Melissa Rauch, Night Court‘s star and executive producer, was so excited about this week’s episode, “A Little Night Court Music,” she penned a letter to us TV writers.
She began with context: “Between both iterations (the original series and our revival), there’s been a total of 12 seasons and 240 episodes produced of Night Court.” Then she let her joyful musical theater geek flag fly, “I’m thrilled to announce that “A Little Night Court Music” will be the first episode ever to showcase an unforgettable original musical production that envisions if Night Court: The Musical was a real thing!”
Disclaimer: The following review contains major spoilers for Night Court Season 3 Episode 12, “A Little Night Court Music.” If you haven’t watched it yet, you may want to stop here. Otherwise, the show must go on.
Night Court, “A Little Night Music”
The 12th episode of the third season, “A Little Night Court Music,” follows a multi-episode B Plot arc wherein Dan Fielding (John Larroquette) has written his memoirs and fails to find a publisher. In “A Little Night Music,” we learn that part of the problem is that he hired Flobert (Gary Anthony Williams) as his literary agent.
RELATED: Night Court‘s Gary Anthony Williams Unpacks Flobert
Depressed by constant rejection, Dan’s mood crosses from curmudgeon to downright snarky. Enter Sy Hoffman (Richard Kind), a recurring Broadway crook/producer. After his vision returns (another story), Abby convinces Hoffman to produce a musical based on Dan’s memoirs, ceding total creative control to Dan.
A Musical, It Is Not
Rauch front-loaded us with a crucial bit of description in her letter. “A Little Night Court Music” is not a musical. Rather, it is about the whys and why-nots of making a musical and showcases a single musical number. In a 22-minute runtime, the musical is the three-minute climax to the narrative.
The number, “All Rise,” is everything you expect a number thrown together in three days by people with no musical theater to be. As Dan explains to Hoffman, despite being based on his memoirs, the show’s not solely about him. It’s about the ensemble that is the Night Court.
RELATED: Lacretta Spills About Her Night Court Life
And to paraphrase a relatively recent Disney musical number, in every perfect constellation, everybody gets to shine. As Gurgs, Lacretta delivers with her real-life Broadway experience. Whether her singing was dubbed in post or done live, it was pitch-perfect.
Courtroom clerk Wyatt (Nyambi Nyambi) gets the patter portion of the number, listing off the cases on the docket. It’s a true-to-Night-Court list, not shying away from the seedier crimes they regularly see. Flobert’s solo is reflective of the character. Not great, but very, very confident.
Wendie Malick’s Julianne doesn’t let her lustful hankering for the improbably attractive Hoffman make her miss a beat. Her Charleston to sashay duo number with Dan was a fun foray into classic choreo, even though Larroquette appeared to make up most of his steps to get into position to catch her in a dip.
All Rise
Although Hoffman is arrested post-applause by his drama-major-turned-FBI-agent nephew, Hudson Ann Martin (Melissa’s brother, Ben Rauch), representing the Musical Crimes Division, it’s not clear whether the wealthy investor Glorivette Sinclair (SJ Mendelson) pulls her financial support of the show. If Dan were to write his final act, who knows? Night Court: The Musical could still be a thing.
RELATED: Nyambi Nyambi Rises to the Occasion on Night Court
No, “A Little Night Court Music” is not a musical, but that’s probably a good thing. It takes a serious shift in context — or at least summoning a tap-dancing demon — to make a one-off musical episode really work. What “A Little Night Court Music” does share with all the great musicals is a whole lotta heart. And Dan’s little comment at the end about turning Abby into a vampire in his memoir to sell more copies might be the sneakiest True Blood reference ever. Two thumbs up!
New episodes of Night Court air on NBC Tuesdays at 8:30/7:30c and stream the next day on Peacock.
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