Follies

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Follies

Follies is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim

Stephen Sondheim

Stephen Joshua Sondheim is an American composer and lyricist for theatre and film, winner of an Academy Award, multiple Tony Awards and the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, multiple Grammy Awards, and a Pulitzer Prize....
and a book by James Goldman

James Goldman

James Goldman was an American, Academy Awards-winning screenwriter and playwright, and the brother of screenwriter and novelist William Goldman....
. Several of its songs have become standards, including "Broadway Baby," "I'm Still Here," "Too Many Mornings," "Could I Leave You?" and "Losing My Mind

Losing My Mind

"Losing My Mind" is a popular song written by Stephen Sondheim for the 1971 musical Follies. It was first performed by Dorothy Collins and has since been covered by many artists such as Shirley Bassey and Michael Ball ....
." The play was nominated for eleven Tonys and won seven.

The Broadway

Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 39 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located in the Theatre District, New York in Manhattan, New York City....
production opened on April 4 1971, directed by Harold Prince and Michael Bennett

Michael Bennett

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Encyclopedia

Follies is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim

Stephen Sondheim

James Goldman

Losing My Mind

Broadway theatre

Michael Bennett

Michael Bennett was an United States musical theater theatre director, writer, choreographer, and dancer. He won seven Tony Awards for his choreography and direction of Broadway theatre shows and was nominated for an additional eleven....
, and with choreography by Bennett. The production, which ultimately lost money, ran for 522 performances. Nevertheless, the piece has enjoyed a number of major revivals. In December 2007, Sondheim told The New York Times
The New York Times

The New York Times is an American daily newspaper published in New York City. The largest metropolitan newspaper in the United States, "The Gray Lady"?named for its staid appearance and style?is regarded as a national newspaper of record....
that a film adaptation of Follies was in development, with the director Sam Mendes

Sam Mendes

Samuel Alexander Mendes Order of the British Empire is an English Theatre director, film and commercial director at RSA US. He is known for his 1998 production of Cabaret , starring Alan Cumming, and his debut film, American Beauty , for which he won an Academy Award for Directing....
and the writer Aaron Sorkin

Aaron Sorkin

Aaron Benjamin Sorkin is an United States screenwriter, television producer and playwright. After graduating from Syracuse University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Musical Theatre in 1983, Sorkin spent much of the 1980s in New York as a struggling, largely unemployed actor....
.

Background and story

Originally entitled The Girls Upstairs, Follies is set in a crumbling Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 39 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located in the Theatre District, New York in Manhattan, New York City....
, scheduled for demolition, during a reunion for all the past members of the "Weismann's Follies," a musical revue

Revue

A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatre entertainment that combines music, dance and sketch comedy. The revue has its roots in nineteenth-century American popular entertainment and melodrama, but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own during its golden years from ca....
(based on the Ziegfeld Follies

Ziegfeld Follies

The Ziegfeld Follies were a series of elaborate theatrical productions on Broadway theatre in New York City from 1907 through 1931. They became a radio program in 1932 and 1936 as The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air....
) which played in that theatre between the World Wars. The musical focuses on two couples, Buddy and Sally Durant Plummer and Ben and Phyllis Rogers Stone, who are attending the reunion. Sally and Phyllis were both showgirls in the Follies as were many of the other guests. Both marriages are having problems because Buddy, a traveling salesman, is having an affair with a girl on the road, Sally is still in love with Ben as she was years ago, and Ben is so self-absorbed that Phyllis feels emotionally abandoned.

The two couples interact with each other and other partygoers, and throughout the first half, musical numbers from the old Follies are performed by the characters, sometimes accompanied by the ghosts of their former selves. Most of the songs are pastiche

Pastiche

The word pastiche describes a literary or other artistic genre. The word has two competing meanings, meaning either a "wikt:hodgepodge" or an imitation....
s of songs by popular songwriters of the past. Losing My Mind is in the style of a George Gershwin

George Gershwin

George Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. He wrote most of his vocal and theatrical works in collaboration with his elder brother, lyricist Ira Gershwin....
ballad, The God-Why-Don't-You-Love-Me Blues is in the style of Cole Porter

