Here is a trailer to the recently improved 1971 Follies film. I added a few new songs, as well as some dialogue scenes. I will be putting the full film (58 minutes long!) up on Youtube soon. Stay tuned!
It truly is wonderful to watch any footage of that legendary production from time to time, don't stop. I hope that one day that we can have a production that comes close to the imagination of what Prince, Bennett, Aronson, Klotz and Musser created.
Maybe Bartlett Sher, Christopher Wheeldon, Michael Yeargan, Catherine Zuber, and Donald Holder could make a very imaginative production like that someday... Many FOLLIES fans could only dream of a production like that.
Yes Jordan, I do have the curtain calls from TIYL, as well as the footage of the Shubert Theatre. It's a shame they didn't show anything else on that program.
Maybe Bartlett Sher, Christopher Wheeldon, Michael Yeargan, Catherine Zuber, and Donald Holder could make a very imaginative production like that someday... Many FOLLIES fans could only dream of a production like that.
I have talked about this production happening in 10-15 years. Kelli O'Hara for Sally, Benanti for Phyllis, Patti for Hattie! Vicky Clark for Heidi!
Maybe it's best if it remains in the memories of those who were there and in these videos. Any production compared to this one would most probably seem like a disappointment.
I know there exists a very good quality version of the 29 Dubbed footage (which Deester2 has - I contacted him about a month ago about it, and he never answered), and there is also some footage which can be seen during "Who's That Woman" and "Loveland", which I only have in parts.
"Maybe it's best if it remains in the memories of those who were there and in these videos. Any production compared to this one would most probably seem like a disappointment. "
Maybe, but one can still dream. I think at this point in his career, Bartlett Sher and his talented crew have proven time and time again that he can work wonders on a musical revival that amazes people to the point where comparisons to the original (or any other production) vanish completely.
"Maybe it's best if it remains in the memories of those who were there and in these videos. Any production compared to this one would most probably seem like a disappointment. "
I agree with this. You're not gonna find, say, an Ethel Shutta who can duplicate what she did. To attempt to recreate Follies a la Gus Van Sant's Psycho shot-for-shot remake would be impossible.
Love seeing that footage again; I feel like I'm back in school, when I saw that original production four times. I thank my fandom for John McMartin for getting me into the Winter Garden four times to see that show. To this day, it remains the single best show/production I have ever seen.
The only real way I think it could be done would be to get all the people who were involved in the original production (Mr. Sondheim, Mr. Prince, Mr. McMartin) and others willing to do this to perfection and make them copy exactly everything from the original production. They'd have to copy exactly the costumes, wigs, sets, dances, music arrangements, etc... (Maybe the sets are still around. What does happen to sets after a production closes?)
""Maybe it's best if it remains in the memories of those who were there and in these videos. Any production compared to this one would most probably seem like a disappointment. " I agree with this. You're gonna gonna find, say, an Ethel Shutta who can duplicate what she did. To attempt to recreate Follies a la Gus Van Sant's Psycho shot-for-shot remake would be impossible."
I think Bartlett Sher will never recreate what the talented men and women of 1971 made, but Sher makes such unique productions that his own imagination is unleashed. SOUTH PACIFIC was proof enough that he can do it; and after when he's done with FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, I sure hope that FOLLIES is on his mind.
"Love seeing that footage again; I feel like I'm back in school, when I saw that original production four times. I thank my fandom for John McMartin for getting me into the Winter Garden four times to see that show. To this day, it remains the single best show/production I have ever seen."
You had John McMartin get you to see it? How on earth did you get to meet him? You were so lucky!
Question. Is poster artist David Byrd (the man behind the original poster of FOLLIES) still working today? He is quite a talent, making such detailed and iconic works of art that if you take the poster wording off of the FOLLIES poster, it becomes a work of art of it's own.
Interesting fun fact: Did you know that Byrd not only made a new poster for a 20th anniversary production in California that used some of Bennett's staging work, but he also used an old sketch that was rejected from the 71' poster into a new poster for the Encores! production in 2007?