STEPHEN SONDHEIM’s acclaimed musical A Little Night Music comes to Theatre on the Bay from 30 June to 12 July 2026. Jonathan Roxmouth (Key Change, Chicago) will be playing the character of Frederick Egerman. We caught up with him to learn more.
“Fredrick is a middle-aged lawyer going through a particular kind of mid-life crisis,” says Roxmouth. “He’s bookish, slightly bumbling but a very real normal man, married to a beautiful young woman who isn’t interested in consummating the marriage and so, he is somewhat frustrated. Into his life comes an old flame who lights the tinder box of his predicament.”
A Little Night Music is a singularly challenging show, says Roxmouth. “Musically it is extremely complex with lyrics that are fiendish to learn and remember. The script is seemingly light and funny but there is a very human, almost flawed undercurrent to it that is very hard to play correctly. When you do get it right it is the most addictive high you can imagine. The reverse also means you can get so down about it. That’s the seesaw that I can’t quite quit.”
Roxmouth says he appreciates how unique this piece is in terms of being a true comedy of manners: “The reality of the characters makes it relatable and almost uncomfortably true to life. We all know people like these characters or we are them. On top of that, it hasn’t been performed in this country since the original production in the ’70s with Taubi Kushlick as the helm. This is a real ‘event’.”
Roxmouth has previously played a Sondheim production, Sweeney Todd — The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, 11 years ago. “The appeal of this material is the unflinching gauntlet it presents to an actor who sings. It’s character first all the way. The integration of this means the audience has a theatrical experience that is unlike any other. It’s not just another musical. It is to the musical theatre what Shakespeare is to the theatre without any alienation or elitism.”