Cole Porter

Cole Albert Porter was an American composer and songwriter from Peru, Indiana, Indiana.His works include the musical comedies Kiss Me, Kate , Fifty Million Frenchmen, DuBarry Was a Lady and Anything Goes, as well as songs like "Night and Day ", "I Get a Kick out of You", "Well, Did You Evah!", "Two Little Babes In The Wood"...
and Loveland is akin to a 1920s Ziegfeld Follies

Ziegfeld Follies

Vaudeville

Vaudeville was a genre of a variety show prevalent on the theatre in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. It developed from many sources, including the concert saloon, minstrel show, freak shows, dime museums, and literary burlesque....
-style numbers reflecting the leading characters' emotional troubles before returning to the theatre for the end of the reunion party.

Productions

1971 Broadway premiere

Follies opened on Broadway

Broadway theatre

Winter Garden Theatre

The Winter Garden Theatre is a Broadway theatre theatre located at 1634 Broadway in midtown-Manhattan.It was built by William Kissam Vanderbilt in 1896 to be the American Horse Exchange....
, directed by Harold Prince and Michael Bennett

Michael Bennett

Alexis Smith

Alexis Smith was a Canada actor.Born Gladys Smith in Penticton, British Columbia, Canada, Smith shares a birthname with actress Mary Pickford....
(Phyllis), John McMartin

John McMartin

John McMartin is an United States actor of stage, film and television.McMartin was born in Warsaw, Indiana and raised in Minnesota. He attended college in Illinois and New York....
(Benjamin), Dorothy Collins

Dorothy Collins

Dorothy Collins was a popular United States singer, actor, and recording artist. She was born Marjorie Chandler in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, and adopted her stage name in her mid-teens....
(Sally), Gene Nelson

Gene Nelson

Gene Nelson was an United States dancer, actor, screenwriter, and director....
(Buddy), and Yvonne De Carlo

Yvonne De Carlo

Yvonne De Carlo was a Canada-born United States film and television actor, dancer and singer. In her six decades of television, Her most prolific appearances in film came in the 1940s and 1950s, and included her best known film roles, such as Salome Where She Danced and The Ten Commandments , opposite Charlton Heston....
, along with several veterans of the Broadway and vaudeville stage. Even though the production ran for well over a year (522 performances), it was not considered a success, and lost money. This was due partly to the rather bleak nature of the show itself, particularly Goldman's book. Frank Rich

Frank Rich

Frank Rich is a New York Times columnist who focuses on American politics and American popular culture. His column ran on the front page of the Sunday Arts & Leisure section from 2003 to 2005; it now appears in the expanded Sunday Week in Review section....
, for many years the chief drama critic for The New York Times
The New York Times

The New York Times is an American daily newspaper published in New York City. The largest metropolitan newspaper in the United States, "The Gray Lady"?named for its staid appearance and style?is regarded as a national newspaper of record....
, wrote on the occasion of the 1985 concert performance that audiences at the original production were baffled and restless. (While an undergraduate at Harvard University

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Massachusetts, United States, and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1636 by the colonial Massachusetts legislature, Harvard is the Colonial Colleges institution of higher learning in the United States....
, Rich had first garnered attention from the theatre community with a lengthy essay about the show he wrote for the Harvard Crimson during its pre-Broadway run in Boston. In his unusually astute study of the work, he predicted the legendary staus the show eventually would achieve.) Goldman subsequently revised his work right up to his death, which occurred shortly before the 1998 Paper Mill production. Sondheim too has added and removed songs that he judged to be problematic in various productions.

The plum supporting role of Carlotta Campion, the seen-it-all ex-Follies girl who sings the showstopping "I'm Still Here," was created by Yvonne De Carlo

Yvonne De Carlo

Yvonne De Carlo was a Canada-born United States film and television actor, dancer and singer. In her six decades of television, Her most prolific appearances in film came in the 1940s and 1950s, and included her best known film roles, such as Salome Where She Danced and The Ten Commandments , opposite Charlton Heston....
in 1971, and has subsequently been given often to a celebrated veteran performer.

For commercial reasons, the cast album was cut from two LPs to one early in production. Most songs were therefore heavily abridged and several were left entirely unrecorded. ("One More Kiss" was omitted from the final release for time reasons, but was restored for CD release.)

