Friedman, Staunton, Etc. Set for London Follies Concert

Maria Friedman, Imelda Staunton, Philip Quast, Liliane Montevecchi, Liz Robertson and Laura Michelle Kelly are among the stars who have so far been enlisted to star in Follies in Concert, which will be presented as a benefit performance at the London Palladium on February 4th, 2007 at 7:15 PM.

The classic 1971 Sondheim-Goldman musical has been a hot property lately.  New York's Encores!, as previously announced, will present a staged concert of Follies in February.

London's Follies in Concert will alo star Josephine Barstow, Bonaventura Bottone,  Adam-Jon Fiorentino, Charlotte Page, Michael Praed, Angela Rippon, Summer Strallen and Ian Talbot.  It will benefit the Starlight Children's Foundation and the Kingston Hospital Cancer Unit Appeal.

Follies in Concert will be presented by Richard Douglas Productions, and will be directed and choreographed by Bill Deamer.  Richard Balcombe will offer musical direction.

The show will also feature lighting design by Mark Nimmin and sound design by Gareth Owen.

The original production of Follies, which features music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by James Goldman, starred Dorothy Collins, Alexis Smith, John McMartin and Gene Nelson.  It opened at the Winter Garden Theatre on April 4th, 1971 to run for 522 performances, and was revived on Broadway by the Roundabout Theatre Company in 2001.  A crumbling theatre on the brink of demolishment--once the site of the glamorous Weismann Follies--is the setting of Follies. In the show, two couples--both comprised of former Weismann showgirls and their one-time stage door Johnnies--are confronted with the ghosts of the past.

Visit www.seetickets.com for more information and tickets.