Broadway Marquee: A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC with Catherine Zeta-Jones and Angela Lansbury

The Walter Kerr Theatre, 219 West 48th Street and the marquee for the first-ever revival of "A Little Night Music" which begins preview performance tonight.

From Playbill.com:

Catherine Zeta-Jones and Angela Lansbury head the cast of the new Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler's A Little Night Music— the waltz-filled rumination on love — starting Nov. 24.

Trevor Nunn directs the first-ever Broadway revival of the acclaimed 1973 musical, suggested by the Ingmar Bergman film "Smiles of a Summer Night." Inspired by Nunn's recent London production, the Broadway transfer officially opens Dec. 13.

Zeta-Jones is making her Broadway debut in the role of Swedish actress Desirée Armfeldt opposite Lansbury as her wise mother Madame Armfeldt.

Olivier Award nominee Alexander Hanson, who played the role of Fredrik Egerman in the Nunn-directed production of Night Music at London's Menier Chocolate Factory and in the West End, re-creates his work for New York audiences.

The cast features Aaron Lazar (Les Misérables) as Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm, Erin Davie (Grey Gardens) as Countess Charlotte Malcolm, Leigh Ann Larkin (Gypsy) as Petra, Hunter Ryan Herdlicka as Henrik Egerman and Ramona Mallory (The Fantasticks) as Anne Egerman, with Stephen R. Buntrock, Bradley Dean, Katherine Leigh Doherty, Marissa McGowan, Betsy Morgan, Jayne Paterson, Kevin David Thomas, Keaton Whittaker, Karen Murphy, Erin Stewart and Kevin Vortmann.

A Little Night Music, according to press notes, "is set in a weekend country house in turn of the century Sweden, bringing together surprising liaisons, long simmering passions and a taste of love's endless possibilities. Hailed as witty and wildly romantic, the story centers on the elegant actress Desirée Armfeldt and the spider's web of sensuality, intrigue and desire that surrounds her."

The creative team includes Lynne Page (choreography), Caroline Humphris (musical supervision), David Farley (set and costume design), Hartley T A Kemp (lighting design), Dan Moses Shreier and Gareth Owen (sound design), Paul Huntley (wig design), Jason Carr (orchestrations) and Tom Murray (musical direction).

A Little Night Music — featuring a score by Sondheim and a book by Wheeler — originally opened at Broadway's Shubert Theatre on Feb. 25, 1973, 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 five 1973 Tony Awards, including one for Best Musical. The Sondheim score features the composer's best-known tune, "Send in the Clowns," as well as "Every Day a Little Death," "The Miller's Son" and "A Weekend in the Country."

Nunn's production debuted to critical acclaim at London's Menier Chocolate Factory in November 2008 and subsequently transferred to the West End where it played a limited engagement through July 25, 2009, at the Garrick Theatre.

The Night Music revival is produced on Broadway by Tom Viertel, Steven Baruch, Marc Routh, Richard Frankel, the Menier Chocolate Factory, Roger Berlind, David Babani, Andrew Fell and Sonia Friedman Productions.

Zeta-Jones won an Academy Award for her performance in "Chicago" and has appeared in "Traffic," "High Fidelity" "The Mask of Zorro" and "Entrapment." Lansbury won Tony Awards for her work in Blithe Spirit, Mame, Dear World, Gypsy and Sweeney Todd. She was also nominated for Deuce.

ANGELA LANSBURY and MARIAN SELDES in "DEUCE"

"Few stars can make a banquet out of table scraps as Ms. Lansbury does." - The New York Times

Without even knowing what DEUCE really meant, I went to see this new play at the Music Box Theatre last night. We got great orchestra seats through TKTS, which I think is a good way to get 50% off tickets especially on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. In this play by four-time Tony winner Terrence McNally and directed by two-time Tony winner Michael Blakemore, ANGELA LANSBURY and MARIAN SELDES star as retired doubles tennis legends reunited at a championship match. The two former athletes try to make sense of the partnership that took them to the top of their game. It was such a joy to see the two actresses who are considered theatre royalty in a play that is so simple yet persuasive and funny. The show is not about tennis, but more about life - getting old, relationships, zest for life, and coming to terms with one’s life. Angela Lansbury received another Tony Award nomination for her performance.

Here is what the critics say:
For the ASSOCIATED PRESS, Michael Kuchwara wrote "-Terrence McNally's "Deuce" is a wisp of a play, more a conversation between two old friends than a full evening of theater. But if you are going to listen to two people talk, it helps to have the chatter delivered by the heavenly Angela Lansbury and the equally celestial Marian Seldes."
For VARIETY, David Rooney writes that "It's standard-issue benevolence, with both theater critics and fans, to describe thesps who continue working long after they receive their AARP cards with terms like "national treasure" or "theater royalty," or with adjectives such as "cherished" or "beloved." Cliche or not, that language is unavoidable when confronted with the redoubtable team of Angela Lansbury and Marian Seldes, bringing their wit, wisdom and ineffable class to Terrence McNally's slender trifle, "Deuce." The comedy began life as a playlet written for a benefit and, even as a 95-minute one-act, shows its stretch marks. But anyone with a deep affection for the theater won't want to miss these rare birds bantering."
For NEWSDAY, Linda Winer writes that ""Deuce," which opened Sunday night at the Music Box, is not nearly the disaster howled about for weeks by the Internet chatterers. What it is, alas, is dull. There are definite pleasures in watching these beloved actresses trying to persuade us -- and themselves? -- to be fascinated and touched by the reunion of two aging tennis champions being honored at the U.S. Open.But it would be patronizing to these formidable women to pretend they don't seem wedged into a vehicle too flimsy for their muscle."
Clive Barnes in the NEW YORK POST writes that "It's a short but long haul - no intermission, so no one's inclined to leave - and Lansbury and Seldes go at it with such endearing professionalism and wondrous skill, that their mighty efforts to make a house not just without bricks but even without straw are truly admirable."
Elysa Gardner in USA TODAY writes that "Watching the leading ladies try to breathe life and wit into these near-caricatures, you're torn between marveling at the actresses' transcendent grace and wondering what led them — particularly the long-absent Lansbury — to take on this project. Perhaps they expected more from McNally, a prolific and generally endearing writer; in that case, many theatergoers will surely empathize."
Ben Brantley writes in the NEW YORK TIMES that "Though she rarely moves from her chair in “Deuce,” she still makes you believe Leona pulses with a defiant élan vital that only death could still. You know what Midge means when she says of Leona, “She doesn’t look, she devours.” When an actress, no matter her age, convincingly conveys that appetite for life, an audience repays her with similarly voracious attention. Few stars can make a banquet out of table scraps as Ms. Lansbury does."