1972 Los Angeles

A production ran from July 22, 1972 through October 1, 1972 at the Shubert Theatre, Century City, California

California

California is a U.S. state on the West Coast of the United States of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by Oregon to the north, Nevada to the east, Arizona to the southeast, and to the south the Mexico state of Baja California....
. It was directed by Prince, and starred Dorothy Collins (Sally), Alexis Smith (Phyllis), John McMartin (Benjamin), Gene Nelson (Buddy), and Yvonne De Carlo (Carlotta) reprising their original roles. The production was the premiere attraction at the newly constructed 1,800-seat theatre, which was razed in 2002 to make way for a new office building.

1985 Lincoln Center concert

A concert at Avery Fisher Hall

Avery Fisher Hall

Avery Fisher Hall, known until 1973 as Philharmonic Hall, is a List of concert halls opened in 1962 as part of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts complex in New York City....
, Lincoln Center, was produced September 6 and 7, 1985; it starred Barbara Cook

Barbara Cook

Barbara Cook is a Tony Award winning United States singer and actress who first came to prominence in the 1950s after starring in the original Broadway theatre musical theatre Candide and The Music Man among others....
(Sally), George Hearn

George Hearn

George Hearn is a United States actor and singer, primarily in Broadway theatre musical theatre....
(Benjamin), Mandy Patinkin

Mandy Patinkin

Mandel Bruce ?Mandy? Patinkin is an American actor of stage and screen and a tenor vocalist. Patinkin is known for his roles in television series such as: Chicago Hope, Dead Like Me and the first two seasons of Criminal Minds....
(Buddy), and Lee Remick

Lee Remick

Lee Ann Remick was an Academy Award- and Tony Award-nominated American film and television actress. Among her best-known films are Anatomy of a Murder , Days of Wine and Roses , and The Omen ....
(Phyllis), and featured Carol Burnett

Carol Burnett

Carol Creighton Burnett is an United States actress, comedienne, singer, dancer and writer. Burnett started her career in New York. After becoming a hit on Broadway theatre, she debuted on television....
(Carlotta), Betty Comden

Betty Comden

Betty Comden , was one-half of the musical-comedy duo Comden and Green, who provided lyrics, librettos, and screenplays to some of the most beloved and successful musical films and Broadway theatre shows of the mid-20th century....
, Adolph Green

Adolph Green

Adolph Green was an United States lyricist and playwright who, with long-time collaborator Betty Comden, penned the screenplays and songs for some of the most beloved movie musicals, particularly as part of Arthur Freed's production unit at Metro Goldwyn Mayer, during the genre's heyday....
, Liliane Montevecchi

Liliane Montevecchi

Liliane Montevecchi is a France actor, dancer, and singer.Born in Paris, France, Montevecchi began her career as a prima ballerina in Roland Petit's dance company....
, Elaine Stritch

Elaine Stritch

Elaine Stritch is an American actress and vocalist, best known for her trademark performance of "The Ladies Who Lunch" in Company , her 2001 one-woman show #Return to stage, and most recently for her role as Jack Donaghy's mother List of recurring characters on 30 Rock on NBC's 30 Rock....
, Phyllis Newman

Phyllis Newman

Phyllis Newman is a United States actress and singer.Born in Jersey City, New Jersey, she attended PS 17 and Lincoln High School where she was voted "Future Hollywood Star" and "Most Pull with the Faculty." Newman made her Broadway theater debut in Wish You Were Here in 1952....
and Licia Albanese

Licia Albanese

Licia Albanese is a distinguished Italy soprano and chairman of The Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation, founded in 1974 and dedicated to assisting young artists and singers....
.

Among the reasons the concert was staged was to provide an opportunity to record the entire score. The resulting album was much more complete than the original cast album. However, director Herbert Ross

Herbert Ross

Herbert Ross was an two-time Academy Award nominated United States film director, film producer, choreographer and actor.Born Herbert David Ross in Brooklyn, New York, he made his stage debut as Third Witch with a touring company of Macbeth in 1942....
took many liberties in adapting the book and score for the concert format--dance music was changed, songs were given false endings, new dialogue was spoken, reprises were added, and Patinkin was allowed to sing "The God-Why-Don't-You-Love-Me Blues" as a solo instead of a trio with two chorus girls. A videotape and DVD of the concert have been released titled Follies in Concert.

