[41], A staged concert at Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center, was performed on September 6 and 7, 1985. descend the famous Follies staircase one last time. : With David Nixon, Richard Coleman, Jimmy Young, Diana Coupland. When Sally sees Ben, her former lover, she greets him self-consciously ("Don't Look at Me"). Follies is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by James Goldman . despite the routine of married life. Phyllis raunchily sings The The AP quoted Michael Coveney of the Financial Times, who wrote: "Follies is a great deal more than a camp love-in for old burlesque buffs and Sondheim aficionados. "[88] The production's run was extended, and its grosses exceeded expectations, but it did not recoup its investment. Ms. PETERS: Oh, you know, what's great about it is that there's no comparison. older selves with the failed promises of youth. The 2017 production was nominated for 10 Laurence Olivier Awards and won 2 for Best Musical Revival and Best Costume Design (by Vicki Mortimer). The musical has had a number of major revivals, and several of its songs have become standards, including "Broadway Baby", "I'm Still Here", "Too Many Mornings", "Could I Leave You? The production was directed by Arthur Allan Seidelman, set design by Ray Klausen, lighting design by Tom Ruzika, costumes by Randy Gardell, sound design by Philip G. Allen, choreography by Kay Cole, musical director Gerald Sternbach.[71]. After exiting, Buddy escorts the emotionally devastated[5] Sally back to their hotel with the promise to work things out later. [80], The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts production at the Eisenhower Theater started previews on May 7, 2011, with an official opening on May 21, and closed on June 19, 2011. the resurrection of their distant pasts only serves to point [125][126], In January 2015, it was reported that Rob Marshall signed on to direct, with Meryl Streep rumored to star. SALLY DURANT PLUMMER - Buddy's well-to-do wife, still gushy and girlish She had nodes that she had to have removed. New York, the eponymous Dimitri Weismann has gathered together Afterwards, though, Buddy's The-God-Why-Don't-You-Love-Me-Blues begin It also highlights that the Follies were such an incredible mix of high art and low art. Follies was performed in concert at the Sydney Opera House with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra[59] in February 1998 as the highlight of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras and had three performances. Upgrade to PRO She's crazy. So, you grow up listening to your mother. Sign up today to unlock amazing theatre resources and opportunities. In the London production the characters come to understand each other." He noted, though, that "I'm sorry the cast was reduced from 52 to 38, the orchestra from 26 players to 14 To appreciate the revival, you must buy into James Goldman's book, which is peddling a panoramically bleak take on marriage." But Bennett also reprised her Olivier-nominated performance. The four characters are "whisked into a dream show in which each acts out his or her own principal 'folly'". Yet he and Warren Carlyle just as clearly revel in the richness of the knowing pastiche songs with which Mr. Sondheim evokes the popular music of the prerock era. He asked author and playwright James Goldman to join him as bookwriter for a new musical. [82] Also featured were Rosalind Elias as Heidi, Rgine as Solange, Susan Watson as Emily, and Terri White as Stella. (1965), for which he had written the lyrics to Richard Rodgers's music, Sondheim decided that he would henceforth work only on projects where he could write both the music and lyrics himself. And then the rest of the cast is fantastic, Jan Maxwell and Ron Raines and Danny Burstein. "[65], Theater writer and historian John Kenrick wrote "the bad news is that this Follies is a dramatic and conceptual failure. It's so hard to put into words. A Broadway revival opened at the Belasco Theatre on April 5, 2001, and closed on July 14, 2001, after 117 performances and 32 previews. Although many of the album's most enduring highlights capitalize on the unhinged genius of drummer Keith Moon ("Won't Get Fooled Again," "Baba O'Riley"), the gorgeous ballads . Solange purrs her way through the fake Gallic sophistication Similarly, ghosts of the Twenties shows slip through the evening as the characters try desperately to regain their youth through re-creations of their performances and inane theatre sentiments of their past. [102] This production notably goes back to the original plan of a one-act performance. times, she's grateful just to have got through it, and confidently