The Menier Chocolate Factory’s sell out production of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s A Little Night Music is to transfer to the West End for a strictly limited run. Trevor Nunn’s critically acclaimed production will transfer to the Garrick Theatre from 28 March, with press night on Tuesday 7 April and is booking until 25 July 2009. A Little Night Music is produced in the West End by David Babani for Chocolate Factory Productions, Andrew Fell and Nica Burns and Max Weitzenhoffer for Nimax Theatres.
Led by a cast including Hannah Waddingham as Desiree, Maureen Lipman as Madame Armfeldt, Alexander Hanson as Fredrik, Kelly Price as Countess Charlotte Malcolm and Jessie Buckley as Anne Egerman, Trevor Nunn’s production of A Little Night Music has musical supervision by Caroline Humphris, set and costume design by David Farley, choreography by Lynne Page, orchestrations by Jason Carr, with lighting by Hartley T A Kemp and sound by Gareth Owen.
The West End cast will include John Addison (Mr Erlanson), Laura Armstrong (Mrs Anderssen), Jessie Buckley (Anne Egerman), Lynden Edwards (Mr Lindquist), Kaisa Hammarlund (Petra), Alexander Hanson (Fredrik Egerman), Maureen Lipman (Madame Armfeldt), Kelly Price (Countess Charlotte Malcolm), Alistair Robins (Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm), Nicola Sloane (Mrs Segstrom), Gabriel Vick (Henrik Egerman) and Hannah Waddingham (Desiree Armfeldt). Holly Hallam and Grace Link will alternate the role of Fredrika Armfeldt.
Based on Ingmar Bergman's film Smiles of a Summer Night, A Little Night Music is set in turn-of-the-century Sweden where affairs of the heart are uppermost in everyone's thoughts. Hailed as a stylish celebration of romantic love and a fairy tale for adults, this production is directed by Trevor Nunn, who is making his Sondheim debut. Send in the clowns....
Hannah Waddingham’s theatre credits include The Lady of the Lake in Monty Python’s Spamalot both in the West End and on Broadway as well as Lautrec at the Shaftesbury Theatre, The Beautiful Game at the Cambridge Theatre, Tonight’s The Night at the Victoria Palace Theatre, A Chorus of Disapproval for Theatr Clwyd, Bad Girls the Musical for West Yorkshire Playhouse, Smokey Joe’s Café on tour in the UK and The Likes of Us for the Sydmonton Festival. Her television credits include My Hero, William and Mary, Coupling and Fooballers’ Wives. Her film credits include How to Lose Friends and Alienate People, The Only Boy for Me and Note.
Maureen Lipman began her career in Laurence Olivier’s Company at the Old Vic. Her many West End credits include Candida, See How They Run, Lost in Yonkers, The Sisters Rosensweig, Wonderful Town, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Oklahoma!, Peggy For You and Glorious, as well as her one woman shows Re: Joyce and Live and Kicking. She most recently played Charlotta in The Cherry Orchard for Chichester Festival Theatre. Her extensive television work includes plays by Alan Bennett, Alan Ayckbourn, Alan Plater and Jack Rosenthal. She can currently be seen on ITV’s Ladies of Letters with Anne Reid – her first comedy series since Agony, Agony Again and All at No 20. Her film credits include The Pianist and Educating Rita. In 2006 Maureen Lipman directed her late husband’s autobiography, Jack Rosenthal’s Last Act, adapted by their daughter Amy Rosenthal, for BBC Radio 4. Maureen Lipman was made a CBE in 2000.
Alexander Hanson has been nominated for an Olivier Award for his recent performance as Otto in Marguerite at the Theatre Royal Haymarket. His many music theatre credits include Captain Georg von Trapp in The Sound of Music at the London Palladium, We Will Rock You at the Dominion Theatre, Enter the Guardsman for the Donmar Warehouse, Sunset Boulevard at the Adelphi and Candide for the National Theatre. His other theatre credits include Copenhagen, Troilus and Cressida and The Merchant of Venice all for the National Theatre, Talking to Terrorists for the Royal Court, Arcadia at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, Cracked and The Memory of Water for Hampstead Theatre and Hay Fever, Translations and Robert and Elizabeth all for Chichester Festival Theatre. His film and television credits include Party Animals, The Last Detective II, Rosemary and Thyme and Heartbeat.
Kelly Price’s theatre credits include Roxie Hart in Chicago at the Cambridge Theatre, Roberta Glass in Desperately Seeking Susan at the Novello Theatre, Little Voice in The Rise and Fall of Little Voice for the Watermill Theatre, Sarah Brown in Guys and Dolls at the Piccadilly Theatre and Lisa and Sophie in Mamma Mia! at the Prince of Wales Theatre). Her television and film credits include A Bunch of Amateurs, Massive, The Applicants and Kombat Opera.
Jessie Buckley, who made her professional debut as Anne in A Little Night Music, came to prominence as the runner-up in Andrew Lloyd Webber and the BBC’s I’d Do Anything. Since then she has performed in various concerts across the UK and Ireland, most recently Lloyd Webber’s birthday tribute concert in Hyde Park.
A Little Night Music - featuring a score by Stephen Sondheim and a book by Hugh Wheeler - originally opened in 1973 at Broadway's Shubert Theatre with a cast that included Glynis Johns as Desiree, Len Cariou as Fredrik and Hermione Gingold as Madame Armfeldt. The show, directed by Harold Prince, garnered six Tony Awards, including one for Best Musical. The Sondheim score features one of the composer's best-known tunes, Send in the Clowns, as well as Every Day a Little Death, The Miller's Son and A Weekend in the Country.
Under the direction of Artistic Director David Babani, since it opened in 2004, six Menier Chocolate Factory productions have transferred to the West End - Fully Committed, Sunday in the Park with George, Little Shop of Horrors, Dealer’s Choice and, most recently, Maria Friedman Re-Arranged and La Cage aux Folles, which is currently playing at the Playhouse Theatre.