| What: Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music Presented by: In collaboration between Cape Town Opera and Abrahamse & Meyer Productions CC, by arrangement with Dalro (Pty) Limited, Fred Abrahamse and Marcel Meyer Where: Theatre on the Bay, Cape Town When: June 30 – July 12, 2026 Running Time: Act 1: 90 minutes, interval 30 minute, Act 2: 60 minutes Age rating: PG13 rating. No children under 5 Tickets: R275 – R475. Discount of 25% for 25s and under Bookings: Webtickets or TOB Box Office (021) 438-3300 or (021) 438-3301 Cast: Aviva Pelham (Madame Armfeldt), Samantha Peo (Desirée Armfeldt), Jonathan Roxmouth (Fredrik Egerman), CTO House Soloist Brittany Smith (Petra), Marcel Meyer (Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm), Kate Normington (Countess Charlotte Malcom), William Young (Henrik Egerman), Mia-Cecilia Kriel (Fredrika Armfeldt), Liné Jordaan (Anne Egerman) and ensemble Director and set design: Fred Abrahamse Costume design: Marcel Meyer Musical director and on piano: José Dias Lighting design: Nicolaas de Jongh Sound design: David Classen Choreography: Kirsten Isenberg |
Divine deliciousness, a feast of music and theatre, a joyous treat, that’s Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music presented by Cape Town Opera and Abrahamse & Meyer Productions, by arrangement with Dalro (Pty) Limited. It is sublime, seductive, dark in places, sexy, witty, and hilariously funny. It is an epic caper through misplaced love and marriage, 2nd chances, convoluted family relationships, revenge, life and death. Loved it! A Little Night Music is on at Theatre on the Bay, June 30 – July 12, 2026.
Inspired/based on Ingmar Bergman’s film Smiles of a Summer Night [Released in 1955]. A Little Night Music was first staged in 1973 and has won six Tony Awards including Best Musical. Glorious score and lyrics by Sondheim and delicious book by Wheeler. It is the first staging of the musical in South Africa, in 50 years.
Genius casting, with opera doyenne Aviva Pelham taking on the pivotal role of Madame Armfeldt who was a revered courtesan in her day and regales the canoodling protagonists with her stories as she voyeuristically watches with glee, as screw up their lives. The canoodling culminates in a Weekend in the Country (there is a song, A Weekend in the Country), on her estate, as numerous love triangles, realign and sort themselves out – in love, lust and transnationality.
A Little Night Music is set at the turn of the century in Sweden, on Midsummer Eve, where the sun does not set in northern parts of Sweden. Daylight lasts over 18 hours in Stockholm. There are songs about the endless daylight: The Sun Won’t Set – Night Waltz I and The Sun Sits Low Night Waltz II. The protagonists are in a kind of fugue and trance as they waft and waltz through liminal spaces which are beautifully articulated in Abrahamse’s set – evoking the buzz of magic and whimsy of a day without an end.
The story/ies begin to brew and percolate In Act 1, when we see the scorchingly funny antics of Fredrik Egerman (Jonathan Roxmouth) and his 18 year old wife Anne (Liné Jordaan). The marriage has not been consummated as Anne is terrified of sex with her older husband. Just to toss, in here, that on Sunday night, June 5, 2026, at The Cape Town Theatre Awards, Roxmouth won the award for Best Performance by an Actor in a musical or in a musical theatre show , for his role as Billy Flynn in Chicago. I reckon that his tender and nuanced performance as Frederik will get him another nomination. Frederik could easily be a cliché as older man/sugardaddy trope and yet in Roxmouth’s evocation, he comes across as a conflicted – with good intentions – ultimately. In addition to his yummy voice, a lot is conveyed through gesture and comedic physical movement.
Things heat up when Frederik hooks up with his former squeeze Desirée (Samantha Peo) who has a jealous kvetching discarded lover on the side, The Count (Marcel Meyer). The Count is peeved that his lover is cheating on him. Meanwhile Frederik is married to the Countess – brilliantly played by Kate Normington who has the best lines and gorgeous gowns (costumes designed by Meyer – see Act 2).
A Little Night Music, is like Chekov on steroids, reeling off the Swedish angst of the film. In the middle of the liaisons between Frederik and Desirée, Frederick’s son, Henrik (William Young) arrives home. He is a bit of a boring schlemiel who is studying in a seminary and loves books and his cello. He lusts after his step mom, the virgin, Anne. Meanwhile he gets sex education with Pertra, the maid of Anne.
Petra played by award winning CTO Soloist, Brittany Smith gives a scorcher of a performance as the social climbing maid who is not waiting for anyone – even the miller’s son (there is a song about that, The Miller’s Son). Petra seemed like a side-hustle character when I read the play, but with Smith the boards, she is a powerhouse who dominates the men around her.
All the performance are off-the-charts brilliant. It is Roxmouth like I have never seen him – presenting a flawed but utterly charming Frederick. Ditto Samantha Peo – a knock out performance, I kind of have equated her with Chicago and more recently she dazzled in the Addams Family The Musical and here she is as Desire, the daughter of Madame Armfeldt. Desirée has not led an “ordinary life”. There is a song – The Glamorous Life. As her daughter, Frederika croons in the song, that her mother has been living her best life in the theatre world, with its up and many downs. Her mom swapped watching the kettle and baking – for “thrills” – for a theatrical life. And here we have a daughter paying tribute to her extraordinary mom. Frederika misses being part of her mom’s unpredictable life.