Janie Dee and Peter Forbes returned as Phyllis and Buddy, while Joanna Riding and Alexander Hanson replaced Staunton and Quast as Sally and Ben. The plot takes place in a crumbling Broadway theater, now scheduled for demolition, previously home to a musical revue (based on the Ziegfeld Follies). She made her Broadway debut in 1967 in "How Now, Dow Jones" and went on to play roles in "Promises, Promises" and "Applause." The coffee cup, I think about you. YOUNG HEIDI - The celebrated soprano in her heyday. of the derelict theatre Loveland rises - the apotheosis of a Weismann Ms. PETERS: She is horribly disappointed with her life, comes back to the Follies Theater that she performed in 30 years ago, where she was the happiest in her life, and trying to recapture the happiness again and think she is actually, that evening. for a first and last reunion: an invitation "to glamorize It starred Toni Lamond (Sally),[60] Jill Perryman(Carlotta), Judi Connelli (Phyllis), Terence Donovan (Ben), Nancye Hayes (Hattie), Glenn Butcher (Buddy), Ron Haddrick (Dimitri), Susan Johnston (Heidi),[61] and Leonie Page, Maree Johnson, Mitchell Butel, Maureen Howard. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Sally), telling us that if only juicy but drab Lucy and dressy Variety singer and performer Joan Savage sang "Broadway Baby". we have to face reality: all we can hope for is One More Kiss - For Sally and Buddy, Phyllis and Ben, inspired the operetta kings to produce their lushest The concert starred Barbara Cook (Sally), George Hearn (Ben), Mandy Patinkin (Buddy), and Lee Remick (Phyllis), and featured Carol Burnett (Carlotta), Betty Comden (Emily), Adolph Green (Theodore), Liliane Montevecchi (Solange LaFitte), Elaine Stritch (Hattie Walker), Phyllis Newman (Stella Deems), Jim Walton (Young Buddy), Howard McGillin (Young Ben), Liz Callaway (Young Sally), Daisy Prince (Young Phyllis), Andre Gregory (Dmitri), Arthur Rubin (Roscoe), and Licia Albanese (Heidi Schiller). but In Buddy's Eyes, she knows, she's still his princess. Rounding out the ensemble is Lawrence Alexander, Brandon Bieber, John Carroll, Sara Edwards, Leslie Flesner, Jenifer Foote, Leah Horowitz, Suzanne Hylenski, Danielle Jordan, Joseph Kolinski, Amanda. Their ghostly younger selves appear, watching them go. [72] Hal Linden originally was going to play Ben, but left because he was cast in the Broadway revival of Cabaret as Herr Schultz. Gene Nelson (Buddy). [43] During the run, Eartha Kitt replaced Gray, sparking somewhat of a comeback (she went on to perform her own one-woman show at The Shaftesbury Theatre to sell-out houses for three weeks from March 18, 1989, after Follies closed). And, in the haze of nostalgia, the past Sally Durant Plummer, "blond, petite, sweet-faced" and at 49 "still remarkably like the girl she was thirty years ago",[4] a former Weismann girl, is the first guest to arrive, and her ghostly youthful counterpart moves towards her. He predicted that the show eventually would achieve recognition as a Broadway classic. "MOT Box Office Opens Sept. 11 For Fall Season". ", "Who Could Be Blue? PHYLLIS ROGERS STONE - Ben's 50-year old society wife, smart, tart, vicious Finally, Weismann enters to greet his guests. Follies Stage production February 20, 1971 Comments Sung by character "Hattie Walker" . Afterward, Phyllis and Ben angrily discuss their lives and relationship, which has become numb and emotionless. "[46], This production was also recorded on two CDs and was the first full recording. SIMON: All the featured roles you've played on Broadway, including several obviously noteworthy Sondheim roles, I mean: "Annie Oakley," Mama Rose in "Gypsy," Witch in "Into the Woods," where does Sally Durant Plummer fit in? I want you so. You know, I'll do it for, like, at least a year and then beyond that. Buddy warns Phyllis that Sally is still in love with Ben, and she is shaken by how the past threatens to repeat itself. She shakes loose from the memory and begins to dance with Ben, who is touched by the memory of the Sally he once cast aside. Phyllis and Sally were roommates while in the Follies, and Ben and Buddy were best friends at school in New York. A concert version at the Melbourne Recital Centre,[97][98] staged with a full 23-piece orchestra and Australian actors Philip Quast (Ben), David Hobson (Buddy), Lisa McCune (Sally), Anne Wood (Phyllis), Rowan Witt (Young Buddy), Sophie Wright (Young Sally), Nancy Hayes (Hattie), Debra Byrne (Carlotta), and Queenie van de Zandt (Stella). [92], The 2011 Broadway and Kennedy Center production transferred to the Ahmanson Theatre, Los Angeles, California, in a limited engagement, from May 3, 2012, through June 9. Each