of the most ambitious productions ever attempted in Bermuda. Stephen Sondheim's 1973 award-winning `A Little Night Music', set in Sweden at the turn of the century but distinctively modern in form and concept, is considered by many to have changed the course of musical theatre. Now, Joel Froomkin is directing a lavish Gilbert & Sullivan Society production for the Bermuda Festival. Based on Ingmar Bergman's film, `Smiles of a Summer Night', the plot evolves around a group of wildly mismatched lovers who, gathering for a weekend party at the country chateau of Mme. Armfeldt, wittily and sometimes movingly, resolve their amorous intrigues. Froomkin's `dream team' consists of musical director James Burn, with actors Nigel Kermode, Helen Coffey, Tricia Morgan, Victoria Waddington, Happy Lindsay, Rebecca Faulkenberry, Wayne Holt and Bermuda's `grand dame' of the theatre, Elsbeth Gibson. Besides directing (and choreographing, designing and executing the sumptuous sets) Froomkin also takes on the role of Henrik. Unusually, the quintet of Liedersingers (who provide impassive comment on the foibles of the main characters), is composed of five singers who are themselves accustomed to taking leading roles: Peter Nash, Cyanne Thomas, Kathryn Winter, Keith Madeiros and Rhona Vallender. For this show, says Joel Froomkin, the challenge for this gifted group of artists has been to work as a symbiotic unit, interconnected but still maintaining individual characters. "The entire concept of this show is very exciting because there's this massive sense of expectancy. We feel we are in a position to go for a level of polish and professionalism that may never have been seen here before,'' explains the young director, who is something of a whiz kid himself. Having twice won the prestigious Stanley Musgrave Award from the University of California for "most outstanding creative talent'', this 23-year-old has been described quite seriously by several of those who know about these things, as "quite simply, a genius.'' Admitting that the sense of expectancy prompted by this show is, in one sense, frightening, he explains that "it's one thing to be regarded as the highlight of the Festival but it's also a huge responsibility. This entire undertaking has given me an opportunity to work with and capitalise on some of the strongest talent on this Island, both onstage and backstage.'' Admitting cheerfully that, in several instances he cast the roles against `type', he says that every member of the cast is being asked to do something they have never done before. "This is a bit terrifying because they have put themselves completely in my hands.

Nigel, for instance, nearly wept when he found out he had to dance!'' Paying an emotional tribute to Nigel Kermode, his former English and drama teacher at Saltus, and one of Bermuda's most admired actors, he refers to him as "the greatest personal gift for me in this production. Never mind directing him, or acting with him -- just being in the same room is a gift. I worshipped him at school and I still do. He is the greatest actor I have ever worked with and, to a great extent, he is the reason I am involved in this production and trying to make this my professional life. To direct him in a play is the greatest privilege of my life so far, as I've always been in awe of him.'' Confessing that it took him four weeks to gather the courage to ask him to audition for the leading role, he continues, "I was overwhelmed to think of working with him so I worked alone with him for two weeks just to `psych' myself up. If anyone in the world was qualified to tell me how it is all done, it's him, but he has never done that. He is so gracious, so giving and so supporting.'' This production, too, sees the return, at the age of 78, of Elsbeth Gibson, who is playing Madame Armfeldt -- appropriately enough, a retired `grand dame' of the theatre. "She is my diva!'' exclaims Froomkin.

"What is so wonderful is that she fits into a time line of love. She has these wonderful scenes with her grandaughter (Rebecca Faulkenberry) who is just blossoming into puberty -- so you have the opposite ends, the beginning and the end of love. Elsbeth brings such a rich history in terms of her own theatrical life and such a wealth of experience, so the concept of innocence and experience is perfectly matched. She has one line about `a lost love' in her life and every time she does it, she reduces the whole cast to tears because everyone knows it's Don (her late husband) she's talking about. She doesn't act that, she has lived it and her eyes fill with imagery...if we had cast an actress made up to look older we would never have got her marvellous sense of the class of the '40s and 50s -- which was much more refined than any age since! So when she sings about the lack of class displayed `nowadays' it still seems perfectly true.'' Helen Coffey, a relatively newcomer to the stage who has, nevertheless, revealed remarkable thespian gifts in several recent productions, was chosen to play Desiree, daughter of Mme. Armfeldt, former mistress of Frederik and herself a slightly faded actress. "I called her up and told her I'd seen her in `Relatively Speaking' and told her I wanted her to be in my musical and she just laughed and said, `Oh, sure!' When she read the script she told me I was completely mad: `there's absolutely no way I can do this', is what she said! But Sondheim maintained that this was a part `for a woman of a certain age, a certain style, a talent for light comedy who is very glamorous'. Because of all those demands he thought it would be crazy to write difficult music for her as well. Judi Dench (in the same role) has had such a great success, especially with `Send In The Clowns' because she knows it's a song sung by a woman who is too pissed off to hold a lyric line -- if you keep catching your breath you can't sing a perfect ballad. It's not meant to be perfect -- you have to get Desiree to the point where the audience is so enraptured with her and longing for her to end up with her true love so that the technicalities of the song are not the point. Helen is so stunning in this role. At one stage, I found her rolled up in a ball, eyes shut, just trying to mark her way through that song but, now, everyone stays in rehearsal just to hear her sing it. She is my baby. More than anyone else she has blossomed. She had to learn the demands of musical theatre and she did. She and Nigel have wonderful chemistry together. Every time I feel the weight of all this pushing me into the ground, it's her progress that gives me the strength to go on.

