The four characters are "whisked into a dream show in which each acts out his or her own principal 'folly'". Peter Marks of The Washington Post wrote that the revival "takes an audience halfway to paradise." are gleefully dusting off their old acts: Theodore and Emily waltzes. 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. Performance: Broadway Baby by Ethel Shutta | SecondHandSongs He creates what's necessary for the piece. Follies Belongs on Broadway; Rosemary Clooney's Finale at - Observer And this is a very interesting character, probably unlike any other character I've ever played really. Buddy and Ben, the theatre seems haunted by their younger selves, relaxed and philosophical about the old days: good times, bum NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. Jayne Houdyshell as Hattie, Mary Beth Peil as Solange LaFitte, and Don Correia as Theodore joined the Broadway cast. Mr. Weismann's exquisite taste in feminine pulchritude. I want you so. At first too weary to stand, and wearing clunky spectacles, she is incongruously dowdy - comic and poignant. Bernadette Peters, who's stopped more shows on Broadway than the stagehands union, joins us in our studios. The Paper Mill Playhouse production used some elements from London but stayed close to the original. This page was last edited on 24 April 2023, at 21:33. and Loveland calls, luring them back to a playground of Leading Lady / Broadway Baby / Another Openin' Another Show: Jill Perryman: 1975: Medley: Broadway Baby: Bernadette Peters: 1981: Broadway Baby: Dorothy Loudon: 1986: Broadway Baby: Daisy Eagan: February 23, 1993: no children but everything else. "Waiting for the Girls Upstairs" - Ben, Sally, Phyllis and Buddy, Young Ben, Young Sally, Young Phyllis and Young Buddy. You know, when I went to see "A Little Night Music," before I was even knew I was going to be in it, the music started and I went: Oh my God, I can't believe the person that wrote all those other things also wrote this. The budget was reported to be $7.3 million. Sally), telling us that if only juicy but drab Lucy and dressy I like to do that. And then the rest of the cast is fantastic, Jan Maxwell and Ron Raines and Danny Burstein. 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. As more guests arrive, Sally's husband, Buddy, enters. ", "Who Could Be Blue? The once resplendent theater is now little but planks and scaffolding ("Prologue"/"Overture"). The net result was four new songs For reasons which I've forgotten, I rewrote "Loveland" for the London production. Research Playwrights, Librettists, Composers and Lyricists. big-shots from the UN. And then as a teenager, I started singing soprano and I went, well, I can sing soprano. The 2017 production was nominated for 10 Laurence Olivier Awards and won 2 for Best Musical Revival and Best Costume Design (by Vicki Mortimer). Follies - Everything Sondheim "[34] Chapin confirms this: "Alas final word came from Capitol that they would not go for two records [Dick Jones] now had to propose cuts throughout the score in consultation with Steve. [49], Michigan Opera Theatre (MOT) was the first major American opera company to present Follies as part of their main stage repertoire, running from October 21, 1988, through November 6. The Who's fifth studio effort is an exhilarating rock 'n' roll masterpiece stacked with killer songs that made it a staple of '70s rock radio. A lthough it has legions of admirers, Follies has often seemed a problematic show. Broadway Baby - Daisy Eagan - Follies - YouTube [62][63] It followed a similar presentation at the 1995 Melbourne Festival of Arts with a different cast and orchestra. Sally is bitter, having never been happy with Buddy, although he has always adored her. [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]. OTHER GUESTS and PERFORMERS, STAGE MANAGER, The score offers a pastiche of 1920s and 1930s musical styles, evoking a nostalgic tone. Broadway Baby The Road You Didn't Take Bolero d'Amour . For the 1985 concert, no one was going. Dimitri Weismann's reunion; they'll have to find out whether anything's 'Follies'. [41], A staged concert at Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center, was performed on September 6 and 7, 1985. [38] The production was the premiere attraction at the newly constructed 1,800-seat theater, which, coincidentally, was itself razed thirty years later (in 2002, in order to build a new office building), thus mirroring the Follies plot line upon which the musical is based. SIMON: Stephen Sondheim wrote "Broadway Baby" in the early 1970s for "Follies," the award-winning musical he created with James Goldman. Inspired by a New York Times article about a gathering of former Ziegfeld Girls, they decided upon a story about ex-showgirls. And I thought oh, this would be lovely to do. Washington, DC, Auditons for AMDA (Washington) YOUNG BEN - Ben thirty years earlier, in 1940, when he was dating Broadway impresario Dimitri Weismann arranges a reunion of the actors, singers, dancers, and personalities who peopled his famous Follies in the years between the World Wars, as a farewell tribute to the doomed building. Merrily We Roll Along (2012 New York Cast Recording) Stephen Sondheim. "MOT Box Office Opens Sept. 11 For Fall Season". Who's Next (Bonus Track Version) by The Who on Apple Music 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. The Who. PS Classics co-founder Tommy Krasker stated "We've never had the kind of reaction that we've had for Follies. the old days, stumble through a song or two and lie about ourselves" -before that she's Losing My Mind. He praised a "broodingly luminous Jan Maxwell" and Burstein's "hapless onetime stage-door Johnny", as well as "the show's final 20 minutes, when we ascend with the main characters into an ironic vaudeville dreamscape of assorted neuroses - the most intoxicating articulation of the musical's 'Loveland' sequence that I've ever seen." Follies (Musical) Plot & Characters | StageAgent New York, the eponymous Dimitri Weismann has gathered together In 1971, on the soon-to-be-demolished stage of the Weismann Theatre, a reunion is being held to honor the Weismann's Follies shows past and the beautiful chorus girls who performed there every year between the two world wars. Portions of the concert were seen by audiences worldwide in the televised documentary about the making of the concert, also released on videotape and DVD, of 'Follies' in Concert. The original Broadway production, directed by Harold Prince and Michael Bennett, with choreography by Bennett, opened April 4, 1971. If you're somebody that gets it and then thinks, you know, I've done it, I've gotten it now and there's no place else to go. Other notable performers in the original productions were Fifi D'Orsay as Solange LaFitte, Justine Johnston as Heidi Schiller, Mary McCarty as Stella Deems, Arnold Moss as Dimitri Weismann, Ethel Shutta as Hattie Walker, and Marcie Stringer and Charles Welch as Emily and Theodore Whitman. SIMON: When did you first realize that you could sing? These plans also did not work out,[3] and finally Harold Prince, who had worked previously with Sondheim, became the producer and director. serenades those Beautiful Girls, the now-elderly ing6nues [54] This production received a full-length recording on two CDs, including not only the entire score as originally written but a lengthy appendix of songs cut from the original production in tryouts. Follies set, a fabulous wedding cake reaching for the stars, an How does she compare? If you don't Broadway Baby Album Reviews, Songs & More - AllMusic "[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. [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. What Makes 'Follies' a Classic? 7 Answers and 1 Big Problem. an eerie operetta waltz, all dreams are a sweet mistake and eventually He predicted that the show eventually would achieve recognition as a Broadway classic. She's hale and hearty, singing and swinging better than ever. "[30] Prince planned to present the musical on the West Coast and then on a national tour. Ms. PETERS: He does that with notes and music. he's spent Too Many Mornings dreaming of her. Follies premiered on Broadway on April 4, 1971, at the Winter Garden Theatre. ROSCOE - The Follies' famous tenor whose golden tones saluted Oh, you do? "[115], Time magazine wrote about the original Broadway production: "At its worst moments, Follies is mannered and pretentious, overreaching for Significance. but cold Jessie could only combine then I could tell you someone The younger Ben and Buddy softly call to their "girls upstairs", and the Follies end. Buddy, nothing is so certain but that Love Will See Us Through. Once the party gets under way it isn't long before the regulars is a 1917 American silent comedy film directed by Clarence G. Badger and starring Gloria Swanson. who would finally feel just fine." Follies review - Sondheim's showbiz stunner returns in breathtaking She's crazy. EMILY WHITMAN - The female half of a cheerful song and dance team. is by now wondering Could I Leave You and live without Ben, 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." WAITERS, WAITRESSES, PHOTOGRAPHERS, SHOWGIRLS, etc. Amidst a deafening discord, Ben screams at all the figures from his past and collapses as he cries out for Phyllis. The production was directed by Eric Schaeffer, with choreography by Warren Carlyle, costumes by Gregg Barnes, set by Derek McLane and lighting by Natasha Katz. "Sondheim's 'Follies' closes despite packed performances; Run of the show ends with the expiration of special Equity deal". [26] By the time the 2011 Broadway revival opened, it was performed with an intermission in two acts. [47] Clines further commented: "In part, the show is a tribute to musical stage history, in which the 57-year-old Mr Sondheim is steeped, for he first learned song writing at the knee of Oscar Hammerstein II and became the acknowledged master songwriter who bridged past musical stage romance into the modern musical era of irony and neurosis. Phyllis raunchily sings The "[14] "Follies contains two scores: the Follies pastiche numbers and the book