Tag: James Pegg

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REVIEW: Wharfemede Productions in Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, until Sat ****

Nick Sephton’s Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm and Jason Weightman’s Fredrik Egerman duelling and duetting in Wharfemede Productions’ A Little Night Music. All pictures: Dan Crawfurd-Porter

“LET’S make romance emotionally devastating and funny,” Stephen Sondheim once said, and the New York lyricist and composer was never more playful than in his 1973 musical A Little Night Music.

Here it forms North Yorkshire company Wharfemede Productions’ third show since being formed by Helen “Bells” Spencer and Nick Sephton in autumn 2024.

“Few writers capture the glorious mess of love quite like Sondheim,” posits director Spencer in her programme director’s note, describing Sondheim’s savvy 1902 Swedish sexual shenanigans as elegant and biting, romantic and relentless, funny and quietly heartbreaking, often all at once, in its rumble-tumble of desire, regret, hope and desperate quest for happiness

James Pegg’s Henrik Egerman: As gloomy as his cello playing in A Little Night Music

Her production, eloquent, waspish of wit, balanced between light and weighty, captures all those qualities most fruitfully and fruitily. Precise in style and movement, her direction places equal emphasis on Hugh Wheler’s fizzing dialogue and Sondheim’s confessional, candid songs that call on quintet, trio, duet and solo performance in equal measure, steered with elan by musical director and Sondheim expect James Robert Ball, in charge of his eight-piece band (split between keys, strings and reeds).

Rooted in Ingmar Bergman’s film 1955 film Smiles Of A Summer Night, whose story of several couples’ interlinked romantic lives it mirrors so smartly, Sondheim’s ever-perceptive depiction of love being “rarely simple, frequently ill timed and deeply human” – to quote Spencer once more – is played out by the juiciest of casts, assembling the cream of York and Leeds stage talent (several having appeared alongside Spencer in Les Miserables at Leeds Grand Theatre last year).

They range from Maggie Smales, Theatre@41 trustee and esteemed York actress and director, as wheelchair-bound grande dame Madame Armfeldt, with her glut of putdowns in the curmudgeonly old-stick manner of her fellow Maggie, Dame Maggie Smith in Downton Abbey, to Libby Greenhill, A-level student in humanities and creative subjects, who impressed in Pick Me Up Theatre’s Fun Home last September and now plays granddaughter Fridrika with emotional frankness.

Maggie Smales’s grande dame, Madame Armfeldt

Libby Greenhill as Fredrika Armfeldt and director Helen “Bells” Spencer as her mother, Desiree Armfeldt, in A Little Night Music

Crucial to Spencer’s directorial impact is the prominence of the Liebeslieder Singers, alias The Quintet, omnipresent in white dresses and cream suits as they greet you at the top of the stairs, sell programmes, open Act One with the overlapping la-la-las of Night Waltz, then become a cross between a Greek chorus and Shakespeare’s mischief-making Puck, moving the principals into place as if in a dream or a pictorial tableau at the start of various scenes.

Under Rachel Merry’s slick choreography, they slip seamlessly between foreground and background as Mrs Nordstrom (Emma Burke), Mrs Anderson (Hannah Thomson), Mrs Segstrom (Merry herself), Mr Erlansson (Matthew Oglesby) and Mr Lindquist (Richard Pascoe), their harmony singing delighting in Remember? and the Act Two-opening The Sun Won’t Set, as well as when accompanying the principals in the plot-thickening and summarising A Weekend In The Country.

The sophisticated but Tabasco-saucy Scandi scandals of A Little Night Music are led by Spencer’s Desiree Armfeldt, the darling of the Swedish stage, bored by the chore of touring the same old plays but seeking satisfaction from married men, Nick Sephton’s pompous, blustering, time-keeping dragoon buffoon, Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm, forever up for a pistol duel, and middle-aged lawyer Fredrik Egerman (Jason Weightman), yet to consummate his marriage to 18-year-old, hair-obsessed Anne (Alexandra Mather) after 11 months but still desirous of old flame Desiree’s ample, bewitching charms.

Mind the age gap: Alexandra Mather’s 18-year-old Anne Egerman and Jason Weightman’s Fredrik Egerman, her husband, in A Little Night Music

Spencer’s programme note talks of A Little Night Music asking its performers to “live fully inside both comedy and pain”, a state crystalised in James Pegg’s Henrik Egerman, Fredrik’s troubled son, who is taking holy orders but is wholly smitten by his stepmother, Mather’s Anne, who chides his earnest outbursts as comical, the more he vexates.

