#david farley

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The Glamorous Life: Costuming the 2009 Revival of “A Little Night Music”

Editor’s Note: This review was originally scheduled for Wednesday, but due to the tech issue with the Here Lies Love review, I’m going to post it this afternoon. Hopefully I can find the HLL review, but if not, I’ll write a new one for posting later in the week. And now I’ve learned a valuable lesson in backing things up again!

A Little Night Music is one of those productions where everyone can probably name the 11 o’clock number, but has no idea what the rest of the production is--or even that the song came from a musical: the classic “Send in the Clowns.” But this production, and its 2009 revival, are so much more than a single (beautiful) number. And while Harold Prince may have said it is “a play about wasting time,” there is a lot more than nothing going on with this staging and costuming.

I first became aware of A Little Night Music because of the 1977 movie of the same name which starred Elizabeth Taylor and Len Cariou. The musical and movie are based on an earlier film by famed Swedish director Ingmar Bergman, so it is perhaps not surprising that the whole of the production is couched with Scandinavian themes, styling, and color schemes. The 2009 production, a revival starring the divine Dame Angela Lansbury and the ever-beautiful Catherine Zeta-Jones in a role which won her a Tony, is no exception. 

Prepare for a lot of whites and creams and blacks in this review, which should give us a chance to talk about technique a lot, because that’s just as important here as the colors are in other productions. Costume designer David Farley also did the scene design for this revival production, and so we get to see what it looks like when a costumer can have a direct hand in the set design, rather than just the reverse! Without further ado, let’s take a look at some of these designs:

There are some parallels in the character played by Ms Zeta-Jones, Desiree, and that of Glenn Close’s Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard. Both are actresses whose stars have faded, who are past their prime, and who are still thirsting for a taste of the glory they once had on stage and screen respectively. Unlike Norma Desmond, however, Desiree has a bit more of a “life” in that she’s surrounded by family and former lovers throughout the production, somber “Send in the Clowns” number notwithstanding.

This costume shows some classic late Victorian and early Edwardian style, which makes sense given that the musical is set in 1900. Despite being relatively simple to behold, there’s actually quite a bit to unpack here in the costume, both the dress and the accessories. Ms Zeta-Jones has a traditionally classically beautiful figure and appearance, and a costumer always wants to design their costume to fit the actress herself, and not just the character, something that I have mentioned in the past. But in this case, that’s important for the character of Desiree herself; despite the fading of her glory, she remains vain and glory-seeking, and obviously would put her appearance and looks before almost anything else.

That’s also one of the two reasons for the muted color palate chosen in this costume. The other is, as I mentioned earlier, the setting of the musical; Scandinavian designs, especially for summer weather, were extraordinarily stark for the upper classes in this era. The focus was on crisp, striking beauty rather than stunning flashes of color as seen in London or Paris circa 1900.

This dress itself is beautiful, capably constructed out of satin and what looks like a light muslin; the latter would keep the wearer cool in hot weather, important both for a Swedish summer and for an actress under the brutal heat of stage lighting. And that is extra important with this costume because it’s the one Ms Zeta-Jones spends the most time in during the production.

Let’s look at it from another angle to check some of the details:

The white chemise under the dress is what gives us our tipoff that this dress is, in fact, a cream color rather than a snow-white, and I’ve mentioned in previous reviews why that’s important. Set aside the Scandinavian design work of the piece, and an off-white often looks cleaner to the naked eye than a pure white, because the eye is attuned to picking up things that aren’t quite right when there is a lot of negative space (which white naturally tends to form). A cream, in other words, allows the purity and elegance of the white to be shown off while still looking satisfying to the eye.

The dress itself is relatively simple, with a muslin skirt that is designed to look chic and elegant, while the blouse and bodice of the dress are a little bit more stylishly cut. Notice how the bodice comes to a point in the center, allowing the eye to visually see where the piece ands and then take note of the skirts underneath. In addition, the dress is hung and layered in such a way as to allow subtle folds to develop as the actress moves across the stage or shifts her positioning; as I mention a lot, that helps the dress catch the light, and in this case reinforces that this is not a white dress, but a creamy off-white.

A line of buttons acts as the only dress adornment, and rather than being straight, they are angled across the bust towards the hip. This adds a little bit of style which takes the costume from being too simple to being just about right for the 1900-era Swedish setting of the production. The lapels of the blouse and bodice are small but prominent enough to be noticed when looked at up close, once again a hallmark of proto-Edwardian style, a transition between the lapel-heavy late Victorian era and the more flat blousing of the Edwardian era and later, as it became more acceptable for women’s fashion to be a little less “styled” as it were.

The accessory work here is very pretty, timeless in consisting of pearls and (assuredly false) diamonds. The necklace around Desiree’s neck is dainty, with the pearls bunched in a way that is reminiscent of clustered fruit, with dangling pearl earrings to match. Rather than an elaborate hat, Ms Zeta-Jones sports a feathery hairpiece that gives a little bit of added height and hints at her elegance...or perhaps, even, her reduced circumstances, relegated to theatrical touring in Sweden instead of the main stage.

