Jared Slater).

But these few moments do not transform a very long evening.

* “A Little Night Music,” Gem Theatre, 12851 Garden Grove Blvd., Garden Grove. Thursday-Saturday, 8 p.m., Sunday, 2 p.m. Ends April 10. $18-$24. (714) 668-9284. Running time: 3 hours, 30 minutes. Beth Hansen: Desiree Armfeldt

Doug Carfrae: Fredrik Egerman

Jo Black-Jacob: Madame Armfeldt

Kate Staiger: Fredrika Armfeldt

Melissa Rain Anderson: Anne Egerman

Chris D. Thomas: Henrik Egerman

Karen Angela: Petra

Patti McClure: Countess Charlotte

Mark Wickham: Count Carl-Magnus

Jared Slater: Frid

A Music Theatre Company production of the musical by Stephen Sondheim, book by Hugh Wheeler, based on the Ingmar Bergman film “Smiles of a Summer Night.” Direction/musical direction by George Quick. Choreography: Susan Errickson. Set/lighting design: Robert Smith. Costume design: Cristan Jonas. Stage manager: Nancy Staiger.