Pegg’s outstanding, devastatingly honest performance recalls Konstantin Gavrilovich Treplev, the suicidal student in Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull, and let’s hope the York debut of this Leeds actor and higher education professional service leader will lead to further roles here.

Katie Brier catches the eye in the rumbustiously fetching ‘downstairs” role of Petra, whether introducing Henrik to the birds and bees or romping with fellow servant Frid (Chris Gibson).

Swedish actress Sanna Jeppsson’s Countess Charlotte Malcolm

As Desiree’s weekend invitation to her grand and glamorous country estate leads to much web-tangling amid partner swaps, new pairings, sudden seductions and second chances, Swedish-born Sanna Jeppsson comes to the fore as the dunderheaded Count’s exasperated wife, Countess Charlotte, making every ice-cold comic interjection count on renewed home turf.

Sondheim’s romping costume drama is filled with barbed wit, caustic bite and a delicious sense of Scandinavian desperation, topped off by sublime singing, from Weightman, Pegg and Mather’s complex Now/Later/Sooner to Weightman’s Fredrik in his insensitive You Must Meet My Wife duet with Spencer’s Desiree; Jeppsson and Mather’s jilted Every Day A Little Death to the sparring of Weightman and Sephton’s It Would Have Been Wonderful.

Brier maximises her moment in the spotlight in The Miller’s Son; Spencer tops everything with Send In The Clowns, all the more moving for tapping deep into Desiree’s desolation.

Make sure to enjoy Sondheim’s weekend in the country this week in Wharfemede’s combustible combination of courage, comedy, co-ordinated chaos and commitment.   

Wharfemede Productions, A Little Night Music, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, 7.30pm tonight, tomorrow and Friday; 2.30pm and 7.30pm, Saturday. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Rachel Merry’s Mrs Segstrom, left, Emma Burke’s Mrs Nordstrom, Hanna Thomson’s Mrs Anderssen and fellow member of The Quintet Matthew Oglesby’s Mr Erlansson in A Little Night Music

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Wharfemede Productions to waltz its way into Sondheim’s A Little Night Music at Theatre@41 from February 24 to 28

Sanna Jeppsson’s Countess Charlotte Malcolm, left, Jason Weightman’s Fredrick Egerman and Alexandra Mather’s Anne Egerman in Wharfemede Productions’ A Little Night Music

NORTH Yorkshire theatre company Wharfemede Productions follows up 2025’s Little Women and Musical Across The Multiverse revue with Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, next week.

Director and company co-founder Helen “Bells” Spencer says: “Sondheim has always been one of my favourite musical theatre writers. His work captures the full spectrum of the human experience; messy, beautiful and deeply relatable.

“What I find most inspiring is how his music doesn’t simply accompany the story; it drives it. Every note, rhythm and lyric reflects the emotional journey of the characters in a way that is both intricate and profoundly moving.”

Continuing to build its reputation for delivering high-quality, character-driven musical theatre, Wharfemede Productions brings together talent from across Yorkshire to present Sondheim’s witty, romantic and elegantly crafted 1973 musical.

Fan fare: Jason Weightman’s Fredrick Egerman and Alexandra Mather’s Anne Egerman in a scene from A Little Night Music

“Directing A Little Night Music has long been a dream of mine, and I’m thrilled to bring it to life with such an exceptional company,” says Bells, who will play Desiree Armfeldt, alongside Alexandra Mather as Anne Egerman, fresh from her outstanding Christmas performance as nightclub singer/evangelist Reno Sweeney in Pick Me Up Theatre’s Anything Goes.

In the company too will be Jason Weightman as Fredrick Egerman, James Pegg as Henrik Egerman,  Maggie Smales as Madame Armfeldt, Libby Greenhill as Fredrika Armfeldt, Nick Sephton as Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm and Sanna Jeppsson as Countess Charlotte Malcolm.

Completing the cast will be Katie Brier’s Petra, Chris Gibson’s Frid, soprano Emma Burke’s Mrs Nordstrom, soprano Hannah Thomson’s Mrs Anderssen, mezzo-soprano Rachel Merry’s Mrs Segstrom, tenor Matthew Oglesby’s Mr Erlansson and baritone Richard Pascoe’s Mr Lindquist.

“We’re drawing together an incredible mix of Yorkshire talent, particularly from York and Leeds, including actors I worked with in Les Miserables at Leeds Grand Theatre last year, and the chemistry within this cast is something truly special,” says Bells.

