FOLLIES in Concert at the RAH

[bob8rich]

Posted: 2/22/15 at 9:48am

Just booked my ticket to see FOLLIES at the Albert Hall on April 28!

It's without question my favourite musical ever and I've seen so many fantastic productions - but the attraction of the venue (never been to the RAH before) and the dream cast make this a bit unmissable!

I know she is not everyone's "cup of tea" but I've always been a big Ruthie Henshall fan and I thought Alex Hanson was the best Frederick I've ever seen in ALNM so can't wait to see him tackle this one. Lots of other great people in it too - in particular the astonishing Laura Pitt-Pulford (who delivered three of the best performances I saw anywhere in 2014 and performed the best Miller's Son I've ever witnessed in the ALNM concert at The Palace last month). And as for Christine Baranski - for my money, she's about as good as it gets! I'm already salivating at the thought of her Could I Leave You!

Anyone else going to this?

[rjm516]

Posted: 2/22/15 at 11:54am

I was really interested but it's not worth it for me for how expensive tickets are. And I love love Christine Baranski but not for this role. We'll see though, I do love Follies.

[bob8rich]

Posted: 2/22/15 at 2:21pm

Can't see why you think Christine Baranski is wrong for the role of Phyllis. She's pretty much the most ideal casting for the role I could possibly imagine.

I agree that ticket prices are a bit extortionate though lol - but for this special occasion and a chance to finally get to see something at this venue, it's worth it for me. (and I still paid less than I had to pay to see Miss Saigon!)

[lotiloti]

Posted: 2/24/15 at 5:36am

RAH, is a grand old lady. But sadly, the acoustics are dreadful. But I will still be going.

[bob8rich]

Posted: 3/20/15 at 7:20pm

Just announced that Betty Buckley and Peter Polycarpou will be joining the Follies cast! Now even more glad that I've booked my ticket for this!

[Posner11]

Posted: 3/20/15 at 7:56pm

Anyone seen any special offers on tickets for this yet - the RAH is showing a lot of tickets still to be sold but not seen any reductions yet with just over a month to go.
Plan to see it but hesitant to buy a full price (and others have said its an expensive show for a concert one day performance) if they suddenly do a offer to start to fill seats

[devonian.t]

Posted: 3/21/15 at 4:30am

Not sure this is my dream cast.

[FrontRowDress]

Posted: 3/21/15 at 5:56am

I'm with Posner11 and beginning to wish I hadn't rushed in and paid full price. Don't get me wrong, I am really looking forward to it, but there will be deals galore soon.

[bob8rich]

Posted: 3/23/15 at 1:11pm

Looking more and more like a dream cast every day! Now it has Lorna Luft and the fantastic Jos Slovick!

[imeldasturn]

Posted: 3/23/15 at 3:55pm

I'm super excited for Betty and Peter, but Charlotte Page is too young of centuries to play Heidi

Posted: 4/2/15 at 12:42pm

Does anyone know who is playing who?!

[bob8rich]

Posted: 4/2/15 at 1:00pm

Sally RUTHIE HENSHALL

Phyllis CHRISTINE BARANSKI

Ben ALEX HANSON

Buddy PETER POLYCARPOU

Carlotta BETTY BUCKLEY

Stella ANITA DOBSON

Solange STEPHANIE POWERS

Hattie LORNA LUFT

Roscoe RUSSELL WATSON

Young Ben ALASTAIR BRAMMER

Young Buddy JOS SLOVICK

Young Sally AMY ELLEN RICHARDSON

Young Phyllis LAURA PITT-PULFORD

Theodore ROY HUDD

Emily ANITA HARRIS

Heidi CHARLOTTE PAGE ?

[FrontRowDress]

Posted: 4/2/15 at 2:38pm

So who is Biggins playing? Seriously he's been added to cast.

[bob8rich]

Posted: 4/2/15 at 3:49pm

 Oh, not seen any mention of Biggins. But if he's in the cast, the only character left that he could be playing would be Dimitri Weisman.........

[Posner11]

Posted: 4/11/15 at 6:51am

seetickets have some reductions on their site - you need to look up follies and they then show arena seats in rows 20/21 at 48 plus 2.75 booking - these cost 81 on the RAH site they also have seats in the circle same price and some restricted view seats at 33.50 plus 2.75 fee -

They say these are face value 58.00 down to 48 with the RAH showing the same seats at 74 for students or 81 for the rest of us there must be some steep booking charges.

Still a lot of stall seats about at 102 or 81 from the RAH site.

Thanks to theatre monkey the arena seats sound a bit hit and miss in those rows for sight and sound . pondering if to spend extra and get a stalls seat and at least get a more certain view and comfort for the extra money. 

Either way surprised the offers are so limited with 3 weeks to go and booking seemingly slow

 

[theeatah]

Posted: 4/20/15 at 3:17pm

Have there been any offers/reductions since the last post?

[Posner11]

Posted: 4/20/15 at 5:19pm

The RAH website has the draft timings showing the concert running for 2.15 with a 20 min interval making actual running time under 2 hours - makes it even more important to get these very expensive tickets at a better price .

