National Theatre: Follies- Page 6

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 8/22/17 at 7:10pm

Also, according to someone on Instagram, the show was indeed performed without an intermission. 

[jewishboy]

Posted: 8/22/17 at 7:11pm

IT WAS BLUE! She should have worn green hahah

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 8/22/17 at 7:11pm

Zoom in on Instagram app for costumes

https://instagram.com/p/BYHJGnrnMtH/

[Wildcard]

Posted: 8/22/17 at 7:23pm

I love how the costumes and hair look like they are actually from the 70s. The outfits in the last Broadway revival looked very modern to me. 

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 8/22/17 at 7:47pm

https://instagram.com/p/BYHFZGrhceH/

[ljay889]

Posted: 8/22/17 at 8:03pm

I need to read some reports!!!

[ljay889]

Posted: 8/22/17 at 8:10pm

Looks like 20 musicians.

https://twitter.com/michaelmadigan_/status/900128303239106561

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 8/22/17 at 8:12pm

Apparently there's a revolve and it's used during a big number. I don't know if sharing what number will spoil it if you plan on seeing it in theatres. Very curious about everything, especially the Loveland sequence. November can't get here fast enough.

[ColorTheHours048]

Posted: 8/22/17 at 8:12pm

Word on Theatreboard is all raves so far, for every aspect. I grabbed a single seat for the November screening at Skirball. Heads up that there aren't many seats left and what's left is extreme sides and far back in the orchestra. I'm very excited for this. I wasn't wild about the last revival and the intermission was like letting all the air out of an already deflating tire ("One Last Kiss" remains one of my favorite moments in the theatre though), so I'm happy to hear this is intermissionless. Hope it stays that way.

[ljay889]

Posted: 8/22/17 at 8:13pm

Oh boy. Someone thinks Imelda might have lower keys. 

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 8/22/17 at 8:16pm

ljay889 said: "Oh boy. Someone thinks Imelda might have lower keys. "

And that her performance is Mama Rose meets Sally?

 

[AllThatJazz2]

Posted: 8/22/17 at 8:44pm

Between the Theatre Board responses and the posts to Twitter and Instagram, I am so excited to see this...haven't seen a bad word yet. Cannot wait until December.

[JBC3]

Posted: 8/22/17 at 9:38pm

All the raves on Twitter are killing me. I want to hop on a plane right now.

[binau]

Posted: 8/22/17 at 10:38pm

Imelda not being able to sing the score as it was written? Well that's a shocker. I'm still cautiously optimistic though - I must admit I like some of those early photos.

[Scripps2]

Posted: 8/23/17 at 1:24am

It looks like the real dress to worry about is Janie Dee's; it resembles my grandmother's bathrobe.

Updated On: 8/23/17 at 01:24 AM

[QueenAlice]

Posted: 8/23/17 at 2:19am

I'm in the U.K. And am seeing the production this Friday. I'll report back.

[jewishboy]

Posted: 8/23/17 at 4:30am

Follies at the national. This is very long, be prepared: 

Ok I finally managed to get some sleep with all the songs buzzing in my head and of I woke up still singing the songs in my head over and over again. Follies is my favorite musical of all time and I've been lucky (I guess) to see 5 versions (Roundabout, Barrington, Encores, Kennedy center and the Broadway revival). From what I've red and learned, productions after the original have tried to make the show more   accessible/approachable towards the goal of having a critical and financially successful production. The latest revival certainly made a lot of attempts in design and concept to achieve that goal, much to my dismay.   The encores version was my favorite, but of course it was a very stripped down production. On reflection, and I didn't even think about this at the time, I think that the minimalist nature of the Encores production also had the added effect of making the performances more approachable (and by that I mean more standard musical comedy type of acting) than ultimately desirable. 

Which brings me to the National. I will be talking a lot about design elements and movement, but I don't plan on really ruining anyone's enjoyment, if you know the show I don't think I'm giving much away, but... WARNING SPOILERS.  They have taken the genius of Prince, Bennett and the original designers and have ran with it. The Olivier is huge and they have a gargantuan set. A center piece that shows different sides of the decaying theatre (both in and out) and a separate pile of rubble upstage and stage right that serves as the same performance space for the ghosts. They later clear the center piece for Whos That Woman and add another scenic element for I'm Still Here (that works brilliantly) and then clear that for Could I leave you to do a complex, breathtaking and exhaustive transition into Loveland. And the costumes and lighting! Wowowow! They didn't hold back. The ghosts (both characters and follies girls) are in stunning grey outfits that is not a normal grey. It's a haunting and expensive grey. And the lighting is used so smartly, so accurately, that it gives a whole other shape to the production. And the revolve. Yes there is a revolve and it is not only used in one production number, it's used in almost all of them as well as during the book scenes. It makes it part of the nature of the show. These characters are walking around and exploring their old theatre. It's just part of the design and staging and is executed flawlessly. 