It's hard to believe she has only been acting for two years. She has unbelievable dramatic instinct, correct timbre, superb vocal resonance -- and none of it is trained!'' Joel Froomkin believes the decision to give Helen Coffey the lead in a musical, to discover that Elsbeth Gibson can sing ("she sounds like Mary Martin in her later years: crusty, but beautiful!'') and to then cast Tricia Morgan as Charlotte are just three examples of the way in which he has cast `against the groove.' "Tricia has basically been the `pantomime princess' and she gives a quite extraordinary performance as a woman whose marriage has failed and she has this wonderful combination of total stillness and jaded cynicism. I have never dealt with anybody before who so desperately wants to get every detail of this role right. She wants to be Broadway standard and I think she's getting there. Even in her audition, I was totally blown away.'' By contrast, Victoria Waddington has revealed a rich gift for comedy. "This is a very romantic comedy with five couples trying to get together, so there's a lot of kissing and stuff going on. Victoria is the maid, with a lot of very physical, sexy stuff to do onstage. She has a wonderful physical approach, a musical director's dream with a dancer's brain that knows how to move and she just throws herself into it. She understands that her role is a send-up of society -- the exact opposite of all the artificiality of the rest of the cast -- and she knows that if she's nervous, A big night of music for director Joel Froomkin "As Henrik, I've been doing all this wild stuff with her and I'm the one who should be nervous. I have this vision of the Governor coming up to me after the show and saying `Well done' -- and then killing me with a very cold stare!'' Froomkin is full of praise, too, for 16-year old Happy Lindsay who takes on the role of Frederik's child bride. "She is enormously talented and has extended her voice by an octave for this show. She has worn out every CD of every work by Sondheim in her effort to understand her responsibility to the author, which is remarkable for someone of her age. There is a certain wisdom about Happy which is very moving.'' James Burn, the Oxford-educationed musical director who composed the music for Warren Cabral's `Joan of Arc', is also described by Joel Froomkin as a `genius'. "It's very rare, locally, to work on a project where the musical director has as much passion as the director. Because of `Broadway in Bermuda', James was really excited about doing a Sondheim piece. Normally, musical directors are exclusively concerned with getting the notes right, whereas James and I are totally in `sync', understanding the characterisation that determines a phrase. I suppose you could say he approaches it as a piece of drama rather than as a piece of music, so it's been a symbiotic relationship. It would be hard to say where his work ends and mine begins.'' The young director explains that he wanted to do the choreography himself because he did not want the actors to feel they were performing in three different ways: acting, singing and dancing. "I want the whole thing to mesh, so that they forget they are singing, forget they are even moving.'' Citing Wayne Holt as having "a voice like an angel, an unbelievable musical instrument'', Froomkin emphasises that he did not want the unfaithful husband of Charlotte, a military Count, to come across as `Hey, I've a big song coming on now'. "I didn't want any of the characters looking terrified when they had to burst into song or the singers being cast just because they can belt out a big number.'' Froomkin, who has a Masters in set design, describes the show as "a Fragonard. Peter Woodhouse designed the lighting and we worked together on the mechanics on how the sets moved and actually worked. We wanted it to move in a Broadway way. My gift as a designer is to capture exactly, the period of a piece. This was a technically very complex show so I designed the full set and then went to Peter's house where we decided between us where it all went!'' He has high praise, as well, for Richard Klesniks who has built about 50 percent of the period furniture (including a beautiful Victorian wheelchair) needed in the show. "In a place like Bermuda, you can't go out and just find stuff, so to have someone with the talent of Richard is a true gift.'' Similarly, he is thrilled with the costumes, designed by Howard Shmitt, his costume design professor in L.A. "They are truly amazing, with the detail expressing the character of each person. Mme. Armfeldt's clothes are really ten years ahead of her time but, so is she -- she's not a Miss Haversham. We had 25 costumes made and they were built in L.A. and then sent here to be finished. Monica Waddell and Tawnya White-Johnston both have this amazing sense of how to transform a costume by the amount of detail lavished upon it.

Monica says it's taken more time to do that than it normally takes to build a costume from scratch -- but the results are truly stunning.'' As for his relationship with his mother, Donna Froomkin, who is producing the show, Joel frankly admits that they often fight like the proverbial cat and dog. "That's because we are brutally honest with each other and we care about each other so much, we are prepared to fight for what is best for the show. We both happen to believe that if you charge people $25 a ticket -- which can get you into a Broadway show -- you have a responsibility to give people an incredible show. That's what we are working for and we demand the best of each other. I think the result is a quality that few will question.'' In spite of this professional confidence in his work, Joel Froomkin admits to a certain amount of nervousness as the `big night' approaches. "There are so many amazing people involved in this show. I am so fortunate. Just think: Derek Corlett has a minor role in this show but thrilled Bermuda with his directing debut last year. So you could say that I have three of Bermuda's best directors sitting here on stage with me: Derek, Nigel Kermode and Elsbeth Gibson. Yes, of course it's a huge responsibility, but a unique opportunity to present this truly amazing play -- the brilliance of Oscar Wilde set to music -- and I wouldn't have missed it for the world.'' `A Little Night Music' runs at City Hall from Monday, February 17 through February 22, including a matinee performance on the Saturday.