The evening show is being put finishing at 9.45 - The afternoon at 5.15. The shows twitter feed advises programmes will be £10

There are some offers via Boxoffice.co.uk  and londonnet with 20% off at least with stalls/arena and circle seats up for sale.  and do give row and seat numbers which with the help of the ever vital theatremonkey.com site will show you where the seats are - some quite good seats avaliable even if still a bit steep at 78/58 plus 2.50 booking fee.

 Other wise See tickets still only have back arena or circle seats on offer

Updated On: 4/20/15 at 05:19 PM

[theeatah]

Posted: 4/24/15 at 4:28pm

Thanks for the update. It sounds like there going to leave quite a few empty seats rather than budge on the price and fill them with customers at a reduced price.

[Posner11]

Posted: 4/25/15 at 6:16am

Its certainly a bit odd at this stage not to have done something to move tickets - I got my from Lononnet with 20% off and arrived next day so at least know I have a good seat and view even if its the most I have paid for a show ticket since the Les Mis 25th at the O2.

Despite extensive advertising and TV/radio spots the matinee seats seem to have remained static. (Not sure how the evening show is booking) Theres no doubt they have tried their best to get tickets sold with some major London paper adverts which could not have been cheap so seems a lack of interest in the show as well as the high cost deterring people. If in an actual Theatre it would have sold out.

The twitter feedback from the cast seem to show they are enjoying the rehearsals and they seem to be happy to do all the radio/tv spots for it and official show twitter has been great for pictures and info so pity its in a oversized venue for the show and seats prices make it an expensive choice. 

I am looking forward to the show and am sure with the range of cast there will be some stand out moments and they seem to be raving about Craig Revel direction so hopefully on the day Follies will be as powerful, emotional and dazzling as we know it can be.

[imeldasturn]

Posted: 4/25/15 at 6:32am

I can't wait to listen to Betty Buckley's I'm Still Here!!

[Posner11]

Posted: 4/25/15 at 6:35pm

Looking at the RAH site the evening has the arena sold out and stalls and circles are pretty full with only the tiers looking a bit vacant so its the matinee left for the best seats at the moment

[theeatah]

Posted: 4/26/15 at 11:44am

Might they do big discounts for the matinee on the day, say, at the box office of the RAH?

[bob8rich]

Posted: 4/29/15 at 3:37am

It was awesome - one of the best afternoons I've spent in a theatre ever! Craig Revel Horwood's direction was filled with moments of pure genius. Worth every single penny of the price of a ticket!

The performances were pretty much all stunning - the four "younger selves" (Laura Pitt-Pulford, Alastair Brammer, Jos Slovick & Amy Ellen Richardson) were a pure joy; Alex Hanson & Peter Polycarpou were the best Ben & Buddy I've ever seen; Anita Dobson was a revelation in the fantastic Mirror Song sequence; Ruthie Henshall's Losing My Mind was simply heart-breaking; Betty Buckley's I'm Still Here was sensational (WAY better than Elaine Paige in the recent Broadway production, though not quite matching Polly Bergen's show-stealing performance in the 2001 Broadway production). And Christine Baranski was all the superlatives I could possibly think of - and more!

Posted: 4/29/15 at 11:03am

WOW!  Wish I could have attended.  How was Lorna Luft?  Any official reviews?

[HannahFan1]

Posted: 4/29/15 at 2:25pm

I'm going to have to disagree with the above praise, and I really wanted this to be sensational.

I'm going to say this with a disclaimer that it was an overall enjoyable experience, but this wasn't a good production of Follies.


- Ruthie Henshall can't sing the role of Sally, she optioned down on many notes in 'In Buddy's Eyes' and 'Too Many Mornings', the latter of which was listened to with my heart in my throat as she tried desperately to squeeze out the notes.

- Betty Buckley is NOT a Carlotta. She sang through the entire song without much thought for acting and did small kicks and dances between verses, always pacing around the stage. This is NOT what this song is, a giant misunderstanding, and I wanted to love her.

- You can't put the interval right before Loveland, it's ridiculous. The first act became insanely long and the second didn't make much sense.

- Christine Baranski decided to play Phyllis as very flippant, with her entire 'Could I leave you' being very cold and sarcastic, none of the passion of Jan Maxwell or Donna Murphy. This was a disappointment. Ruthie Henshall also played a very robust Sally, with almost no indication that this is supposed to be a woman on the point of mental breakdown. Because she seems so together, Buddy becomes a jerk and Ben seems to as well, as a result all four lead characters were utterly dislikeable.

- Russell Watson made a mess of Beautiful Girls, and it shouldn't have been much of a challenge.

- The sound was terrible, and for the life of me I can't work out why they thought they needed a chorus from Arts Ed for this show...


I think Craig Revel Horwood understands that Follies is a show that has feathers in it and is about ageing Chorus Girls, but clearly doesn't appreciate the meaning behind it because it's basically Chekhov and that was nowhere to be seen.