There is no denying that Stephen Sondheim is a musical theatre legend who has a back catalogue of work that is simply staggering.
But you do wonder just how much the average man or woman in the street knows about that body of work and, if they were pushed, how many Sondheim songs they would be able to name.
Within the theatrical world he is an icon but he has arguably never, in this country at least, achieved the household name status of someone like Andrew Lloyd Webber or even Sondheim’s own great mentor Oscar Hammerstein.
So it is a typically bold move for Storyhouse to not only kick off their second year with a Sondheim classic but to choose a musical he based on a 1955 Swedish film Smiles of a Summer Night directed by arthouse guru Ingmar Bergman whose movies provide the very definition of the term ‘acquired taste’.
However, it will come as no surprise to anyone who has followed the first year of the cultural venue or the work of director Alex Clifton since he launched the Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre seasons in 2010 to learn that the end result is yet another unmitigated triumph for Storyhouse.
The romantic merry-go-round that lies at the heart of A Little Night Music makes it difficult to summarise the plot but its magic lies in the way the musical explores the highs and lows of love across and sometimes between various generations.
The central figure is middle aged lawyer Fredrik Egerman (the magnificently dashing Daniel Flynn who commands the stage with consummate ease) whose 11 month marriage to 18-year-old Anne (a delightfully flighty performance from Eleanor Sutton cleverly laced with an undercurrent of doubt and insecurity) has yet to be consummated.
Fredrik, however, still has the hots for old flame and veteran stage actress Desiree Armfeldt (a charismatic Serena Evans who brilliantly channels the comedic genius of Goldie Hawn and the elegance of Elizabeth Taylor who played the role in the 1977 film version) who is herself embroiled in a tempestuous affair with duel-obsessed married army officer Count Carl-Magnus (an intimidating Kayi Ushe who has the most wonderful booming baritone of a voice).
This latter development has the advantage of bringing into this tangled web the scene-stealer of the show, the Count’s wronged wife Countess Charlotte, played with such acerbic wit and sensuality by the incredible Mary Doherty.
Even when she is on an often crowded stage, it is impossible to take your eyes of Doherty as she not only makes the most of every waspish line but matches it with facial expressions and body language that leave you in no doubt she is the smartest person in the room.
And then there is poor Henrik Egerman (Richard Lounds giving a mournful performance that skilfully manages to retain one’s sympathy while avoiding the potential pitfall of making the character annoying) who feels neglected and ignored by father Fredrik while trying in vain to hide the fact he is madly in love with his new stepmother Anne.
Sondheim’s great talent is the way so many of these relationship developments unfold through the use of his incredibly dense and richly layered lyrics, many of which are as poetic and meaningful as the words of Shakespeare himself so it is no surprise that this musical appealed to Bard specialist Alex Clifton.
Nowhere is this demonstrated more effectively than in a breathtaking early sequence when Fredrik, Anne and Henrik sing three different songs - at the same time! - all of which have one word titles which sum their characters up so beautifully: Now, Soon and Later.
Musically, of course, the centrepiece is the one Sondheim song which everyone definitely knows - Send in the Clowns - which dominates the closing scenes of the show, so plaintively delivered at first by Serena Evans with the melancholy inherent in the lyrics coming fully to the fore when it turns into a duet with Daniel Flynn.
Clifton’s trademark inventive staging and the deceptively intricate and characterful choreography devised by Yukiko Masui make the most of every inch of the performance area inside the marvellous Storyhouse Theatre.
And with a happy ending pretty much guaranteed for most of the gathering, you leave the venue with joy in your heart, a spring in your step and more than a few smiles on a summer night.