Another key difference between proto-Edwardian style and its 19th century predecessors is the lack of a large bustle. I’ve mentioned bustles before in the context of ball gowns, and they were used to expand the rear of a dress and provide a bit more space between a woman and anyone else coming near her. By 1900, however, this had gone out of fashion, and we can see from this kneeling shot where Desiree embraces Frederik (Alexander Hanson), her former lover and (maybe) father of her child. The expansion of the rear of the dress is solely because of the petticoats which can be seen peeking out from under the hem of the skirt as it pools on the floor.

I like the use of the more linen-like, muslin cloth for this dress for a couple reasons, the first of which is that it’s quite authentic to the time period, but also because it allows us to talk about technique a little more. I’ve talked a lot about comfort for the actresses under stage lighting, but another reason to vary your fabric selection is to play with the lighting a little bit. Whereas satin, sateen, silk, and the like will be reflective, muslin, linen, or other woven cloths will give you the much more matte appearance seen here, and below in another group still, this time encompassing a couple similarly costumed characters:

There’s no reflectivity in this shot, because the cloth of the dresses does not allow for it. That means you can actually see some of the details a little bit better, and given that Mr Farley did both the costume and the scene design for the 2009 revival of A Little Night Music, I cannot believe this is coincidental.

Take a closer look at Dame Angela Lansbury’s, playing Desiree’s mother, costume on the left of the shot (stage right). While similar in color to Desiree’s, the style is very different and quite a bit older. Madame Armfeldt is an older woman who clings to the more Victorian styles that she grew up wearing and is most comfortable in. There is more rich adornment in this dress than in her daughter’s, as can be seen here:

Cream in color, there is a subtle patterning to this dress in the form of just-thicker-than-pinstripe stripes, a lighter color than the main cream body of the dress. Around her neck, she wears not only a pearl necklace with a cameo pendant, but a pair of spectacles, as would have been appropriate for a woman of style and some measure of means in this era; the handbag would not come into vogue for an upper class woman (and she is upper class, given her “dalliances” with European royalty in her past) for some decades.

Dame Angela is also costumed with a rather compelling hat, a straw base with some pale pink feathering and a couple of gray flowers; once again, the color scheme is muted in keeping with the overall theme of stark colors, but the addition of some adorning elements and complementary shades is a pretty nice touch.

As I noted at the start of this review, whites and creams predominate, but there is some good use of black in the costumes as well. Let’s take a look at a couple of those as well:

Once again, with the black dresses, we get to see the distinct differences between the Victorian and Edwardian styling. Dame Angela’s costume is far more voluminous, designed to disguise her figure, and the bodice is decorated richly with a little bit of beadwork and some lace-work. While she does lack a hat this time, the slight butterfly sleeves once again draw a distinction between her costume and Ms Zeta-Jones’.

Desiree’s costume is simple once again, but the striking silver panels to the bodice and blouse combination help it to stand out. There are specific rules in Victorian and Edwardian fashion about how black is supposed to be used, but at the moment I can’t recall where silver/gray comes in on the hierarchy. Needless to say, here it was a deliberate and stylish costuming choice that makes what might otherwise be a too plain dress into something that is eye-catching and memorable. Once again, there is little in the way of accessories, though Ms Zeta-Jones sports a brooch at her neck, much like Dame Angela.

Take a look at another one of the black numbers from the production, this time much more stark and austere, without the silver paneling of the above costume:

As you can see, the skirt is much the same, the giveaway being the embroidery about six inches above the hem of the dress. But whereas before we had a blouse and bodice that combined some colorful elements, this time we have a much more plain, almost velveteen blouse. There’s a more somber feeling to this dress, and I think it easily fits some of the darker themes of the musical: dissatisfaction with life, anger at lost glory, and a sense of loss as one’s fame recedes into the fog of memory.

A Little Night Music is not a showy musical, in music or in costuming, but I would never call the costumes of David Farley boring. Rather, they allow us a glimpse inside the fashions of a time period that often gets overlooked, namely the transition between Victorian fashion trends and Edwardian trends. The fact that the musical takes place in a culture that emphasized flat tones and matted colors helps to explain the choice to keep things confined to blacks, whites, and silvers. To me, that’s a beautiful choice, and there is a kind of elegance here that is timeless. Instead of relying on a color palate, the cuts of the cloth and shape of the costumes are forced to stand on their own, and I think they succeed.

This is a musical that deserves a look, not only because its austere color choice is a bit of a palate-cleanser, but because the designs are interesting and the music light and delightful. In that respect, David Farley’s designs are a rousing success, and it was wonderful to analyze them.

That wraps up my review of the costumes of A Little Night Music. As always, if you have thoughts, comments, criticism, or the like, please feel free to drop an Ask, submission, or message! And make sure to keep reading as we approach the weekend and take a look at more beautiful musicals!

Stay tuned!

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[urbanwronski]

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[willstafford]

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[willstafford]

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