| My opinion differs. I first saw the show when I was in high school and I didn't quite get it; the whole idea of regret for one's choices in love went right over my head. I have since come to esteem it over Company and Follies, though I don't think Hal Prince's direction of it was as strong as his staging of those other shows. I value storytelling above everything else, and I find Night Music a brilliantly crafted show in that regard. The opening sequence, from the trio through The Glamorous Life, is a superb piece of musical theatre storytelling. And A Weekend in the Country is a terrific Act I finale, possibly my favorite Sondheim number of all (Susan Stroman's staging of it for the video version is top notch). I should add that I never got the brilliance of Send in the Clowns till I saw Judi Dench do it, no insult to Johns intended. i fortunately got to meet D. Jamin Bartlett, whose version of The Miller's Son is indelibly imprinted on my memory. |
