Actress Stefanie Smart had a bad-hair-day experience en route to playing Desiree Armfeldt in Stephen Sondheim's "A Little Night Music," her first musical at Manoa Valley Theatre, opening Wednesday.

"I had to be blonder, so I went down to Ward Warehouse, and the hair guy used stronger solution, which made my hair so brittle, it started falling (out)," Smart said. She's not blaming her hairdresser, nor guest director John Rampage, whose decision it was for Smart to go lighter blonde.

"It's the way I used to look when I was younger," Smart, 40, said of her flaxen locks. "Now that I'm older, I didn't feel it was appropriate. But John wanted the blonde look because the musical, based on (Ingmar Bergman's) 'Smiles of a Summer Night' film, is about Scandinavians and Swedes. My hair will be pulled back; but I really think (the blondness is) a little bimbo-y on me."

In the name of art, she agreed to lighten up. To combat the temporary hair fall-out, Smart found protein reinforcements and conditioners that seem to have resolved the problem.

As Desiree, Smart sings the musical's signature song, "Send in the Clowns." It's one of the pinnacles of her stage career.

"It's the show and the role I've always wanted to do, since moving home from the Mainland in 1992," said Smart, who has theatrical roots here. She is the granddaughter of the late Richard Smart, an advocate of theater who left an endowment for Manoa Valley Theatre to support local actors.

"I've never seen a production (of 'Night Music') before, and when people asked me if I had my druthers on what I'd love to do, this would have been the one. It's the role of a lifetime and it's been worth the wait."

When she saw that MVT had scheduled "Night Music," Smart had to try out. This, after doing a different kind of musical, "The Full Monty," last fall at Diamond Head Theatre.

"I try to do just one show a season, but this year, there have been so many good shows which I was age-appropriate for. Unfortunately, there's no union, so virtually no pay, but I don't mind giving up some of my other work and time to sustain and do a part."

Sondheim's beloved 1973 musical, featuring a book by Hugh Wheeler, won a Tony Award for best musical as well as a New York Drama Critics Circle Award. The show explores the foibles of romance, mixing memorable tunes and waltzes with a witty script as mismatched European lovers try to sort out their relationships.

For Smart, "Night Music" also is a bridge to her personal life: Because of her grandfather's gift to MVT, she and her cast mates receive token payment for their performances. "I guess the money will pay for my hair therapy," she chuckled.

Her other job is singing at weddings, usually for Japanese couples, which often requires a rendition of the "Hawaiian Wedding Song." "In a busy month, I do around 100, but not in English (she prefers the original Hawaiian version), and that's my daily bread. Theater feeds my soul."

She said the market has been shrinking somewhat since Japanese bridal parties discovered destinations such as Australia and Guam, "and hotel conversions to condos have removed some of the available rooms in Hawai'i."

Reach Wayne Harada at wharada@honoluluadvertiser.com.