The famous song Bring on the Clowns, is sung by Desirée (Peo) and then in tandem, with Fredrik (Roxmouth). It is pure theatre magic – as they pour their hearts out – imbued with self-deprecating insight into who they are as people, their wry sense of humour. Their is the call-out to send in the clowns – theatrical speak for when things are going pear shaped – “send in the clowns” – for a little diversion.
In the Remember song, they reminisce about their younger sleeves. I reckon that people are going to ask – do you remember when Jonathon Roxmouth and Samantha Peo sang Send in the Clowns and do you remember Aviva Pelham, Brittany Smith, Marcel Meyer and Kate Normington – all on one stage – in A Little Night Music?
Playing Fredrika, the daughter of Desirée is Mia-Cecilia Kriel. Yeah, her name is Frederika – very cute – probs the offspring of the youthful liaison between Desire and Frederik. It all comes to a head for the weekend in the country at the Madame’s estate, where she sits in her wheelchair in a sparkling vivid purple ball gown. She drinks good champagne (the guests get the ordinary stuff), as she voyeuristically watches her daughter and the rest of the peeps, going about their liaisons. And she chirps and kibitzes, when required.
The energy between Pelham and Kriel – grandmother and granddaughter – is enchanting. Kriel is 16 and is still at school. She is a student of the South African musical theatre legend Julie Dickson at the Drama Lab in Table View. Kriel answered an open call audition and here she is. She plays piano in this production –– augmented by the amazing José Dias who is on stage at the piano, accompanying the actors and quintet ensemble. He is also musical director. By the way, Julie Dickson is currently heating up the stage at Artscape as a saucy and sassy Ruth in the G&S musical, Pirates of Penzance. [July 4-12, 2026, Sold out.]
Staying with musical instruments, William Young who plays the nebbish Hendrik, plays a cello on stage. He plays the violin, so he is familiar with music but he learned to play the cello for this production. He is not just gesture-synching. I last saw him flexing his muscles in Rocky Horror as Rocky. As Hendrik, he truly shows his acting and theatre smarts – and he does show some abs – igniting sexual energy into Hendrik’s nebbish persona.
Pelham is a revelation. Her voice used to be termed soprano and now how, would she describe it? In a WhatsApp, she offers “ripe” with a question mark and an emoji. How about seasoned, full bodied, with an under and over bite, I offer? Pelham’s diction is precise at all times and her voice is glorious in its ripeness. Precise diction was salient for Sondheim and Pelham nails that with her delish Madame. In one of the releases for this production, there is a quote by Harold Prince, the original director of the musical and he quipped that A Little Night Music is like “whipped cream with knives”. Pelham’s channels that whipped cream and knives vibe, so that one savours each yummy lyric. Her rendering of the famous song, Liaisons, is a dream. Pelham she told me that has not starred in a major role in thirty years, although she has sung extensively in production over the last three decades and directed many concerts and music events. She muses: “My voice has allowed me to be incredibly versatile, singing a vast array of roles from opera, musicals and operetta”. In 1997, she starred as the Witch in Sondheim’s Into The Woods. I hope that we see more of this phenomenal theatre maker.
I hope we see more Sondheim, full stop. According to Marcel Meyer, the first staging of Night Music in South Africa was in 1975 at the Three Arts Theatre in Cape Town and at the His Majesty’s Theatre in Johannesburg. It was produced by Taubie Kushlick who took on the role of Madame Armfeldt. It featured the original Broadway designs.
For a Little Night Music, South Africa 2026, Theatre on the Bay, the stunning original set has been created by Fred Abrahamse as an installation of pianos, creating a multi-levelled playground for the numerous spaces were the narrative unfurls. Meyer told me that almost every piece of furniture has been repurposed and upscaled from old pianos – even the headboard of the plush bed of Frederik and Anne.
Aesthetically, the set is minimalist and yet opulent. Googling, I came across the term “opulent minimalism” or “minimalist opulence” – which is not attributed to anyone in particulate- with lashings of sumptuous detail, with architectural clean lines. This is what they have magically conjured up in A Little Night Music – Abrahamse’s set and Myer’s costumes. . Keep your eyes peeled for the gorgeous chandelier, transparent chairs and mirrors repurposed from other Abrahamse and Meyer and productions. Meyer’s gorgeous costumes embody that minimalist opulent aesthetic – the luscious reds of passion for Desirée, deep purple for the Madame, grey and silvers for the Count and Countess – with an outrageously dress for Kate Normington’s Countess in Act 2- shrouded by lace- sexy and yet demure.
A note on the length: The first act is 90 minutes. The second act is 65 minutes. Sondheim is in it for the long game. But is it “too long”? I love Sondheim and I am besotted with A Little Night Music, so I don’t find it “too long”. However, I do recommend listening to the songs with the lyrics, before watching, to familiarise oneself with the story. Bravo to Cape Town Opera, Abrahamse & Meyer Productions, cast and creatives for the enthralling A Little Night Music, South Africa 2026.
❇ Featured image: Samantha Peo (Desiree Armfeldt) and Jonathan Roxmouth (Fredrik Egerman) in Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music, Theatre on the Bay, Cape Town, June 30 – July 12, 2026.