of the four is shaken at the realization of how life has changed them. [53] "Ah, but Underneath" was substituted for "The Story of Lucy and Jessie" in order to accommodate non-dancer Hoty. The musical was written in one act, and the original director, Prince, did not want an intermission, while the co-director, Bennett, wanted two acts. Playing Hattie who sings "Broadway Baby" is Patti Davis Suarez. Sally appears next, dressed as a torch singer, singing of her passion for Ben from the past - and her obsession with him now ("Losing My Mind"). Julia McKenzie and David Healy. (Chapin, p. xi) Ted Chapin wrote, "Taken as a whole, the collection of reviews Follies received was as rangy as possible." "[11], Joanne Gordon, author and chair and artistic director, Theatre, at California State University, Long Beach,[12][13] wrote "Follies is in part an affectionate look at the American musical theatre between the two World Wars and provides Sondheim with an opportunity to use the traditional conventions of the genre to reveal the hollowness and falsity of his characters' dreams and illusions. As the guests reminisce, the stories of Ben, Phyllis, Buddy, and Sally unfold. Join the StageAgent community Thanks very much for being with us. "Follies' Restaged In London". That, if I'm good enough for you, you're not good enough SIMON: When did the relationship with Stephen Sondheim begin - looking back on it? waltzes. ", "Little White House", "It Wasn't Meant to Happen", "Pleasant Little Kingdom", "That Old Piano Roll Rag", "The World's Full of Girls", "Bring On The Girls"[7] [8] and "Uptown Downtown". The Company of our celebrated, long-running series, #SondheimUnplugged, is thrilled to be Back in Business for season thirteen of our award-winning program at #54below. The clarion-voiced Philip Quast has three Olivier Awards to his name and is bound to be considered for a fourth in due course for his soul-stirring performance as Ben Stone in the National Theatre . What follows is a series of musical numbers performed by the principal characters, each exploring their biggest desires. [75][76] Donna McKechnie enjoyed top billing as Carlotta. [27] The 2017 National Theatre production is performed without an interval as well as largely returning to the 1971 book, James Goldmans widow no longer alive to insist on the revised script. The cast starred Julia McKenzie (Sally), Donna McKechnie (Phyllis), Denis Quilley (Ben) and Ron Moody (Buddy). [86] A two-disc cast album of this production was recorded by PS Classics and was released on November 29, 2011. I like the run and I like to keep going deeper and deeper and see what I can learn and experience about life. [70], Follies was part of L.A.'s Reprise series, and it was housed at the Wadsworth Theatre, presented as a staged concert, running from June 15 to 23, 2002. It's like I'm losing my mind. Bobby Vernon; Gloria Swanson; Jay Dwiggins; Martha Trick; Robert Milliken; Fritz Schade; Juanita Hansen; Sylvia Ashton; Helen Bray; Florence Clark; Phyllis Haver; William Irving; Edgar Kennedy; Myrtle Lind; The score offers a pastiche of 1920s and 1930s musical styles, evoking a nostalgic tone. Terry Teachout of the Wall Street Journal noted that "One of the signal achievements of this Follies is that it succeeds in untangling each and every strand of the show's knotty plot Mr. Schaeffer is clearly unafraid of the darkness of Follies, so much so that the first act is bitter enough to sting. Follies premiered on Broadway on April 4, 1971, at the Winter Garden Theatre. The 2001 Roundabout Broadway revival, the first major production following Goldman's death in 1998, was again a combination of previous versions. "[120], There have been six recordings of Follies released: the original 1971 Broadway cast album; Follies in Concert, Avery Fisher Hall (1985); the original London production (1987); the Paper Mill Playhouse (1998); the 2011 Broadway revival; and the 2017 London revival. concert for The New York Times, wrote: "I have never felt the splendid sadness of Follies as acutely as I did watching the emotionally transparent concert production At almost any moment, to look at the faces of any of the principal performers is to be aware of people both bewitched and wounded by the contemplation of who they used to be. an eerie operetta waltz, all dreams are a sweet mistake and eventually Other cast replacements included Millicent Martin as Phyllis. the bitterness that has, until now, been more or less repressed. WAITERS, WAITRESSES, PHOTOGRAPHERS, SHOWGIRLS, etc. Directed by Matthew Warchus with choreography by Kathleen Marshall, it starred Blythe Danner (Phyllis), Judith Ivey (Sally), Treat Williams (Buddy), Gregory Harrison (Ben), Marge Champion, Polly Bergen (Carlotta), Joan Roberts (Laurey from the original Broadway production of Oklahoma! Gain full access to show guides, character breakdowns, auditions, monologues and more! [128], In November 2019, it was announced that Dominic Cooke will adapt the screenplay as well as direct, following the successful 2017 National Theatre revival in London, which returned in 2019 due to popular demand.