Stephen Sondheim

A favorite subject of Sondheim's was unrequited love; we see it in Mary ("Merrily We Roll Along"), Lovett, Sally Durant, Fosca, John Hinckley, Jr.

A standout in this canon is Charlotte, who is possibly both the wisest and the dumbest character in "A Little Night Music." She has married a straying brute, and despite her formidable strength, she just can't stand up to this guy. She loves him.

He smiles sweetly, strokes my hair...

Says he misses me.

I would murder him right there--

But, first, I die.

He talks softly of his wars--

And his horses--and his whores...

Charlotte's "little death" is the death of pride; she is humiliated, on a regular basis. But a little death is also an orgasm; Charlotte feels an erotic charge in her spouse's company.

The song evokes thoughts of Chekhov--how the private life runs parallel to "the river of public behavior." Charlotte contrasts the superficial details of her morning with the storm that is happening under her skin:

Every day a little death...

In the parlor, in the bed...

In the curtains, in the silver...

In the buttons, in the bread...

"In the curtains--in the silver--in the buttons..." The repeated rhythm seems relentless. It gives us a clue that Charlotte is teetering on the verge of lunacy.

Here is Ruthie Ann Miles....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcF0SWoBbYc

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