Also, the book and the orchestrations. The orchestra sounds orgasmic. Really. I heard new pieces that I've never heard and it just sounds glorious. Very full, very textured and haunting. Really haunting. I've only heard that haunting orchestra/musical quality from the original truncated Broadway recording. It sounds eerily similar. I think the orchestra time travelled. I'm not as familiar with the original book as a lot of others here are, but I'm almost positive nothing was cut. There were some lines about Sally's suicidal tendencies that I've never heard before, and I think that's good right? The one big changed I noticed, and I think for the better, is that they changed the line about the theatre being torn down for a parking lot. It is now an office building. Very fitting I thought. 

So I go on about all these elements because the effect this had as whole was shocking and overwhelmingly emotional. I was in tears from the opening until sometime after Broadway Baby. I couldn't hold them back. I usually cry when the music swells in Beautiful Girls, I started crying well before Sally's entrance. 

The musical staging was so in sync with the design elements, and for a first preview it was very sharp. The choreography was very Bennett-esque. I would say the dancing itself was more Bennett than the choreography, if that makes sense? You don't normally see that type of fast-paced energetic dancing in a musical drama. There was a Bolero d'Amour with just a young couple and the choreography for that was sensational. And makes such a difference breaking up The Road You Didn't Take and In Buddy's Eyes. And like I said, the director really took Harold Prince's concept and ran with it. Numbers had real sharp focus in interpretation and staging (physicality, both realistically and surrealistically, was done very well). One of my favorite moments was during Rain on the Roof, when the younger whitmans, who were dancing next to the older ones, handed off a grey umbrella that they were dancing with to the Theodore who then started incorporating it to the song. Perfect! 
 
Which leads me to the cast. As a whole it was some of the most grounded and honest work I've ever seen in a musical. Maybe the most. Ever. I guess they were all perfect student's of the material reminiscent, in my taste, to Patti LuPone, Laura Benanti, Boyd Gaines, Leigh Ann Larkin, Tony Yazbeck, and the ensemble of the most recent Broadway production of Gypsy. The actor playing Dimitri Weismann gave one of the most touching performances and the actress who played Solange gave a really nice truthfully comedic performance. The chorus/ensemble could give the Broadway chorus of Hello Dolly! a run for its money. 

This was the first time in my viewing of Follies that the actors playing Hattie, Stella, Heidi, and Carlotta did not compete or pull focus from the leads. No mugging (yet, this was first preview) in Broadway Baby, Stella was getting choked up on the last "Lord, Lord, Lord. That woman is me!" and boy, that was a smart and genuine choice (and a nice completely natural riff at the end), one more kiss was soft and quiet, and Tracie Bennett faded into the proceedings in a good way. This is not Carlotta's story. I mean, in the book scenes. She both acted and danced remarkably well during "Who's That Woman," complete with taking breaks and falling on the floor in exhaustion after, but it did not pull focus. It was truthful to the character. I must add that there were two genuine show stopping numbers. The aforementioned Who's That Woman and I'm Still Here. They could have done an encore of both numbers. Maybe 5. If the actors didn't continue on with the scenes, I don't know when the audience would have stopped clapping and cheering. First preview, in London, at the national. Incredible. And the real genius of both numbers, in my opinion, is that they didn't rely on any "tricks" whatsoever. I've never seen "I'm still Here" achieve what it did last night. SPOILER. The added scenic element for this number through "One More Kiss" were a couple of rows of old theatre seats in center stage. So it added a different sense of place in the party. And at the end of I'm Still Here, Tracie delivered the glorious last verse to all parts of the stage including the orchestra upstage, so it gave a real sense of her being in the stalls and singing to this empty theatre and the outside 1971 world itself. BRAVA! 

The four leads. Revelatory. Never has Buddy seemed on the brink of a breakdown, here he was. Buddy didn't dance all over the set like the original, but there was some very interesting and sharp dancing/movement with the younger characters. Him and the orchestra sounded brilliant. Never has Phyllis seemed so grounded in reality, not really needing anything from the party (she needs things from her husband and THAT, through singing Could I Leave You?, leads to her breakdown), here she was. This was no star turn. There was no chewing of the scenery. And you what, she still got all the laughs. Never has a Sally I've seen strike the perfect balance of vulnerability and madness, Imelda did. Not only that, but she really was lost in the Follies and the decaying theatre. The most beautiful moment was right after "Beautiful Girls." The company has cleared the stage and Buddy finds Sally,  but last night, when Buddy found her Sally was still parading and performing Beautiful Girls in her head. Such a great choice. And I've never, NEVER, seen a Ben so lost, so wanting something he doesn't know how to get, so unwilling to truly look back. I don't know how Philip Quast did it, but he erased John McMartin's performance (and I know, just from the recording) from my head during the show last night. 

