"[122] Bernadette Peters, who's stopped more shows on Broadway than the stagehands union, joins us in our studios. The authoritative record of NPRs programming is the audio record. You know, I'll do it for, like, at least a year and then beyond that. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Copyright 2011 NPR. wife, kids - and a mistress. 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. Whose Baby? ON THE RECORD: Hats Off! A Survey of Follies Recordings - Playbill Casting a 'Follies' of the Future, With Beyonc and Ben Platt Some productions substitute "Ah, but Underneath" when the actress portraying Phyllis is not primarily a dancer. SOLANGE LAFITTE - A Broadway Parisienne. their dressing rooms - but for Ben these memories awake old regrets EMILY WHITMAN - The female half of a cheerful song and dance team. "When Follies opened in London it had an entirely different, and significantly more optimistic, tone. Young Phyllis, Ben, Sally and Buddy taunt their disillusioned Buddy in Arizona - cooking, flower-arranging, trips to the mall, In the foreword to "Everything Was Possible", Frank Rich wrote: "From the start, critics have been divided about Follies, passionately pro or con but rarely on the fence Is it really a great musical, or merely the greatest of all cult musicals?" '"[10] Martin Gottfried wrote: "The concept behind Follies is theatre nostalgia, representing the rose-colored glasses through which we face the fact of age the show is conceived in ghostliness. Ms. PETERS: Wow. So, you grow up listening to your mother. 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. Phyllis, having successfully seduced Kevin, one of the waiters, Ben admits to Phyllis his admiration for her, and Phyllis shushes him and helps Ben regain his dignity before they leave. With the endless variety of Stephen Sondheims score, a loving and brilliant pastiche of show music from the 20s, 30s, and 40s, and the time-travel trickery of James Goldmans book, Follies is a glamorous and fascinating peek into a bygone era, and a clear-eyed look at the transformation of relationships over time. Only Carlotta seems Each of the four is shaken at the realization of how life has changed them. indestructibly, a Broadway Baby. The cast featured Diana Rigg (Phyllis), Daniel Massey (Ben), Julia McKenzie (Sally), David Healy (Buddy), Lynda Baron, Leonard Sachs, Maria Charles, Pearl Carr & Teddy Johnson. we have to face reality: all we can hope for is One More Kiss - The evening follows a reunion of the Weismann Girls who performed during the interwar period. [77], New York City Center's Encores! 66. "[9] Bernadette Peters quoted Sondheim on the character of "Sally": "He said early on that [Sally] is off-balance, to put it mildly. Not to say the show's not fun, the show has got lots of fun moments and it's haunting and it's gorgeous, because they've come back to this old theater and you notice ghostly, walking really slow, gorgeous showgirls. [118], The Time reviewer wrote of the 2001 Broadway revival: "Even in its more modest incarnation, Follies has, no question, the best score on Broadway." 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". 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"). "[30] Prince planned to present the musical on the West Coast and then on a national tour. Ben replies by saying that he wants a divorce, and Phyllis assumes the request is due to his love for Sally. SIMON: And from the performer's point of view, what makes him a genius by such universal acclaim? and a brief glimpse of those dreams. of the derelict theatre Loveland rises - the apotheosis of a Weismann ", and "Losing My Mind". but cold Jessie could only combine then I could tell you someone Research Playwrights, Librettists, Composers and Lyricists. : With David Nixon, Richard Coleman, Jimmy Young, Diana Coupland. [99] The production was directed by Tyran Parke and produced by StoreyBoard Entertainment. Inspired by a New York Times article about a gathering of former Ziegfeld Girls, they decided upon a story about ex-showgirls. "[35] "One More Kiss" was omitted from the final release but was restored for CD release. wife, while poor miserable Sally moans in a smouldering torch number 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. Ben tells Sally [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. Stephen Sondheim, Hattie Walker is a retired star of the Weismann Follies, an iconic. 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! For the 1985 concert, no one was going. A recording of the National Theatre production was released on January 18, 2019.[104]. [62][63] It followed a similar presentation at the 1995 Melbourne Festival of Arts with a different cast and orchestra. But when Bernadette Peters sings the song, it could be a kind of anthem. Gain full access to show guides, character breakdowns, auditions, monologues and more! Sondheim, too, has added and removed songs that he judged to be problematic in various productions. older selves with the failed promises of youth. The musical was nominated for 11 Tony Awards and won seven. Ms. PETERS: (as Sally Durant Plummer) (Singing) If I stick it long enough, I can get to strut my stuff. THEODORE WHITMAN - Emily's husband. [23] The 1987 West End, 2005 Barrington Stage Company,[24] the 2001 Broadway revival[25] and Kennedy Center 2011 productions were performed in two acts. relaxed and philosophical about the old days: good times, bum He is a salesman, in his early 50s, appealing and lively,[4] whose smiles cover inner disappointment. [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. Other cast replacements included Millicent Martin as Phyllis. The former radio star Ethel Shutta was 74 when she originated the role and debuted its great song "Broadway Baby"; her own Broadway debut was in 1922. She accuses him of having affairs while he is on the road, and he admits he has a steady girlfriend, Margie, in another town, but always returns home. Phyllis Newman and Liliane Montevecchi reprised the roles they played in the Lincoln Center production. As the guests reminisce, the stories of Ben, Phyllis, Buddy, and Sally unfold. [19] However, the August 23, 2011 Broadway preview performance was performed without an intermission. After exiting, Buddy escorts the emotionally devastated[5] Sally back to their hotel with the promise to work things out later. Broadway Baby Lyrics - Follies - the Musical Lyrics Sondheim Guide / Follies (Recordings) I saw no reason not to try new things, knowing we could always revert to the original (which we eventually did). "[117] Ben Brantley, reviewing the 1998 Paper Mill Playhouse production in The New York Times, concluded that it was a "fine, heartfelt production, which confirms Follies as a landmark musical and a work of art". Ms. PETERS: Well, it depends how what their makeup is. 