Merle Dandridge, Jodi Long to Lead A Little Night Music at Pasadena Playhouse

Casting has been announced for Pasadena Playhouse’s production of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s A Little Night Music, directed by David Lee. Part of its six-month Sondheim festival, the production will run April 25-May 21.

Leading the company will be Merle Dandridge as Desirée Armfeldt, Michael Hayden as Fredrik Egerman, and Jodi Long as Madame Armfeldt.
 
The production also features Sarah Uriarte Berry as Countess Charlotte Malcolm, Chase Del Rey as Henrik Egerman, Adam James King as Frid, Ruby Lewis as Petra, Ryan Silverman as Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm, and Kaley Ann Voorhees as Anne Egerman. Rounding out the cast are Georgia Belmont as Mrs. Nordstrom, Jared Bybee as Mr. Lindquist, Kim Dawson as Mrs. Segstrom, Oriana Falla as Mrs. Anderssen, Arnold Geis as Mr. Erlanson, and Christanna Rowader as a standby for Countess Charlotte Malcolm and Desiree Armfeldt. Additional casting and creative team will be announced at a later date. 

A Little Night Music, based on Bergman’s Smiles of a Summer Night, is set in Sweden and follows “the tangled web of affairs centered around actress Desirée Armfeldt, and the men who love her: a lawyer by the name of Fredrik Egerman and the Count Carl-Magnus Malcom. When the traveling actress performs in Fredrik’s town, the estranged lovers’ passion rekindles. This strikes a flurry of jealousy and suspicion between Desirée; Fredrik; Fredrick’s wife, Anne; Desirée’s current lover, the Count; and the Count’s wife, Charlotte. Both men – as well as their jealous wives – agree to join Desirée and her family for a weekend in the country at Desirée’s mother’s estate. With everyone in one place, infinite possibilities of new romances and second chances bring endless surprises.”

Pasadena Playhouse’s production will present the show with its “full and soaring orchestrations” by Jonathan Tunick.