Follies 1987 London Production (and general Follies thread =] )- Page 5

[PalJoey]

Posted: 10/27/08 at 1:40pm

Okay, "Dubbed 2" is on Sendspace. PM me.

[laura is broadway]

Posted: 10/27/08 at 1:46pm

I'm (clearly) new to Follies, and I think I'm falling in love :)

I'd love to see some of the footage you guys are talking about, but I'm a bit unfamiliar with the websites of sending and uploading your talking about :/

[Scripps2]

Posted: 10/27/08 at 3:35pm

Absolutely fascinating!

And I didn't think there was anything left to say after PalJoey's comment about Michael Bennett.

(though I do agree that James Goldman's original book was Chekhovian)

It seems almost redundant to go back to the London production though there are a couple of other major differences that haven't been discussed and which contributed to the dilution. Laura - if you would like me to post, let me know.

[jewishboy]

Posted: 10/27/08 at 3:40pm

I just want to add in this message board of euphoria that the opening to "Lucy and Jessie" is just outstanding! I might have even held my breath for the rest of the number to continue! I would love to hear Stratas in the Rags soundboard! But, then again I can hear Stratas sing anything...

[jewishboy]

Posted: 10/27/08 at 3:41pm

FOLLIES
Updated On: 10/27/08 at 03:41 PM

[PalJoey]

Posted: 10/27/08 at 3:56pm

I know I must sound like Michael Bennett's mother or something, but watch in the video how he masterfully makes the number unfold, from a single spotlight against the curtain illuminating only Alexis and her (Fosse-like) posture and hand gestures.

Then the curtain opens and she climbs the platforms so that she is framed by the chorus boys and girls--all facing upstage--and still she is the sole point of focus.

Then in the middle of the number, the boys and girls take over for a bit, to give the star a break. Then the focus comes back to her--and this time the set pieces are illuminated, framing her even more dazzlingly.

If you click on the Who's That Woman link, he does a similar thing: he removes the star in the middle and has her come back at the end--standard practice, I know. But with Bennett, when the star returns, the concept takes root. In Who's That Woman, when Mary McCarty comes back, the old babes are being assisted by their younger ghosts, and Mary's ghost is upstage center, doing what Mary used to do, while Mary is downstage center, projecting over ALL of them.

People have said that the Lucy/Jessie number just "ends." I guarantee you that what Bennett did with the staging was totally satisfying, and the audience reaction was enormous. In terms of the meaning of the song, by the end Alexis Smith had become, not Lucy and Jessie combined, but Jessie, in all her glory.

And THAT was Phyllis's folly: She abandoned Lucy and surrendered to Jessie.

Updated On: 10/28/08 at 03:56 PM

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 10/27/08 at 4:13pm

Like many another classic musical,Follies is a dark show. But West Side Story is about those street gangs. Gypsy is about someone else's horrible mother. Cabaret is about the Weimar Republic. Follies is about how your marriage failed. - Ethan Mordden

[jv92]

Posted: 10/27/08 at 4:17pm

Pal Joey, WOW! That story (and that Lucy and Jessie clip) was better than Patti LuPone and Christine Ebersole combined!

[Amalia Balash]

Posted: 10/27/08 at 4:55pm

I'd like to hear (or see) more about the West End production. It's been twenty years since I saw it -- maybe it's time I let go of my disappointment in it for not being my chance to get a kinda sorta almost glimpse of the original. Thanks to those who made the sharing in this thread possible, I've gotten that glimpse and more. There were some excellent performances in the West End production even if what they had to work with wasn't. Did Goldman ever discuss his views of the two versions -- we've heard Sondheim's.

[BNN]

Posted: 10/27/08 at 5:17pm

There is for sure a closing night audio from the London production, with a special announcement about Julia McKenzie playing Sally, I suppose she had left the production recently and came back for the final night?

[LadyRosecoe]

Posted: 10/27/08 at 9:52pm

I wonder how that worked with Julia. Kurt Peterson did the same thing and John Johann let him take closing night. I think John was playing the role still at that point.

But that Julia announcement makes ME want to clap listening to it; the audience goes NUTS!

[sondheimboy2]

Posted: 10/27/08 at 11:16pm

Thank you PalJoey! I just sent it to some of my other friends. It was fabulous. It was like being visited by my favorite ghost. Which is appropriate for FOLLIES...

[PalJoey]

Posted: 10/27/08 at 11:19pm

Let me know what they think.

[TheBoyDownstairs]

Posted: 10/27/08 at 11:23pm

I just got through watching the newest uploaded video and listening to the obc soundboard for the first time, so I'm in Follies overload and loving it. All this stuff is amazing.

I know Alexis Smith won the Tony and she was clearly amazing as Phyllis but Dorothy Collins is the one who consistently gives goosebumps watching and listening to her. I loved Victoria Clark's take on Sally in the Encores! production but I don't think anyone can top Dorothy Collins.

[BNN]

Posted: 10/27/08 at 11:29pm

Not that I don't think Alexis Smith is talented, but I think the argument that Dorothy deserved the Tony is fair. Furthermore, I think the Loveland sequence may have played a role. To see Sally emerge in a beautiful gown and sing such a heart-wrenching torch song is haunting and easily the emotional high point in terms of character, but its also very much expected. However, seeing Phyllis emerge to a wild fanfare and in such a revealing outfit and let loose in such a free and easy manner was such a surprise and quickly became the highlight of the show's spectacle. Also, it seems to feature Phyllis as the more prominent female figure, in the way that Ben becomes the main character because his number is last and takes us out of the Loveland sequence on his own accord. The Loveland sequence is kind of a double-edged sword.

