Follies

[couldileaveyou]

To be fair, Janie Dee has never been the strongest vocalist, but on the other hand Donna Murphy is probably the only good singer that has ever played Phyllis in the past 50 years

[Deleted]

Carrie was a 2/10 for me, good singing but terrible cartoonish acting, directing that didn't get the basics right and paper thin characterisation. Give me actor-singers over singer-actors anyday, it's the acting of a song that matters, especially with Sondheim. If I want to hear singing I can go to a concert.

The original Follies cast really struggled at times with some songs, listening to bootlegs you are on tenterhooks wondering if Yvonne Decarlo will forget any more lyrics, or if another aging performer will hit the notes etc. But, then, it's a musical about older people, we can't be young forever, the wear and tear on a voice is an emotional part of the experience of hearing someone be not quite what they were.

[theatremadness]

My views on both Carrie and Follies are practically identical to yours, Cardinal!!

[jay78uk]

Saw this on Wednesday night and loved it. I must admit I am a huge Sondheim fan, so that might have something to do with it! I haven't ever seen a fully staged production of Follies so it was incredibly exciting and moving to hear the songs and dialogue in full and finally understand and experience how the Loveland sequence pulls the whole thing together. My only slight negative on the evening was that I felt the pacing at the start of the show wasn't quite right- it takes a tad long to arrive at 'Don't Look at Me', but other than that I thought the direction perfect. I'm glad there wasn't an interval- the tension builds with the characters spiralling out of control- that just wouldn't work with an interval, and in particular the transition to Loveland wouldn't have had the impact. Hopefully I'll get to see Follies again before the end of its run...

[oldstager]

All the comments on here re. the current production are fascinating. I saw the original Hal Prince version on Broadway (Winter Garden) in 1972 and found it totally original and thrilling. But even then I was aware that it wasn't a total success. I was partly involved in the 1987 London production which had a very strong cast (well, casts really, as several of the principles changed half way through the run) but, once again, was not really a bone fide hit. I now realise that the most enjoyable version was the partly staged New York concert (still available on DVD) with the best cast it has ever had including Barbara Cook, Elaine Stritch, Mandy Patinkin, Lee Remick and Carol Burnett.  The numbers were beautifully sung and minimally but smartly staged and the actual book was cut severely. And I now realise that was the reason I enjoyed it the most of all the productions I have seen. Sondheim is seen here at his witty, inventive best but the actual dialogue linking the numbers just doesn't add up to a solid dramatic structure. You can throw as much spectacle and clever staging at it as you can afford (as Hal Prince did originally) but there is still no weighty text or story to drive the evening along.  There - it's taken me 45 years to work that out! 

[alece10]

Just got home and too tired to put down my comments which I will do so tomorrow.
But
OMFG!!!

[Jon]

Sept 1, 2017 22:17:37 GMT alece10 said:

Just got home and too tired to put down my comments which I will do so tomorrow.
But
OMFG!!!

In a good way or a bad way? 

[Deleted]

Went yesterday not really knowing what to expect. A little slow initially, but I loved it by the end, particularly Phillip Quast.

Any recommendations of cast recordings to listen to?

[Boob]

I was there tonight too and really loved it. By far the best production of the show I've seen. The time flew by and I didn't need the loo. Win win. More anon.

[alece10]

Sept 1, 2017 22:18:23 GMT Jon said:

Sept 1, 2017 22:17:37 GMT alece10 said:

Just got home and too tired to put down my comments which I will do so tomorrow.
But
OMFG!!!

In a good way or a bad way? 

Good.

[Deleted]

I was there last night. I loved it. What a strong cast.

[Deleted]

I enjoyed this last night more than I thought I would. The set and the lighting effects were beautiful, and the story was engaging (mostly). There were some numbers which I found myself drifting away mentally, as unfortunately, thoughts turned to my numb posterior. It just feels like a long time to be sat without having a walk around, but again this is partly my own fault for booking the show for a day when I'd been sat down most of the day for staff training

Imelda was a true joy, and Janie Did very well, despite fluffing on a few of her lines. Overall a wonderful night at the theatre.

[Mr Snow]

Sept 1, 2017 22:18:41 GMT @trina said:

Went yesterday not really knowing what to expect. A little slow initially, but I loved it by the end, particularly Phillip Quast.

Any recommendations of cast recordings to listen to?

See the post 3 above yours.  Also on CD. 

One great event recorded for posterity.

[alece10]

This was one show I had been really looking forward to seeing and was not disappointed. Love Sondheim and Follies is one of my favourites, having seen it many times before. Firstly had a great seat, Row F Stalls, centre aisle. Perfect view and as Rows A, B and C are not raked it was almost like sitting in the 3rd row if that makes sense.
Anyway the show was wonderful, loved the staging, sets, lighting and god the Olivier stage is huge isn't it.
Its beautifully done especially with the ghost Follies shadowing the Follies, and that orchestra! such a glorious sound.
Great cast, Imelda nailed Losing My Mind and I loved Janie in The Story of Lucy and Jessie. (Although her voice seemed go a couple of times, but that's me being very picky). Phillip Quast - what a voice! If you had your eyes closed you would know it was him just by the sound of his voice. And what can I say about Tracie Bennett! Biggest ovation of the night, and she is soooo thin. I knew she would give a standout performance anyway. Rest of the cast were great.
Beautiful costumes, especially in Loveland.
We certainly got our moneys worth out of the revolve, don't think it stopped all night, maybe the brake wasn't working!
Only one technical hitch I could see which was a sound issue for a minute during one of the musical numbers.
Another highlight for me was the mirror number and I loved it how they brought in the younger cast members to do the more "difficult" tap bits.
Although I always love Loveland I never quite understand it, its a bit odd.
Bladder held out fine but I was gagging for a drink afterwards.
Got a couple of Platform performances the week after next as well, one with Phillip Quast and Janie Dee and the other talking about the future of musical theatre so looking forward to those.
Will have to try and get to see it again as I doubt we will have another Sondheim production on that scale in London for a while.

[Deleted]

Sept 2, 2017 9:23:36 GMT Mr Snow said:

Sept 1, 2017 22:18:41 GMT @trina said:

Went yesterday not really knowing what to expect. A little slow initially, but I loved it by the end, particularly Phillip Quast.

Any recommendations of cast recordings to listen to?

See the post 3 above yours.  Also on CD. 

One great event recorded for posterity.

It depends what you are looking for in a recording, the eighties concert version has a hyped up atmosphere and nice singing but it cuts the score badly, changes the effect of songs like Broadway Baby and Buddy's Blues by catering to its stars and, in general, is its own animal and not a representation of the show as a piece of theatre. It's quite a misleading recording.

The original Broadway cast has authenticity on its side but the score was cut to ribbons, even in the slightly expanded form now on CD. The less said about the original London 'Hello, Follies' the better, it had new songs that add little, softened book to make it less depressing etc. Offset by some good performances but it isn't the show you saw.

For completeness and how the show plays in the theatre I'd go for the nineties Papermill production; it has all songs without cuts, many cut and added songs are also on there as an appendix. Good performances and, whilst you don't get songs being treated as standalone showstoppers, it makes for a more organic listen. It does have Phyllis' last song as the London one but you can switch it for Lucy and Jessie from the appendix. The latest Broadway recording with Bernadette Peters adds the scene instrumental music as well but that's a 107 minute running time and you don't get the added and cut songs. 

This Broadwayworld thread gives a good roundup.

www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.php?thread=1041932

I would rate them similarly to the consensus there, as 1) Papermill, 2) Most recent Broadway revival, 3) original Broadway, 4) eighties concert, 5) original London.

Database of the recordings here - www.sondheimguide.com/folliesrec.html

[BurlyBeaR]

Is anyone having trouble booking for the cinema broadcast? I have a variety of eff-ups going on in Manchester. Home are showing it as being broadcast on 30/11 which is completely at odds with the NTLive website. I've tweeted them but it's not updated and they seem to think that's the correct date. For Vue Printworks the film is there but when you try to book it no performances are given, abd for Odeon Great Norther (previously AMC) I can't even find it.

Is there something funny going on with the broadcast date for this?

[Deleted]

Sept 1, 2017 18:22:15 GMT couldileaveyou said:

To be fair, Janie Dee has never been the strongest vocalist, but on the other hand Donna Murphy is probably the only good singer that has ever played Phyllis in the past 50 years

Her rendition of Could I Leave You from the Sondheim Birthday Celebration at Lincoln Center is my all-time fave.

[Deleted]

Sept 1, 2017 21:47:44 GMT oldstager said:

but there is still no weighty text or story to drive the evening along.

In Follies the songs do that perhaps more than in most Sondheim shows.

[tonyloco]

Here's a little bit of ancient history regarding the discussion on the best recordings of Follies. I knew a charming, cultured man called John Coveney who lived and worked in New York as Angel Records' Artist Liaison Manager but who also kept up with Broadway theatre as well as classical events at the Met and Lincoln Center. He told me that when Capitol planned to record the original Broadway cast album of Follies in 1971, he begged the president of Capitol (I think it was Alan Livingstone but I might be wrong) to record the entire show, as Columbia had done previous with 'Most Happy Fella', or at least to record as much as possible of the music because of its artistic importance, but he was told that Capitol had no confidence that the recording would be commercially successful and they would just record the usual single LP in order to maintain Capitol's place alongside Columbia and RCA in competing for the rights to record Broadway cast albums in the hope of getting an occasional winner like Columbia's 'My Fair Lady' or 'West Side Story'. So a unique opportunity to preserve the Follies original cast performance in its entirety was lost due to grubby commercial considerations! As a post script, I think Capitol's most successful Broadway cast album was probably 'Funny Girl' with Barbra Streisand.

[Scswp]

Sept 2, 2017 12:20:47 GMT @jbc said:

Sept 1, 2017 18:22:15 GMT couldileaveyou said:

To be fair, Janie Dee has never been the strongest vocalist, but on the other hand Donna Murphy is probably the only good singer that has ever played Phyllis in the past 50 years

Her rendition of Could I Leave You from the Sondheim Birthday Celebration at Lincoln Center is my all-time fave.

Just watched this performance by Donna Murphy. It is a fantastic delivery. I saw Jan Maxwell a few years ago and she was also very good as Phyllis. Bernadette as Sally was rather mixed IMO.

[Deleted]

Thanks @cardinalpirelli that's perfect. I'm ordering the papermill recording on eBay and listening to the 2011 Broadway recording in the meantime on Spotify. I love Bernadette Peters!

[Deleted]

Sept 2, 2017 13:19:50 GMT @trina said:

Thanks @cardinalpirelli that's perfect. I'm ordering the papermill recording on eBay and listening to the 2011 Broadway recording in the meantime on Spotify. I love Bernadette Peters!

I hope you like it. Like I say, the Peters version is good but I'm a sucker for all those unused songs, the Papermill recording only misses out a handful from the London version and a couple of others that ended up in Marry Me A Little (it's hell being a completist!)

I can barely believe it's from nearly twenty years ago, though. Seems to me like it was only yesterday that it was released.

[Jane Parfitt]

Sept 2, 2017 12:13:27 GMT BurlyBeaR said:

Is anyone having trouble booking for the cinema broadcast? I have a variety of eff-ups going on in Manchester. Home are showing it as being broadcast on 30/11 which is completely at odds with the NTLive website. I've tweeted them but it's not updated and they seem to think that's the correct date. For Vue Printworks the film is there but when you try to book it no performances are given, abd for Odeon Great Norther (previously AMC) I can't even find it.

Is there something funny going on with the broadcast date for this?

My NTLive tickets are for 16th November, my first experience and looking forward to it!  I live in Cambridge.

[frankubelik]

Saw this last night and came away so very disappointed and have spent the day trying to formulate an appropriate reaction. Overall it is undercast, poorly sung, badly directed, staged and lit. There is little cohesion between scene and song - it desperately needs a show doctor.
Oddly for this show, the men emerge and register much more strongly than the women - both are more than fine. Imelda has no soprano range and "fakes" the rest; Janie cracked on every top note and Tracie needs to stop channeling Garland. The latter is never believable as a movie star and can never lose her innate low class personality. Was Dawn Hope really miming during "Who's That Woman?" and did Sally and Phyllis really bring their tap shoes to the party? Why were we allowed to see them change into these before the number? Why was young Phyllis so much part of "Lucy & Jessie"? Thank God for the Strallen though as she saved the number but it is wrong. Why did the "Beautiful Girls" come down a fire escape? What happened to the party guests? They disappear after their respective "turns". I could never once believe Ben's feelings for Sally both then and now. No interval is good but portions of the show feel rushed (Ben's breakdown for example). I think Imelda faces over exposure now; she has been found out at last. She is a Very Good Actress but starting to repeat herself and vocally lacking in tone.
As ever here I will be in the minority but have had to put my honest thoughts out there. 

[loureviews]

I thought it was not perfect but the bits that were, were. Philip Quast and Imelda Staunton - odd couple, height-wise, but 'Too Many Mornings' was gorgeous and fantastic to see him back in a leading role. Janie Dee was far better than I expected, although her character wasn't as strong as it might be. Peter Forbes as Buddy, absolutely fine.

The young Ben, Sally, Phyllis, Buddy all interacted well with their older selves (and the obligatory Strallen sparkled). Josephine Barstow - beautiful voice as Heidi. Di Botcher knocked Broadway Baby out of the park. Tracie Bennett was great as the sozzled movie diva done up as Joan Crawford.

The Mirror Mirror number was full of engaging tap and memories. Gary Raymond made a nothing role as Weismann truly touching. The set is fab, the use of the revolve inspired, the large orchestra spot on.

Minus points for me, some odd blocking in the far too long opening scene, and Ben's final number has never done anything for me with the breakdown too rushed.

But the fire escape in the crumbling theatre standing for the old time staircase worked for me, and the balance between memory, mismemory, and fantasy was spot on.

A very emotional production that may not have the big belters of the RAH production, but certainly understood the stories a lot more. And Imelda's 'Losing My Mind' was great, even if Julia MacKenzie on the 'Side by Side by Sondheim' recording remains my personal gold standard.

Do go. It's so rare to see these big old musical revivals done so well.