The Royal Conservatory is thrilled to add a very special run of A Little Night Music to close its 2022-23 concert season. Winner of four Tony Awards, this popular musical by Stephen Sondheim will be presented in concert for three performances on May 26-28, 2023 in Koerner Hall.
After a tremendously successful production of Sondheim’s Follies in concert in 2021, Cynthia Dale and Eric McCormack, as well as director Richard Ouzounian, return to Koerner Hall, this time with Music Director David Briskin conducting a full Broadway-sized orchestra – the majority of whom are artists from The Glenn Gould School.
One of Canada's most acclaimed performers, Cynthia Dale, a true and veritable ‘triple sensation’ who has garnered rave reviews as an award-winning actor, singer, and dancer onstage and on screen, appears in the role of Desiree Armfeldt. Playing Frederik Egerman is actor Eric McCormack, best known for his roles in Will & Grace, Travelers, and Perception, as well as in The Music Man on Broadway.
Theatre critic, director, writer, and lyricist, Richard Ouzounian has been artistic director of five Canadian theatres, including Toronto’s Young People’s Theatre and CentreStage, and has been involved in more than 250 productions. David Briskin, Music Director and Principal Conductor of The National Ballet of Canada since 2006, is widely recognized as one of contemporary ballet’s most accomplished conductors. He has also appeared regularly with The Royal Ballet, Covent Garden, The Royal Swedish Ballet, and The Royal Danish Ballet.
The all-star cast of Canadian theatre and television icons also includes Chilina Kennedy (Charlotte Magnus), known for playing Carole King in the musical Beautiful on Broadway for over 1,200 performances. She also recently originated the Tony Award-winning role of Dina on the First Broadway National Tour of The Band’s Visit. Chilina has worked with Burt Bacharach, guest starred in concert with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Colm Wilkinson, and Jason Robert Brown.
Dora Award and Toronto Theatre Critics Award winner Dan Chameroy (Count Carl Magnus) has appeared in Les Misérables, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, and Sondhiem’s Company, and is renowned for his star turn as Plumbum in Ross Petty’s annual pantomime shows. In addition, he has worked at Soulpepper and The Shaw Festival, and spent 13 seasons at The Stratford Festival, including last season in Chicago.
The cast is rounded out by Glenn Gould School students and alumnae Jonelle Sills (2022-23 Rebanks Family Fellow); Elena Howard-Scott (Winner of the inaugural Corcoran Prize); and Lillian Brooks (ADP ’17); alongside Dora Award-winning actor, singer, and dancer Tess Benger; 12-year-old Annie Grunwald (Frederika); Indigenous tenor Justan Myers (Henryk); Indian-Canadian actor and singer Sadie Laflamme-Snow (Anne Egerman); and recent Canadian Opera Company Ensemble Studio member, baritone Alex Mathews.
Maria Fuller, of Tapestry Opera’s Women in Musical Leadership program, will serve as Assistant Music Director.
Book by Hugh Wheeler
Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Directed by Richard Ouzounian
Music Director David Briskin / Assistant Music Director Maria Fuller
Designer Nick Blais / Choreography by Robin Calvert
Produced by Mervon Mehta for The Royal Conservatory
The production of A Little Night Music is generously supported by Charles & Marilyn Baillie, Nancy Lockhart and The Murray Frum Foundation, Riki Turofsky & Charles Petersen, and The Rebanks Family Fellowship and International Performance Residency Program.
Sondheim created a musical masterpiece from Ingmar Bergman’s comedy, Smiles of a Summer Night. A Little Night Music, set in Sweden in 1900, is centered around Desirée Armfeldt, an actress, and the men who are in love with her – a lawyer, Fredrik Egerman, and Count Carl-Magnus Malcom. When the travelling actress performs in Fredrik’s town, the estranged lovers’ passion rekindles, which strikes a flood of jealousy and suspicion between Desirée, Fredrik, Fredrick’s wife Anne, the Count (Desirée’s current lover), and the Count’s wife Charlotte. The men, and their jealous wives, join Desirée and her family for a weekend in the country, the results of which are new romances, second chances. At times moving and heartbreaking, at times witty and hilarious, the musical is full of regret and desire but, most importantly, it is a celebration of love. A Little Night Music includes the popular song “Send in the Clowns” as well as “The Miller’s Son” and “A Weekend in the Country.”
Buy Tickets