Judi Dench sings "Send in the Clowns"

With the first-ever Broadway revival of A Little Night Music approaching its opening date, I've felt like revisiting all my various recordings and texts and video of previous productions. This one is a favorite. Dame Judi Dench won an Olivier Award for her triumphant performance as Desiree in the 1995 Royal National Theatre revival of A Little Night Music. The production, directed by Sean Mathias, ran for 11 months and co-starred Sian Philips as Madame Armfeldt and Laurence Guittard (the original Broadway Carl Magnus) as Fredrik. A cast album of this production was made, but it has been long out of print and goes for extraordinary amounts on Amazon and E-Bay. However, if you do get the chance to hear it, you will not be disappointed. Especially in Dench's sublime portrayal, my second favorite next to originator Glynis Johns.

Here Dench appears on a British talkshow to promote the show and talks a little bit about the play and her character and the moments leading into "Send in the Clowns," followed by a heartbreaking rendition of the song by the star. Enjoy: