Elsewhere, Willy Wheeler (portly, in his sixties) cartwheels for a photographer. "), and Hattie Walker performs her old showstopping number ("Broadway Baby"). Suddenly, at the peak of madness and confusion, the couples are engulfed by their follies, which transform the rundown theater into a fantastical "Loveland", an extravaganza even more grand and opulent than the gaudiest Weismann confection: "the place where lovers are always young and beautiful, and everyone lives only for love". Smith (Phyllis), John McMartin (Ben), Dorothy Collins (Sally) and Ben pledging their love. This page was last edited on 24 April 2023, at 21:33. Even the songs we love are dangerous. As Stella leads the 1940 "[21], According to Sondheim, producer Cameron Mackintosh asked for changes for the 1987 London production. [50][51], A production also ran from March to April 1995 at the Theatre Under the Stars, Houston, Texas, and in April to May 1995 at the 5th Avenue Theatre, Seattle with Constance Towers (Phyllis), Judy Kaye (Sally), Edie Adams, Denise Darcel, Virginia Mayo, Maxene Andrews (Hattie), and Karen Morrow (Carlotta). Janie Dee and Peter Forbes returned as Phyllis and Buddy, while Joanna Riding and Alexander Hanson replaced Staunton and Quast as Sally and Ben. I'll see you later blues. 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 rest of the album consists of material from the 1920s, '30s, and '40s, written by the . we have to face reality: all we can hope for is One More Kiss - 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. ); and Carlotta Campion, a film star who has embraced life and benefited from every experience. Finally, he wrote: "But Follies never makes fun of the honorable musical tradition to which it belongs. 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 . Panic-stricken, he rushes off, screaming (It did get recorded but didn't make its way onto the album until the CD reissue years later. Sondheim. with Live, Love, Laugh, singing of how clever and adept The score offers a pastiche of 1920s and 1930s musical styles, evoking a nostalgic tone. The evening follows a reunion of the Weismann Girls who performed during the interwar period. Ben admits to Phyllis his admiration for her, and Phyllis shushes him and helps Ben regain his dignity before they leave. "[14] "Follies contains two scores: the Follies pastiche numbers and the book numbers. He feigns a lack of interest; there is an underlying tension in their relationship. "[35] "One More Kiss" was omitted from the final release but was restored for CD release. In 2001, a physically scaled-back but starry-cast production was mounted by the Roundabout Theatre Company. It originally was performed in one act. Once the party gets under way it isn't long before the regulars Whose Baby? Kiss Me, Kate! Buddy in Arizona - cooking, flower-arranging, trips to the mall, you can't turn the clock back: as Heidi Schiller reminds us in "[33], Among the reasons the concert was staged was to provide an opportunity to record the entire score. 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 . Girl and he has, sort of. the resurrection of their distant pasts only serves to point "[88] The production's run was extended, and its grosses exceeded expectations, but it did not recoup its investment. [5] Sally, Phyllis, Ben, and Buddy show their "real and emotional lives" in "a sort of group nervous breakdown".[6]. [121] However, as Kritzerland Records head Bruce Kimmel wrote in his liner notes to Kritzerland's remixed version of the album, "What it did have made it something that, despite the frustrations, meant it would never be bettered the original cast. : Directed by Rebecca Frayn. [81] The cast starred Bernadette Peters as Sally, Jan Maxwell as Phyllis, Elaine Paige as Carlotta, Linda Lavin as Hattie, Ron Raines as Ben and Danny Burstein as Buddy. 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). Ben drunkenly propositions Carlotta, with whom he once had a fling, but she has a young lover and coolly turns him down. big-shots from the UN. "You're Gonna Love Tomorrow" / "Love Will See Us Through" - Young Ben, Young Sally, Young Phyllis and Young Buddy. For Buddy, life is all about findingThe Right "[30] Prince planned to present the musical on the West Coast and then on a national tour. Research Playwrights, Librettists, Composers and Lyricists, See more songs from All the voices begin speaking and yelling at each other. Do again. "[115], Time magazine wrote about the original Broadway production: "At its worst moments, Follies is mannered and pretentious, overreaching for Significance. Lastly Ben takes the stage A celebrity panel meet the child of a well-known person, and guess who their parents are. Sally is awed by Ben's apparently glamorous life, but Ben wonders if he made the right choices and considers how things might have been ("The Road You Didn't Take"). The coffee cup, I think about you. Several of the former showgirls perform their old numbers, often accompanied by the ghosts of their younger selves. She made her Broadway debut in 1967 in "How Now, Dow Jones" and went on to play roles in "Promises, Promises" and "Applause." They pass through the spectral showgirls without seeing them. The principal cast included Kim Crosby (Sally), Leslie Denniston (Phyllis), Jeff McCarthy (Ben), Lara Teeter (Buddy), Joy Franz (Solange), Marni Nixon (Heidi), and Donna McKechnie (Carlotta). 'Follies'. "), as they are mirrored by their younger selves. The cast starred Julia McKenzie (Sally), Donna McKechnie (Phyllis), Denis Quilley (Ben) and Ron Moody (Buddy). Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. And I thought oh, this would be lovely to do. Only Carlotta seems WAITERS, WAITRESSES, PHOTOGRAPHERS, SHOWGIRLS, etc. 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. Di Botcher sits at her former dressing room table and sings Broadway Baby. I dare you not to fall in love with Betty Garrett's understated "Broadway Baby" you just want to pick her up and hug her. Stephen Sondheim's music and lyrics combine emotional pain and witty pastiche with a deftness that James . SIMON: Bernadette Peters stars in "Follies" at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. through June 19th. "[45] In The New York Times, the critic Francis X. Clines wrote: "The initial critics' reviews ranged from unqualified raves to some doubts whether the reworked book of James Goldman is up to the inventiveness of Sondheim's songs. He creates what's necessary for the piece. 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. 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. She's crazy. Angry and hurt, Phyllis considers whether to grant his request ("Could I Leave You?"). Mr. Weismann's exquisite taste in feminine pulchritude. Against this volatile atmosphere of drunken remembrances, a decades-old love quadrangle receives a revival when Follies dancers Sally and Phyllis, and their respective husbands, Buddy and Ben -- who used to hang around backstage, waiting for their girls -- meet again. THEODORE WHITMAN - Emily's husband. Sondheim, too, has added and removed songs that he judged to be problematic in various productions. [56], The Dublin Concert was held in May 1996 at the National Concert Hall. overwhelming optimism, where skies are ever blue. The musical numbers "Ah, but Underneath" (replacing "The Story of Lucy and Jessie"), "Country House", "Make the Most of Your Music" (replacing "Live, Laugh, Love"), "Social Dancing" and a new version of "Loveland" have been incorporated into various productions. 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 . Road You Didn't Take). "[44] Sondheim wrote four new songs: "Country House" (replacing "The Road You Didn't Take"), "Loveland" (replacing the song of the same title), "Ah, But Underneath" (replacing "The Story of Lucy and Jessie", for the non-dancer Diana Rigg), and "Make the Most of Your Music" (replacing "Live, Laugh, Love"). Research Playwrights, Librettists, Composers and Lyricists. Upgrade to PRO Ms. PETERS: (as Sally Durant Plummer) (Singing) If I stick it long enough, I can get to strut my stuff. hours after the show Waiting for the Girls Upstairs in [93][94] Other new cast members included Carol Neblett as Heidi, Sammy Williams as Theodore and Obba Babatunde as Max. Ms. PETERS: You know, when I was a little girl, they said I had a funny voice because I actually had a deep voice and that's because my mother didn't speak correctly. "Who's That Woman?" - Stella and Company. Buddy tells her she must be either crazy or drunk, but he's already supported Sally through rehab clinics and mental hospitals and cannot take any more. their dressing rooms - but for Ben these memories awake old regrets in. 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. Ben becomes frenzied, while the dancing ensemble continues as if nothing was wrong. Most songs were therefore heavily abridged and several were left entirely unrecorded. [64] It was significantly stripped down (earlier productions had featured extravagant sets and costumes) and was not a success critically. Story of Lucy and Jessie (Lucy being Phyllis and Jessie being Phyllis kisses a waiter and confesses to him that she had always wanted a son. the giddy hopefuls of 1940. She yearns for him to hold her, but young Sally slips between them and the three move together ("Too Many Mornings"). [95], For its first production in France, Follies was presented at the Toulon Opera House in March 2013. Ben, caught in the passion of memories, kisses Sally as Buddy watches from the shadows. inspired the operetta kings to produce their lushest Rosemary Clooney says her present show at Rainbow & Stars will be her last. The original Broadway production, directed by Harold Prince and Michael Bennett, with choreography by Bennett, opened April 4, 1971. 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. As the guests reminisce, the stories of Ben, Phyllis, Buddy, and Sally unfold. As Roscoe to get him down, as he scuttles frantically between mistress and Stephen Sondheim, Hattie Walker is a retired star of the Weismann Follies, an iconic. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. 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."
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