1987 London production

Dolores Gray

Dolores Gray was an American stage and film actress. During her successful music career, she sang Marilyn Monroe's part on the Decca records soundtrack album of There's No Business Like Show Business ...
played Carlotta in the 1987 London production at the Shaftesbury Theatre

Shaftesbury Theatre

The Shaftesbury Theatre is a West End Theatre, located on Shaftesbury Avenue, in the London Borough of Camden....
. The production by Cameron Mackintosh was directed by Mike Ockrent and featured Diana Rigg

Diana Rigg

Daniel Massey (actor)

Daniel Raymond Massey was a Golden Globe award-winning England actor and performer. He is possibly best known for his starring role in the United Kingdom TV drama Roads to Freedom, as Daniel, alongside Michael Bryant ....
(Ben), Julia McKenzie

Julia McKenzie

Julia McKenzie is an England Olivier Award-winning actress and theatre director....
(Sally), David Healy (Buddy), Lynda Baron

Lynda Baron

Lynda Baron is an England stage, film and television actress. Her most prominent role is probably that of the extremely busty Nurse Gladys Emanuel, the object of Arkwright's affection, in the BBC comedy series Open All Hours....
, Leonard Sachs

Leonard Sachs

Leonard Sachs was a United Kingdom actor.Sachs was born in Roodepoort, Transvaal . He had many television and film roles from the 1930s to the 1980s, including Mowbray in the 1950 version of Richard II , John Wesley in the 1954 film of the same name and Lord Mount Severn in East Lynne from 1976....
, Maria Charles

Maria Charles

Maria Charles is an England actress who carved a niche for herself on television playing clingy Jewish mothers. She appeared in the memorable Play for Today entry Bar Mitzvah Boy and also played screen mother to Maureen Lipman in the sitcom Agony ....
, Pearl Carr & Teddy Johnson

Pearl Carr & Teddy Johnson

Pearl Lavinia Carr and Edward Victor Johnson were a popular England husband-and-wife team of entertainers during the 1950s and early 1960s....
. During the run, Eartha Kitt

Eartha Kitt

Eartha Mae Kitt was an American actor, singer, and cabaret star. She was perhaps best known for her 1953 Christmas song "Santa Baby". Orson Welles once called her the "most exciting woman in the world." She took over the role of Catwoman for the third season of the 1960s Batman television series, replacing Julie Newmar, who was unavaila...
replaced Gray as Carlotta and won an Olivier award for her performance of the show stopping number "I'm Still Here", sparking somewhat of a comeback (in fact, Kitt went on to perform her own one woman show at The Shaftesbury Theatre to sold out houses for three weeks from 18 March 1989 as a result of her popularity after "Follies" closed) . Other cast replacements included Millicent Martin

Millicent Martin

Millicent Mary Lillian Martin is an English actress, singer and comedian.Martin was born in Romford, England. She made her Broadway theatre debut opposite Julie Andrews in The Boy Friend in 1954....
as Carlotta, Dersley McLinden as young Ben and Jill Washington as Sally. (Julie McKenzie returned to the production for the final four performances). Goldman wrote a completely new book for the production, and Sondheim wrote four new songs: "Country House" (replacing "The Road You Didn't Take"), "Loveland" (replacing the song of the same title), "Ah, But Underneath" (replacing "The Story of Lucy and Jessie", for the non-dancer Diana Rigg

Diana Rigg

Dame Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg Order of the British Empire is an England actor. She is probably best known for her portrayals of Emma Peel in The Avengers and Countess Tracy Bond in the 1969 in film James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service ....
), and "Make the Most of Your Music" (replacing "Live, Laugh, Love"). The production was, in the opinion of critics who saw it in New York (such as Frank Rich

Frank Rich

BBC Radio 2

BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio radio station and the List of most-listened-to radio programs in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult contemporary music or Album-orientated rock, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres....
listener poll

Opinion poll

An opinion poll is a statistical survey of public opinion from a particular sampling . Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinions of a population by conducting a series of questions and then extrapolating generalities in ratio or within confidence intervals....
of the UK's "Nation's Number One Essential Musicals."