numbers. Lastly Ben takes the stage Ms. PETERS: Wow. A Survey of Follies Recordings, Part One Original Cast and '80s Concert In preparation for the cast album of the new Broadway production of Follies, here's part one of an overview of the four . Vance, David. It starred Alexis Smith (Phyllis), John McMartin (Ben), Dorothy Collins (Sally), Gene Nelson (Buddy), along with several veterans of the Broadway and vaudeville stage. Recent episodes in T Greats and matronly starlets, veterans of a more innocent age of entertainment, The emotional high generated by the reunion of the Follies girls ultimately gives way to anger, disappointment, and weary resignation to reality. A rich, new production of Follies has opened at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., with the original orchestrations. Young Daisy Eagan sings "Broadway Baby" from Sondheim's "Follies."This video is an excerpt from the highly recommended 1992 concert DVD "Sondheim: A Celebrat. older selves with the failed promises of youth. Whitman recall their sweetly naive duct, Rain on the Roof: 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. And, in the haze of nostalgia, the past After the failure of Do I Hear a Waltz? Ms. PETERS: Oh, it's my pleasure to be here again. "Great American Musicals in Concert" series featured Follies as its 40th production for six performances in February 2007 in a sold out semi-staged concert. Ms. PETERS: Oh, definitely, because I was really a kid. As Roscoe [43], The book "was extensively reworked by James Goldman, with Sondheim's cooperation and also given an intermission." After exiting, Buddy escorts the emotionally devastated[5] Sally back to their hotel with the promise to work things out later. Phyllis kisses a waiter and confesses to him that she had always wanted a son. Sign up today to unlock amazing theatre resources and opportunities. [95], For its first production in France, Follies was presented at the Toulon Opera House in March 2013. Mr. DANNY BURSTEIN (Actor, singer): (as Buddy) (Singing) I've got those, God why don't you love me? Linden, Duke, Carr, Bosley Do Sondheim in L.A. June 15-23", "Evita's Bob Gunton Replaces Hal Linden as Ben in L.A. 'Follies' June 15-23", "McKechnie, Evans, Peterson in Follies in Concert in MI", "Broadway-Bound 'Follies' Plays Final Performance at Kennedy Center June 19", "Casting Complete for Kennedy Center 'Follies'; "Young" Counterparts Announced", "Kennedy Centers Follies is Broadway Bound", "Hey, L.A., We're Coming Your Way: 'Follies' Ends Broadway Run Jan. 22", "The Right Girls: Kennedy Center Follies, With Bernadette Peters, Jan Maxwell, Elaine Paige, Begins Broadway Previews", "Two-Disc 'Follies' Revival Recording Is Big Seller", "Theater Review. 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. [19][81] The production played to 95% capacity. Phyllis interrupts this tender moment and has a biting encounter with Sally. Sally tells Ben how her days have been spent with Buddy, trying to convince him (and herself) ("In Buddy's Eyes"). Kinky Boots (Original 2013 Broadway Cast) Cyndi Lauper, Billy Porter & Stark Sands. Smith (Phyllis), John McMartin (Ben), Dorothy Collins (Sally) and and sleek. Don't Look At Me, Sally babbles 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. [77], New York City Center's Encores! whose name became a byword for style and opulence. It originally was performed in one act. 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. According to Variety, the production was a "total financial failure, with a cumulative loss of $792,000. enchanted citadel where the two couples can re-visit their individual [72] Hal Linden originally was going to play Ben, but left because he was cast in the Broadway revival of Cabaret as Herr Schultz. Follies | Cast Album Reviews 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]. Marge Champion and Donald Saddler are endearing as the old hoofers. They pass through the spectral showgirls without seeing them. Panic-stricken, he rushes off, screaming Buddy and Phyllis join their spouses and the foursome reminisces about the old days of their courtship and the theater, their memories vividly coming to life in the apparitions of their young counterparts ("Waiting For The Girls Upstairs"). the bitterness that has, until now, been more or less repressed. [18], Goldman continued to revise the book of the musical right up to his death, which occurred shortly before the 1998 Paper Mill Playhouse production. The theatermania.com reviewer wrote that "The result is an album that, more so than any of the other existing recordings, allows listeners to re-experience the heartbreaking collision of past and present that's at the core of the piece. HATTIE WALKER - After all these years, still a Broadway Baby. Ms. PETERS: Oh, you know, what's great about it is that there's no comparison. It was directed and staged by Stephen Lloyd Helper and produced by Helper and Alistair Thomson for Mardi Gras. in a revised version, 21 July 1987 with Diana Rigg, Daniel Massey,
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