A Take on Sondheim's Scandinavian Operetta Falls Flat
When A Little Night Music premiered on Broadway in 1973, it took Sondheim fans by surprise. The composer-lyricist was famous as an acerbic observer of contemporary life; this show's period setting " turn-of-the-century Sweden " seemed out of his comfort zone. So did the unabashedly sentimental plot: the story of an aging actress, Desiree Armfeldt, and her complicated love life. Yet Night Music was one of Sondheim's s…