1995 and 1998 regional productions

This production ran at the Theatre Under the Stars

Theatre Under The Stars (Houston)

Theatre Under the Stars is a year-round, professional, non-profit musical theatre production company. It is located in Houston, Texas, performing mostly at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts....
, Houston, Texas

Houston, Texas

Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States of America and the largest city within the state of Texas. As of the 2007 U.S. Census estimate, the city has a population of 2.2 million within an area of 600 square miles ....
and later at the 5th Avenue Theatre

5th Avenue Theatre

The 5th Avenue Theatre is a landmarks theatre located in Seattle, Washington, United States. It has hosted a variety of theatre productions and motion pictures since it opened in 1926....
, Seattle with Virginia Mayo, Denise Darcel

Denise Darcel

Denise Darcel, born Denise Billecard in Paris, is a France actress who made a few films in Cinema of the United States.Darcel was a cabaret singer in Paris after World War II before being spotted by Hollywood....
, Edie Adams

Edie Adams

Edie Adams was an United States singer, Broadway theatre, television and film actress and comedienne. Adams, a Tony Award winner, "both embodied and winked at the stereotypes of fetching chanteuse and sexpot blonde."...
, Constance Towers

Constance Towers

Constance Towers is an United States singer and actress....
and Karen Morrow

Karen Morrow

Karen Morrow is an United States singer ? actress best known for her work in musical theater. Her honors include an Emmy Award and a Theatre World Award, and an Ovation Award and five Drama-Logue Award nominations....
in the cast. The 1998 Paper Mill Playhouse

Paper Mill Playhouse

Paper Mill Playhouse is a regional theatre with approximately 1200 seats, located in Millburn, New Jersey, New Jersey, less than 25 miles away from Manhattan....
revival in Millburn, New Jersey

Millburn, New Jersey

Millburn is a township in Essex County, New Jersey, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the township population was 19,765....
featured the legendary MGM star Ann Miller

Ann Miller

Ann Miller was an American dancer, singer and actress....
in the role of Carlotta. Also in the cast were Donna McKechnie

Donna McKechnie

Donna McKechnie is an United States musical theater dancer, singer, actor, and choreographer. She is perhaps best known for her professional and personal relationship with choreographer Michael Bennett, with whom she collaborated on her most noted role, "Cassie" from the musical A Chorus Line....
, Kaye Ballard

Kaye Ballard

Actress Kaye Ballard, also credited as Kay Ballard was born as Catherine Gloria Balotta on November 20 1925, in Cleveland, Ohio, to an Italy immigrant father....
, Eddie Bracken

Eddie Bracken

Edward Vincent "Eddie" Bracken was an United States actor.Born in Astoria, New York, Bracken performed in vaudeville at the age of nine and gained fame with the Broadway theatre musical Too Many Girls in a role he reprised for the 1940 film adaptation....
, and Laurence Guittard

Laurence Guittard

Laurence Guittard is an actor and singer, mostly appearing on the Broadway theatre stage. Notable appearances include Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm in Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music, Curly in the 1979 revival of Oklahoma!, and as Don Quixote in several productions of Man of La Mancha....
; Newman and Montevecchi reprised the roles they played in the Lincoln Center production. "Ah, But Underneath" was substituted for "The Story of Lucy and Jessie" in order to accommodate non-dancer Dee Hoty

Dee Hoty

Dee Hoty is an United States musical theatre actress. Over the course of her career, she has appeared in numerous high-profile Broadway theatre productions and earned multiple Tony Award nominations for her performances....
in the role of Phyllis. This production received a full-length recording on two CDs, including not only the entire score as originally written, but a lengthy appendix of songs cut from the original production in tryouts.

1996 Dublin production

The 1996 Dublin

Dublin

Dublin is both the largest city and capital of Republic of Ireland. It is located near the midpoint of Ireland's east coast, at the mouth of the River Liffey and at the centre of the Dublin Region....
Production starred Lorna Luft

Lorna Luft

Lorna Luft is an United States television, stage and film actress and singer. She is the daughter of the legendary singer and actress Judy Garland and Sid Luft, and the half-sister of Liza Minnelli....
, Millicent Martin

Millicent Martin

Mary Millar

Mary Millar was an England actor best remembered for her role as Rose in BBC British sitcom Keeping Up Appearances. She was born Mary Wetton in Doncaster, Yorkshire...
and Enda Markey

Enda Markey

Enda Markey , is a stage and television actor. He made his professional stage debut aged eleven in Dylan Thomas's A Child's Christmas In Wales at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin....
.

