Until I viewed the video of Judi Dench singing Sondheim’s Send In The Clowns, I was unaware of the significance of the song and completely naive about how dramatically moving its effect could be.
Rather than over-explain the obvious, I’ll instead urge viewers to watch the first video, in which Judi Dench, speaking to a talk show audience in 1996, provides a short introduction to the role of the song within the context of A Little Night Music and then performs the number.
Send In The Clowns – Judi Dench
I also understand, again for the first time, why Sondheim is deservedly acclaimed. In this sequence, he instructs a student about the phrasing and enunciation of the lyrics of Send In The Clowns, teaching the rest of us, in the process, about his intentions in writing the piece.
Sondheim Teaches Send In The Clowns
As counterpoint to the profound anger and sadness of Send In The Clowns is Judi Dench’s irrepressibly funny rendition of Sixteen Going On Seventeen.
Sixteen Going on Seventeen – Judi Dench
Credit Due Department
Lisa Sweet alerted me to the Judi Dench performance featured in this post.
Note: Originally posted Dec 7, 2008 at 1HeckOfAGuy.com, a predecessor of AllanShowalter.com
When pulling together clips of some of her fellow British thespians, it quickly became apparent that sooner or later, all British actors like to have a go at the singing, and some of them are actually pretty good.