| "Smiles of a Summer Night" / "A Little Night Music" -- Even Bigger Differences | |
| Posted by: Whistler 06:24 pm EDT 06/20/20 | |
| In reply to: re: Adaptations -- what are the Differences between the musical and film - AlanScott 08:43 am EDT 06/20/20 | |
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| The characters in the musical and the film often seem like different takes on the same people. Fredrik in the film is about 40 and a fox. In the musical he’s often played in his 50s, to match Desiree, and he’s something of a muddle-head. Desiree in the film is 32 and at the height of her career – not 50 and at the dribbling end of it. She also never gets flustered in the film. She’s smart, clever, in control, and amused. Madam Armfeldt in the film is more innocent, approachable, and still enjoying life. In the musical, she seems more jaded, controlling and an entitled grande dame. But they do share some of the same wisdom. Anne – especially in the 1990 version though I don’t remember this as much in the original Broadway production – seems stupid. And she’s mean to Henrik. In the film, she’s a young, innocent, romantic girl, who doesn’t really understand what’s going one between her and Henrik. In the musical, you wonder what the hell he sees in her. Henrik is less depressing in the film. He’s just confused. And Fredrik has a real affection for him. He tries to give good fatherly advice and genuinely wants his son to succeed. The Count is stupid in slightly different ways. Hugely, he never risks his career when he makes sure the gun isn’t loaded. He just wants to put Fredrik in his place. Charlotte has more fun in the film. And she never goes out of control and embarrasses herself, her husband, and everyone else as she does in the drawing room scene of the musical. Like Desiree, she always knows just what she’s doing. Petra is an equal character in the film, not just a servant with a great song. Frid is also a major character, a match for smart, sexy Petra, and he explains the smiles of the summer night. He doesn’t roll and carry Madam Armfeldt around. Most important, the plotting in the musical is messed up because of the age shift for Fredrik and Desiree. He’s celibate for 14 years in the musical – the time it takes Fredrika to grow up and the 11 months he’s married to Anne. So after 13 years, what would another 11 months of celibacy matter? In the film, his wife dies, he soon has an affair with Desiree, she relatively shortly breaks it off because he’s not ready to commit, he’s depressed, Anne – at 16 – notices, and romantically offers to marry him to cheer him up – because she thinks he’s still mourning his wife’s death. It’s less believable that he’d be mourning his wife’s death 13 years later as he is in the musical. Also, in the film, Desiree is immediately interested in Fredrik when he returns. She shows himself naked to him in her dressing room and playfully pushes him into the puddle in front of her house to get him out of his clothes. Also, her maid gives him back his seemingly dried clothes, so he doesn’t humiliate himself walking through the streets in a nightshirt. And there’s no reason for Madam Armfeldt to die at the end of the musical. She doesn’t in the film, and that’s not what the third smile of the summer night is about. But, as Bergman said, “Different ways of telling the same story.” |
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| Previous: | re: Adaptations -- what are the Differences between the musical and film - AlanScott 08:43 am EDT 06/20/20 |
| Next: | re: "Smiles of a Summer Night" / "A Little Night Music" -- Even Bigger Differences - Delvino 09:55 pm EDT 06/22/20 |
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