Boston Common - Niche Media - A side of Boston that's anything but common.
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photography by DaviD M. benett/getty iMages (MaDonna); aaron epstein (Dubois) madonna may be vulnerable, but she's also victorious. she continues to fill stadiums, and after the tumble viewed by millions, she got right back up and finished the song. Madonna performs "Living for Love," from her album Rebel Heart, at the 2015 Brit Awards. An Enthralling Little Night Esteemed director Peter DuBois marshals a stellar team for the Huntington Theatre Company's romantic reverie. by jared bowen In the hands of the right performer and the right director, it's devastating. Midway through the second act of Stephen Sondheim's dreamy musical A Little Night Music, we fnd the glamorous Desiree Armfeldt alone and vulnerable. An actress with a fading career and a string of lost loves, she's refecting on a spurned romantic overture and feeling foolish. "Isn't it rich?/Isn't it queer?" she sings. "Losing my timing this late in my career?" It's time, she fnally acknowledges, to "send in the clowns." "People know 'Send in the Clowns,' but they don't know what it's about," says Peter DuBois, artistic director of the Huntington Theatre Company, who helms its season-opening production of the show. "In the context of the musical, they get it big time." DuBois calls the 1973 classic his favorite musical. Inspired by the Ingmar Bergman flm Smiles of a Summer Night, it examines the joys and tribulations of romance through the lives of several couples. "It's one of the fnest combinations of book and music that there is," he says. "I also just love how it pulses with emotion and sexuality in a way that doesn't wink but that's actually deeply felt." Olivier Award–nominated actress Haydn Gwynne leads the cast as Desiree, while Boston theater doy- enne Bobbie Steinbach plays her mother, the saucy, outspoken dowager Madame Armfeldt. And the sets, including the Armfeldt country estate, are courtesy of Tony and Emmy Award winner Derek McLane, one of Broadway's most in-demand designers. It's a team that should make A Little Night Music a night to remember. September 11–October 11. Boston University Theatre, 264 Huntington Ave., 617-266- 7900; huntingtontheatre.org her the mother of reinven- tion. The mother of the modern-day pop tart. Or just a mother of four. (For all of you old enough to remember playing "Holiday" over and over on cassette, take a deep breath: Madonna's oldest is now in college.) rebel heart could well have been titled confessions with conviction. In one of her best-reviewed albums in ages, Madonna harks back to those early days with an airy, bouncy club beat. But she's no ingénue now. In the song "Joan of Arc," she admits she's as insecure as the rest of us—wounded and vulnerable from years of sniping. And that's genuinely surprising. After all, she's the same steely force who literally laid herself bare for an entire book called sex, who withstood criticism from the pope, and who's been banned from MTV—more than once. Madonna rolls up to the Garden having endured a year of indignities. Hackers leaked much of rebel heart before it was finished, and those rough tracks were bur- ied under an avalanche of criticism. During a perfor- mance at the Brit Awards, she took a nasty tumble, now immortalized on YouTube for the amusement of haters everywhere. And then there's the rampant ageism: The Material Girl is now a woman in her mid-50s, which, according to many an online arbiter of decorum, is reason enough for her to retire the short skirts in favor of compression stockings and bedpans. Madonna may be vulner- able, but she's also victorious. She continues to fill massive stadiums. In a tribute to her ferocious fight for equality, this spring the Boston Gay Men's Chorus devoted a por- tion of its concert to her body of work. And after the tum- ble viewed by millions, she got right back up and fin- ished the song. Because, bitch, she's Madonna. september 26 at 8 pm at td garden, 100 legends way. for tickets, call 800-745-3000 or visit tdgarden.com. BC bostoncommon-magazine.com 59