Updated On: 10/27/08 at 11:29 PM

[PalJoey]

Posted: 10/28/08 at 12:41am

It was a Zeitgeist thing. Alexis Smith captured the spirit of the early 70s and seemed to embody the entire idea of the show: I may not be young anymore, but I've still got my edge and I've still got my legs and I'm every bit as hot as I was 20 years ago.

In other words: I'm still here.

As a 15-year-old aspiring theater professional and budding gay boy, I was affected by Dorothy Collins in a deep and emotional way--but Alexis Smith was who I wanted to be. When my first boyfriend broke up with me, I felt like I was "losing my mind," but what I really wanted to do was make him feel REALLY terrible and then say, "WAIT! I'm just beginning..."

It was a yin and a yang: Dorothy provided the throbbing, vulnerable heart of the show and Alexis provided the brittle, tough-girl-turned-classy-dame survivor. They both were magnificent, but only one could win.

Alexis won the Tony for the way she delivered her lines, the way she spit out every shockingly sarcastic word of "Could I Leave You" and the way her legs looked when she strode across the stage.

She won for the same reason she landed on the cover of Time. She was, once again, 20 years after being a Hollywood Star, the Girl of the Moment.

It can happen to any of us, twenty years later: We can be even more pathetic than we were when we were young (like Sally)--or maybe we can get our Lucys and Jessies to combine and FINALLY feel just fine.

Updated On: 2/8/10 at 12:41 AM

[tellybox]

Posted: 10/28/08 at 2:45am

One of the best threads to come out of here in a long time.

[TheBoyDownstairs]

Posted: 10/28/08 at 8:37am

I've always understood why Alexis Smith would win the Tony, it makes complete sense and obviously was well deserved. I think there is just something about the character of Sally that really fascinates me, she is the person who sets everything in motion and drives the emotion of the piece.

I also think Sally is a really hard role to cast, when there was that "Cast Follies the movie" thread I could think of at least 5 really good actresses who could play Phyllis, but not a single one who is right for Sally.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 10/28/08 at 9:38am

Right now my dream movie Sally is Natasha Richardson. They'd probably have to help her voice in the studio, but I think she'd be heartbreaking in the role.

[caroline's folly]

Posted: 10/28/08 at 11:44am

Mad props to PalJoey!!! We all just witnessed history yall !

[Hest882]

Posted: 10/28/08 at 11:59am

Yep. I haven't been able to watch the second video yet, but both the "Miniature" video and the Lucy/Jessie Alexis Smith video are amazing. All hail PalJoey!

[PalJoey]

Posted: 10/28/08 at 12:08pm

The Follies in Miniature is more satisfying thank the longer video. Mad props to the unknown person who put it together, 25 years ago or so.

The Lucy/Jessie was pulled out of the second video. Also on YouTube from that 2nd video are "The Right Girl" and "Who's That Woman?"

[laura is broadway]

Posted: 10/28/08 at 4:49pm

Scripps2- I would like you to post more about the London production, if you can.


Though I have enjoyed the way this thread has turned out :),

[laura is broadway]

Posted: 10/28/08 at 10:48pm

bump (sorry it has been so great, I want to keep it going!)

[Paul W. Thompson]

Posted: 10/28/08 at 11:16pm

Well, I like this thread too, so here are my idle, rambling thoughts on the subject of "Follies."

In the late 70s, when I was first learning about the Broadway I wanted to know about (as opposed to the Broadway of my parents) I kept coming across song after song that were all from this show called "Follies." Dozens of them! I thought, how many songs were IN this show??? And they were all fantastic. I thought it was from the 30s, too!

In 1984 I did a production of "Annie" with Virginia Sandifur, the original Young Phyllis, as Grace (she was graceful and smart and fun, and sang like polished sandpaper, if you can get your head around that one).

She told us that during "Follies" she had never worked harder in her life, that she regretted not getting to know the creative team better (the cast was way too busy) and that she was honored and thrilled that we, the young kids, knew of the show and recognized her name before we even saw her program bio.

Then "Follies in Concert" came out. I don't think that people who weren't around then realize how big this was. There was pandemonium about the casting, about the involvement of the NY Philharmonic, about the performances, about the recording, about the documentary film, all of it. It basically invented the concert musical as we know it today, and was (I believe) only the third recording that was not an original Broadway cast recording to win the show album Grammy award, etc. Sheer pandemonium. If everyone who said they were there actually WAS there, well, it would be as crowded as "Moose Murders" was. LOL

And this was all because, you see, everyone thought that the real show was lost. Capitol Records botched their chance for immortality (I love that recording, but it could have been soooooo much more), there was no London production, no film, nothing. It was considered too expensive to mount, too auteur and serious, too sad, too everything. Only a few colleges and Civic Light Opera companies had attempted it. But show fanatics had kept its legend alive, if only for 12 years. It seemed like much longer. (Was that because so much glamor faded during the oil embargo and inflationary years?)

So, fast forward to the London staging, the Paper Mill, the Broadway revival, etc., (not forgetting the Sondheim celebrations and revues that featured the show as well). And now we have the internet to speed up the distribution of the types of items that used to be traded under cover of darkness, from friend to friend of a friend, like disease or drugs. "Follies" things.

And yet, it still remains somehow JUUUUUUUUUUST out of reach. Perhaps it always will. Hmmmmmmm.

That, my friends, is a true ghost story.