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. [55], Julianne Boyd directed a fully staged version of Follies in 2005 by the Barrington Stage Company (Massachusetts) in JuneJuly 2005. 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. Lastly Ben takes the stage I want you so. [2], Originally titled The Girls Upstairs, the musical was to be produced by David Merrick and Leland Hayward in late 1967, but the plans ultimately fell through, and Stuart Ostrow became the producer, with Joseph Hardy as director. '"[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". years ago". She's hale and hearty, singing and swinging better than ever. [43], Critics who had seen the production in New York (such as Frank Rich) found it substantially more "upbeat" and lacking in the atmosphere it had originally possessed. [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. kiss me, " Sally tells him, I think I'm going to die.". The exceptions are the title song, from Follies, which she sang memorably at the 1984 Tony Awards show, and "Bobo's" from The Act. However, it is clear that Sally is still in love with Ben even though their affair ended badly when Ben decided to marry Phyllis. Elsewhere, Willy Wheeler (portly, in his sixties) cartwheels for a photographer. the bitterness that has, until now, been more or less repressed. serenades those Beautiful Girls, the now-elderly ing6nues At first too weary to stand, and wearing clunky spectacles, she is incongruously dowdy - comic and poignant. New York, the eponymous Dimitri Weismann has gathered together A celebrated New York event since 2010 (Its a Hit! Regine & Terrence Currier Will Not Transfer to Broadway with Kennedy YOUNG HEIDI - The celebrated soprano in her heyday. Vance, David. [89], The Broadway production won the Drama League Award, Distinguished Production of a Musical Revival for 2011-2012[90] and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revival of a Musical, Outstanding Actor in a Musical (Burstein) and Outstanding Costume Design (Barnes). Ms. PETERS: But he is like an actor, but with notes and words. "Loveland" has dissolved back into the reality of the crumbling and half-demolished theater; dawn is approaching. For Ben and Buddy, too, 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 . This show features the wistful torch song Losing My Mind, the wry showstopper Im Still Here, and Broadway Baby, that determined ode to making it in show business. "Who's That Woman?" - Stella and Company. Follies review - Sondheim's showbiz stunner returns in breathtaking Sally thinks this is a sign that the two will finally get married, and Ben is about to protest until Sally interrupts him with a kiss and runs off to gather her things, thinking that the two will leave together. She yearns for him to hold her, but young Sally slips between them and the three move together ("Too Many Mornings"). Follies Stage production February 20, 1971 Comments Sung by character "Hattie Walker" . Ms. PETERS: Oh, it's my pleasure to be here again. 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. Sondheim "did not think the London script was as good as the original." 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. [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). In this it reflects the age of Heidi Schiller, one of the more senior of the Follies girls. 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. Gain full access to show guides, character breakdowns, auditions, monologues and more! [41], A staged concert at Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center, was performed on September 6 and 7, 1985. Variations are discussed in Versions. 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. Several show-stopping routines are provided by choreographer Warren Carlyle." And then it goes on and on to start crumbling around her and her huge disappointment. Join StageAgent today and unlock amazing theatre resources and opportunities. Mr. Weismann's exquisite taste in feminine pulchritude. 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. The emotional high generated by the reunion of the Follies girls ultimately gives way to anger, disappointment, and weary resignation to reality. In 1971 or 2001, Follies validates the legend that a Broadway show can be an event worth dressing up for. He forget his lines, the tune, the dance steps and finally, in [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. However, he thought that it was "wonderful" that, at the end of the first act, "the principal characters recognized their younger selves and were able to acknowledge them throughout the last thirty minutes of the piece. The young sweethearts Ben and Phyllis promise each other But they're both Join the StageAgent community A celebrity panel meet the child of a well-known person, and guess who their parents are. The production starred Bob Gunton (Ben), Warren Berlinger (Dimitri Weismann), Patty Duke (Phyllis), Vikki Carr (Sally), Harry Groener (Buddy), Carole Cook (Hattie), Carol Lawrence (Vanessa), Ken Page (Roscoe), Liz Torres (Stella), Amanda McBroom (Solange), Grover Dale (Vincent), Donna McKechnie (Carlotta), Carole Swarbrick (Christine), Stella Stevens (Dee Dee), Mary Jo Catlett (Emily), Justine Johnston (Heidi), Jean Louisa Kelly (Young Sally), Austin Miller (Young Buddy), Tia Riebling (Young Phyllis), Kevin Earley (Young Ben), Abby Feldman (Young Stella), Barbara Chiofalo (Young Heidi), Trevor Brackney (Young Vincent), Melissa Driscoll (Young Vanessa), Stephen Reed (Kevin), and Billy Barnes (Theodore).
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