Studio: A Sacha Wien-Elliott Kastner Production, A Roger Corman Presentation for New World Pictures
Running time: 124 minutes
A Little Night Music (1977)
“Middle-aged Frederick Egerman (Len Cariou) has been patiently waiting a year for his young bride Anne (Lesley-Anne Down) to consummate their marriage. But unbeknownst to Frederick, his son Erich (Christopher Guard) is also in love with Anne. To complicate matters, Frederick’s former mistress Desiree Armfeldt (Elizabeth Taylor) arrives in town...but Desiree is having a clandestine affair with the husband of the Countess of Mittelheim (Diana Rigg)! The mismatched couples in this delightful bedroom farce are all invited to a country estate where their lives (and loves) are inevitably sorted out.
“Based on Ingmar Bergman’s 1955 film Smiles of a Summer Night, the play A Little Night Music was a smash hit on Broadway winning six Tony Awards and two Grammys. The film, shot in Vienna, boasts sumptuous sets and beautifully detailed period costumes. The music by Stephen Sondheim includes ‘Love Takes Time,’ ‘Every Day a Little Death,’ ‘A Weekend in the Country,’ and ‘Send in the Clowns.’” [From the DVD]
Cast
Desiree Armfeldt: Elizabeth Taylor
Charlotte Mittelheim: Diana Rigg
Frederick Egerman: Len Cariou
Anne Egerman: Lesley-Anne Downe
Mme. Armfeldt: Hermoine Gingold
Carl-Magnus Mittelheim: Laurence Guittard
Erich Egerman: Christopher Guard
Fredericka Armfeldt: Chloe Franks
Kurt: Heinz Maraceck
Petra: Lesley Dunlop
Conductor: Jonathan Tunick
Franz: Hubert Tscheppe
Band Conductor: Rudolf Schrympf
Mayor: Franz Schussler
Mayoress: Johanna Schussler
Crew
Director: Harold Prince
Executive Producer: Heniz Lazek
Producer: Elliott Kastner
Screenwriter: Hugh Wheller
Based on the stage musical; Music and Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim
Suggested by the Ingmar Bergman film Sommarnattens Leende (Smile of a Summer Night)
Cinematographer: Arthur Obbetson
Production Designer: Laci von Ronay
Art Directors: Herta Pischinger and Thomas Riccabona
Music scored and supervised by: Jonathan Tunick
Costumes: Florence Klotz
Choreographer: Patricia Birch
Editor: John Jympson
Did You Know?
Elizabeth’s costumes were designed by Florence Klotz, who also did the costumes for the original Broadway production of A Little Night Music. Klotz got her start as Irene Sharaff’s assistant (Sharaff was a personal favourite of Elizabeth’s, and designed costumes for some of her most iconic roles: Cleopatra, The Sandpiper, The Taming of the Shrew, and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?). During filming, Klotz was hard at work on an important, top secret assignment. “I was working on her wedding costume [for Elizabeth’s wedding to John Warner] at the time and a traveling suit for her trousseau,” Klotz later revealed, “but it was all a secret then because they hadn’t announced their engagement or a date for the wedding.”
She would go on to work with Elizabeth again, designing the costumes for her Broadway debut in The Little Foxes (1981).
After Robert Stephens, who had been cast in the film as Elizabeth’s old flame, Fredrik Egerman, departed the production, Elizabeth tried to interest Richard Burton in taking the part. Ultimately Len Cariou, who had originated the role on Broadway, played the role.
Elizabeth did her own singing in the film. “I was petrified,” she said. She was especially intimidated about tackling “Send in the Clowns”: “Every great singer has done it—and now, here comes Chunko. I decided to sing-act rather than sing-speak.”
Elizabeth’s Birthday Bash at Studio 54
Elizabeth belatedly celebrated her 46th birthday at New York’s iconic Studio 54 nightclub on March 6, 1978. Held following the premiere of A Little Night Music, the bash was thrown by Elizabeth’s new friend, Halston, a Studio 54 regular and one of the hottest designers of the day. Guests included Elizabeth’s husband John Warner, Diana Vreeland, Bianca Jagger, and Andy Warhol, who recounted the evening in the book Exposures: “Halston gave Elizabeth Taylor a great birthday party. The Rockettes wheeled out an enormous birthday cake baked in the shape of Elizabeth. She blew out the candles and cut off her right tit and gave it to Halston. The TV cameras zoomed in as Halston ate it. Then they waltzed.”