For a first preview, the four lead's acting and musical interpretation and phrasing was remarkable. The only way I can describe it was as if I was listening to the original Broadway cast recording again for the first time. However, the one thing about seeing a Follies this fully realized both design and acting wise, is that I now can possibly understand what the critics in 1971 might have been responding to. It's ****ing depressing. There's no escape from that. If the actors really honor the text, it's a very hard show to reckon with. I think we are more used to these types of musicals now, but still having 4 King Lears on stage is not an easy evening to get through. If there's one thing the production can use, it's more levity. Not a lot, just a touch. Especially from the 4 young characters in there songs (but that might naturally happen with time). 

A few last notes. Imelda is not playing Sally as Mamma Rose. She's just not. I always thought Dorothy Collins had a light soprano with a rich chest voice, and Imelda is the same. I think her voice naturally sits a little lower than Dorothy Collins, so I wouldn't be surprised if they did lower the keys. However, in the parts of songs that required her head/soprano voice, she sounded great. Much healthier than Bernadette Peters ever did in Follies (and I LOVED her performance). The only time I wished she was a little higher was the beginning of Too Many Mornings, however when her and Philip Quast started singing together, it was appropriately beautiful. And Quast's rich baritone at the end of the song was so gorgeous (think of the low rich notes that Howard Keel or Alfred Drake used to hit). But, Imelda sings the score beautifully and thrillingly! With more genuine truthful emotion than I found in both Peters and Clark's interpretations. 

Oh and I won't spoil the Follies sequence, but there are some ingenious surprises and technical elements that really harken back to vaudeville and Ziegfeld and old Hollywood movie musicals. A lot of scenic elements for each separate Folly number. They had stop last night for a technical element right at the end of the Loveland song which might have stopped the engine in everyone slightly, but all the leads gave excellent interpretations. 

I could go on and on, but I'm spent. I hope this comes to NYC. NYC deserves this production. Maybe Meryl Streep, Christine Baranski, Brian Stokes Mitchell and someone brilliant as Buddy could do it. I think that's my ideal American cast at the moment. 

Updated On: 8/23/17 at 04:30 AM

[jewishboy]

Posted: 8/23/17 at 5:04am

Sorry for some typos. I'm on my phone in London, and it is very hard to edit. My apologies. 

[JBC3]

Posted: 8/23/17 at 7:17am

Thank you jewishboy for the wonderfully detailed report. Sounds like a very special night.

[jewishboy]

Posted: 8/23/17 at 8:21am

Ok, I can't help it. While it's still fresh in my mind I want to add a couple of notes about Imelda Staunton and Philip Quast's performances. As I said, both textually and musically they perfectly inhabited these characters. Their relationship, Ben's and Sally's, was exactly like what we see from their younger selves (which I've never quite gotten). 

When I was younger and first got into Follies, I used to think of Ben and Sally as a true romance that never was. It was a very sentimental relationship, the way I perceived it. I don't think that's the case. From the moment Imelda saw and interacted with Philip, in "Don't Look at Me," she was overly flirtatious (in a perfect Sally way). And he was so disarmingly honest, in a completely crippling and different way than his interactions with everyone else. Imelda got so lost in the moment during In Buddy's Eyes that by that final slower verse she was just singing directly and obviously to and about Ben, no false pretense anymore. Philip continued to convincingly woo her during The Road You Didn't Take and especially in the scene leading up to Too Many Mornings.

 They had amazing chemistry, slightly sexual/sensual and always in the past, but no real romance. I don't know if I've ever quite seen a couple act like that in a musical. Both of them were the true protagonists last night and because their relationship was so fixed in what it was in the past, it was one of the many reasons that the show was hard to get through emotionally. Hope that makes sense, it was just about perfect I think. 

[binau]

Posted: 8/23/17 at 8:29am

The subtext of the last verse of In Buddy's Eyes is one of my favourite moments in the show and I like that you have called that out as a highlight. I am very much looking forward to the recording. 

[ljay889]

Posted: 8/23/17 at 9:13am

The book sounds promising. David Benedict, Sondheim's new biographer, said on twitter that it's "mostly the original book." 

 

[Sally Durant Plummer]

Posted: 8/23/17 at 10:37am

Jewishbou, can the characters see the ghosts? Thanks for your thoughts - really exciting.

[brettarnett]

Posted: 8/23/17 at 11:01am

The suicidal Sally lines give me hope! Having read the original script, I was amazed how well crafted the book is.Such a shame that it has been trimmed down in each production. I truly hope an encore presentation is added as I can't make the cinecast date. It seems like a Sally-delusion that a production of Follies is finally being directed properly and honoring the text.

[ljay889]

Posted: 8/23/17 at 11:44am

I agree, it almost sounds too good to be true!

Eric Schaffer tried crafting a Sally centric production, and Bernadette definitely played up the delusions and depression, but there's only so much you can do without those lines from the original book. Now I just hope they kept her "I should've died the first time, I should've been dead all these years" line in the finale. No other major production has had the guts to use that since the original.