The Quintet in Wharfemede Productions’ A Little Night Music: Emma Burke, left, Richard Pascoe, Rachel Merry, Matthew Oglesby and Hannah Thomson. Picture: Matthew Warry

Joining her in the production team are musical director James Robert Ball, choreographer Rachel Merry and wardrobe mistress Suzanne Perkins. “It was so important to me to have a musical director who not only shares a passion for Sondheim’s music but also understands how to shape the dramatic journey alongside me,” says Bells.

“I am absolutely thrilled to be working with James, whose knowledge, enthusiasm and expertise in Sondheim’s work are second to none. A true Sondheim super-fan, academic and all-round expert, James is breathing such magic into this incredible score and as an assistant director.

“He is a joy to work with and has an extraordinary gift for bringing out the very best in the people around him, both musically and creatively.”

Set in turn-of-the-20th century Sweden, A Little Night Music explores the tangled web of love, desire and regret through Sondheim’s signature blend of sophistication, humour and hauntingly beautiful music, topped off by the timeless Send In The Clowns.

A directorial flash of inspiration for Helen “Bells” Spencer as she rehearses her role as Desiree Armfeldt in A Little Night Music

“A Little Night Music is a lot of people’s favourite Sondheim work – and a lot of cast members have said that too,” says Bells.

“You introduced me to it when Opera North did it in Leeds,” recalls company co-founder Nick. “Yes, I made Nick go and see it!” rejoins Bells.

“I really wanted to do this show, because I think it’s one of Sondheim’s most accessible musicals. It’s more classical in style, taking its inspiration from Mozart’s Eine kleine Nachtmusik. The very clever thing about it, and the very unusual thing too, is that apart from a few bars, it’s written in triple time (3/4 time), which is very rare, particularly in musicals.

“The show is made up predominantly of triangles of love interests, and therefore it reflects those tangled trios in the musical structure, while also reflecting wealthy family life and their servants at the turn of the 19th to the 20th century in Sweden.”

Maggie Smales’s Madame Armfeldt makes her point to Libby Greenhill’s Fredrika Armfeldt

Crucial to the structure too is Sondheim’s use of The Quintet, alias the Liebeslieder Singers, here comprising Burke, Merry, Thomson, Oglesby and Pascoe. “They act like a Greek chorus, and they’ve been represented in very different ways in various versions of the show, but I was really clear when I started that I wanted them to do more than just come on and do their pieces,” says Bells.

“I was really keen for them to be more integral to the plot and the structure, so I wanted them to feel they were part of the decision-making about who The Quintet were. Right at the beginning, I gave them materials about Greek choruses and how they worked in theatre.

“I also researched Swedish folklore, in particular Freya, the goddess of love, beauty, fertility and sex. We then had a few rehearsals where the quintet decided who they should be, and while not wanting to spoil it for anyone, I can say that essentially they’re the driving force of our show. They’re  in control; they can change things as an agent of fate, an agent of Freya.”

Bells continues: “They are in no way an ensemble. They are exceptional, doing the most difficult singing in the show, and they’re so on top of it. It’s so good to have such a strong quintet, and I’m really excited for audiences to see what we’ve done with the concept.

James Weightman’s Fredrick Egerman, left, and James Pegg’s Henrik Egerman raising eyebrows as well as glasses in A Little Night Music

“When the quintet is on stage, the lighting will be set for night-time, very ethereal, so it’ll be mysterious and nocturnal, and we will go in and out of that state, depending on the scene.”

Looking forward to a waltzing week ahead, Bells concludes: “Promising emotional depth, musical excellence and ensemble storytelling, Wharfemede Productions invites audiences to experience an evening of charm, laughter and lyrical brilliance, further cementing its place as one of Yorkshire’s most exciting rising theatre companies.”

Wharfemede Productions presents A Little Night Music, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, February 24 to 28, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Wharfemede Productions: back story

CO-FOUNDED in 2024 by Helen “Bells” Spencer, chief artistic director, and Nick Sephton, chief operating officer, the company is dedicated to bringing high-quality musical productions and events to Yorkshire, with respect and openness at the heart of their artistic philosophy.

After gaining a Drama degree from Manchester University, Bells co-founded and company-managed Envision Theatre Company, and now Wharfemede marks a return to those roots. Drawing on decades of logistics, managerial and computing experience, Nick uses these skills in Wharfemede’s work, combined with his love for music and theatre.

Wharfemede Productions’ poster for A Little Night Music at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York