{"id":37770,"date":"2026-03-13T07:52:38","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T11:52:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=37770"},"modified":"2026-03-13T07:52:48","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T11:52:48","slug":"hobbs-brings-one-of-sondheims-leading-ladies-to-life-in-a-little-night-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/hobbs-brings-one-of-sondheims-leading-ladies-to-life-in-a-little-night-music\/","title":{"rendered":"Hobbs brings one of Sondheim\u2019s leading ladies to life in A Little Night Music"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

At an emotional crossroads, a renowned actress reflects on her life \u2013 a journey of love and loss \u2013 by singing the iconic song, Send in the Clowns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s one of the best-known pieces penned by the legendary Stephen Sondheim for Desiree Armfelt, the leading lady of A Little Night Music. And that song was reason enough for Aurora\u2019s Kerry Hobbs to put her best foot forward in bringing Armfelt to life in Wavestage Theatre\u2019s upcoming production of the musical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStephen Sondheim is affectionally referred to as \u2018God\u2019 in the theatre world because his music has really rich, complex characters,\u201d says Hobbs. \u201cIt\u2019s a singer\u2019s dream to perform Sondheim\u2019s music. This is what Desiree sings when she is at her most emotionally vulnerable point and, as a performer, getting to tackle that material is truly a privilege.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wavestage\u2019s production of A Little Night Music opens Thursday, March 26, at the NewRoads Performing Arts Centre in Newmarket, through Sunday, March 29.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStep into the shimmering twilight of Stephen Sondheim\u2019s A Little Night Music, a waltzing whirlwind of romance, regret, and razor-sharp wit,\u201d says Wavestage. \u201cDesiree Armfeldt, a renowned actress, is growing weary of her life on the road. A chance encounter with an old flame sets in motion a series of romantic misadventures that culminate in a madcap weekend in the country where passions erupt, jealousies flare, and hilarity triumphs over all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPart comedy of manners, part battle of the sexes, this funny, elegant work inspired by Ingmar Bergman\u2019s period film Smiles of a Summer Night explores a tangled web of affairs. Recipient of three Tony Awards, including Best Musical, A Little Night Music is a sumptuous, provocative, laugh-out-loud masterpiece that will leave you thoroughly enchanted.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a work that Hobbs was enchanted by even before she first auditioned for Wavestage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Active in community theatre since the late 1990s, this A Little Night Music is her first role with within the Wavestage community and Hobbs says the calibre of the production has been \u201cfantastic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a fantastically talented cast,\u201d she says, particularly noting the actress who plays Desiree\u2019s daughter, Frederika, Harper Asch, is fresh off the recent Stratford Festival production of Annie. \u201cThere are some really and truly gifted performers who are part of the process and Wavestage attracts that calibre of performers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I went to the read-through, I had really only met one person in the cast before, so I sat down at this table and people began delivering their lines with those really intense, intense characterizations, and then when they sang, I thought, \u2018Oh, this is going to be a magical experience,\u2019 because the voices are fantastic and the performances are really strong.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hobbs\u2019 magical experience with community theatre is something she says she \u201cstumbled into.\u201d As a child, she regularly attended church with her family and \u201cgrew up singing next to my mother.\u201d She began working on her voice in early adulthood where her coach suggested she try out community theatre. She was instantly bitten by the bug, she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really, really rewarding to be a performer, but very few people can make it a career. There are limited opportunities for people to do this professionally and still be able to pay a mortgage and carry on with their family obligations. There are lots of incredibly talented people, many of whom was professional training, who’ve gone into community theater as a way to maintain that passion while still doing something that supports their lifestyle. It’s really an infectious bug. Once people get into community theater there are so many positive experiences related to it. It’s a great community. It gives you the opportunity whether you\u2019re on stage or behind the stage, helping to be a part of a creative experience \u2013 there\u2019s really nothing quite like it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the cast and crew put the finishing touches on this month\u2019s performance, Hobbs says while A Little Night Music might not be Sondheim\u2019s best-known work, it offers a \u201ctruly delightful evening out, a great story, beautiful music, high calibre performance at a community price,\u201d and offers \u201cwe can all use a smile.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a really good time to go to something that gives you that little bit of escape,\u201d she says. \u201cWe\u2019re in a time in the world where there\u2019s a lot of anxiety and a lot of frustration and fear. What Sondheim has created with A Little Night Music is a complex world with complicated characters who have messy lives, but at the end of the day, it all turns out right. You go through that journey with the characters and it ends on a note of hope with joy, and it\u2019s funny. You\u2019ll have a good laugh as you sit through the show, you\u2019ll enjoy the story, the music is truly beautiful, and, at the end of the day, you walk out feeling good which, I think these days, perhaps more than other times is a really important consideration!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more, including ticket information, visit wavestagetheatre.com\/nightmusic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At an emotional crossroads, a renowned actress reflects on her life \u2013 a journey of love and loss \u2013 by singing the iconic song, Send in the Clowns. It\u2019s one of the best-known pieces penned by the legendary Stephen Sondheim for Desiree Armfelt, the leading lady of A Little Night Music. And that song was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":37771,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/2026-03-12-02.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-9Pc","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-08 06:27:26","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37770"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37770\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37772,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37770\/revisions\/37772"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}