[129]. The cast starred Donna Murphy (Phyllis), Victoria Clark (Sally), Victor Garber (Ben) and Michael McGrath (Buddy). screen goddess Carlotta Campion to the most nondescript chorine, EMILY WHITMAN - The female half of a cheerful song and dance team. Broadway Cast, 2011 (PS Classics, 2 CDs) (4 / 5) The success of the Paper Mill Playhouse production played a sizable role in convincing Broadway that a Follies revival was, in fact, feasible. ); and Carlotta Campion, a film star who has embraced life and benefited from every experience. "), as they are mirrored by their younger selves. [31], Frank Rich, for many years the chief drama critic for The New York Times, had first garnered attention, while an undergraduate at Harvard University, with a lengthy essay for the Harvard Crimson about the show, which he had seen during its pre-Broadway run in Boston. Ben, goaded, starts to argue with Phyllis, "Review: Musical Theatre 1998 Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras Festival". To extend the show, it would have been necessary to negotiate new contracts with the entire company because of the Belasco's limited seating, it wasn't deemed financially feasible to do so. Buddy then appears, dressed in "plaid baggy pants, garish jacket, and a shiny derby hat", and performs a high-energy vaudeville routine depicting how he is caught between his love for Sally and Margie's love for him[4] ("The God-Why-Don't-You-Love-Me Blues"). Synopsis. Ben drunkenly propositions Carlotta, with whom he once had a fling, but she has a young lover and coolly turns him down. between Buddy and his pal, Ben. It's just that the most glamorous room . Stephen Sondheim. Finally, he wrote: "But Follies never makes fun of the honorable musical tradition to which it belongs. The evening follows a reunion of the Weismann Girls who performed during the interwar period. Chapin relates that "there was one song that Dick Jones [producer of the cast album] didn't want to include on the album but which Steve Sondheim most definitely did. On the drab stage [19] However, the August 23, 2011 Broadway preview performance was performed without an intermission. wife, while poor miserable Sally moans in a smouldering torch number Heidi Schiller, joined by her younger counterpart, performs "One More Kiss", her aged voice a stark contrast to the sparkling coloratura of her younger self. Sign up today to unlock amazing theatre resources and opportunities. The music is so beautiful, classical, involved, intricate. Don't Look At Me, Sally babbles "[119], Brantley, reviewing the 2007 Encores! Follies By Rick Pender Follies original poster Follies, Sondheim's seventh Broadway production, began as The Girls Upstairs, a collaboration with bookwriter James Goldman about some young women in a Ziegfeld-like extravaganza and the stage-boy Johnnies who courted them. Ben denies this, but still wants Phyllis out of his life. with Live, Love, Laugh, singing of how clever and adept NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. Ms. PETERS: Do over. Join StageAgent today and unlock amazing theatre resources and opportunities. '"[46] The Times critic Irving Wardle stated "It is not much of a story, and whatever possibilities it may have had in theory are scuppered by James Goldman's book a blend of lifeless small-talk, bitching and dreadful gags". Paul Kerryson directed, and the cast starred David Durham as Ben, Kathryn Evans as Sally, Louise Gold as Phyllis, Julia Goss as Heidi and Henry Goodman as Buddy. [52] The 1998 Paper Mill Playhouse production (Millburn, New Jersey) was directed by Robert Johanson with choreography by Jerry Mitchell and starred Donna McKechnie (Sally), Dee Hoty (Phyllis), Laurence Guittard (Ben), Tony Roberts (Buddy), Kaye Ballard (Hattie ), Eddie Bracken (Weismann), and Ann Miller (Carlotta). Polly Bergen stops everything cold with "I'm Still Here", bringing a rare degree of introspection to a song that is too often a mere belt-fest [T]he emotional highpoint comes when Joan Roberts sings 'One More Kiss'. It is 1971, and the iconic Weismann Theater, now a crumbling shell of its former glory, is about to be demolished to provide precious New York City parking space.
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