Peters, excellent musical theater actress that she is, has a sharp sense of comic timing, thus extracting more humor from some of the show’s most amusing lines. For example, when she confronts the man she would like to call her own, Fredrik Egerman (Alexander Hanson) and his very young wife Anne (Ramona Mallory), I like her line emphasis as she introduces her daughter. “And this is MY daughter,” she says, sarcastically mocking the age discrepancy in Egerman’s marriage. Although Peters may not project the sweep of an actress who has played great dramatic parts, she impressively manages to convey the mix of self-confidence, inner frustration and romantic, emotional longing inherent in the role.

In the case of Stritch as Madame Armfeldt, Desirée’s aging mother looking back with worldly wisdom on the trajectory of her life and the course of romantic relationships, she is more flamboyantly sharp in delivering the lines to hilarious effect. Lansbury was wonderfully droll too, but with less fanfare. Strtich punches across her character delineation with her characteristically brilliant timing and toughness in her voice. Yet she also projects the sad world-weariness of reminiscing with regrets as her life approaches its end. Thus Stritch makes the character thoroughly her own and her performance is a treasure.

It is saying something that in this exalted company, Leigh Ann Larkin as the saucy, sexually provocative Petra, the maid, can make her own mark with her fetching, wistful rendition of Sondheim’s number “The Miller’s Son.” Her moment to shine must also be considered a highlight.