2001 Broadway revival

Another former MGM star, Betty Garrett

Betty Garrett

Betty Garrett is an United States actor, comedian and dancer who belonged to the golden era of the movie musical. However, she is probably best known for a pair of roles in two prominent 1970s sitcoms: Archie Bunker's liberal next-door neighbor, Irene Lorenzo, in All in the Family and landlady Edna Babish in Laverne and Shirley....
, played the role of Hattie in the 2001 Broadway revival at the Belasco Theatre

Belasco Theatre

The Belasco Theatre is a legitimate theater Broadway theatre theatre located at 111 West 44th Street in midtown-Manhattan.Designed by architect George Keister for impresario David Belasco, the interior featured Tiffany glass lighting and ceiling panels, rich woodwork and expansive murals by American artists Everett Shinn, and a ten-room du...
, which ran for 117 performances. Directed by Matthew Warchus

Matthew Warchus

Matthew Warchus is an award-winning English director and dramatist.Warchus studied music and drama at Bristol University. He has directed for the National Youth Theatre, Bristol Old Vic, Donmar Warehouse, Royal Shakespeare Company, Royal National Theatre, Opera North, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Welsh National Opera, English National Opera...
, with choreography by Kathleen Marshall

Kathleen Marshall

Kathleen Marshall is an United States choreographer, theatre director, and creative consultant....
, also starring were Blythe Danner

Blythe Danner

Blythe Katharine Danner is an United States Emmy- and Tony Award-winning actor. She is the mother of actress Gwyneth Paltrow....
(Phyllis), Judith Ivey

Judith Ivey

Judith Lee Ivey is an United States actress and Theatre director....
(Sally), Treat Williams

Treat Williams

Treat Williams is an American actor who has appeared on film, stage and television over the course of his prolific career. From 2002 to 2006, he was the star of the popular television series Everwood....
(Buddy), Marge Champion

Marge Champion

Marge Champion is an American dancer choreographer, and pedagogue....
, Gregory Harrison

Gregory Harrison

Gregory Neale Harrison is an American actor. He is probably best known for his role as Chandler in the 1987 cult favorite North Shore and as Pernell Roberts's young surgeon, Dr....
(Benjamin), Polly Bergen

Polly Bergen

Polly Bergen is an United States Emmy Award-winning actress, singer, and entrepreneur....
(Carlotta), Joan Roberts

Joan Roberts

Joan Roberts is the United States actor who created the role of Laurey in the original Broadway theatre production of Oklahoma! in 1943....
(later replaced by Marni Nixon

Marni Nixon

Marni Nixon is an American soprano whose renown for dubbing the singing voices of featured actresses in well known movie musicals earned her the sobriquet "The Ghostess with the Mostess", and also "The Voice of Hollywood"....
), Larry Raiken, and an assortment of famous names from the past. It was significantly stripped down (previous productions, especially the original, were most notable for their extravagant sets and costumes) and was not a success critically or financially.

2002 London revival

London's Royal Festival Hall

Royal Festival Hall

The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,900 seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London, England. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge....
mounted a full production in August 2002, with Paul Kerryson from the Leicester Haymarket directing. The cast starred David Durham as Ben, Kathryn Evans as Sally, Louise Gold

Louise Gold

Louise Gold is a United Kingdom singer-actress and Spitting Image puppeteer, formerly a puppeteer for The Muppet Show and Sesame Street....
as Phyllis, and, Henry Goodman

Henry Goodman

Henry Goodman is a British theatre actor. He trained at RADA in London alongside Jonathan Pryce.In 1988, he played George Green's Brother-in-law Cyril in London's Burning....
as Buddy.

2005 Barrington Stage Company

Julianne Boyd

Julianne Boyd is an American theater director.Boyd received a BA in Theater and Education in 1966 from Beaver College in Pennsylvania . She earned a doctorate in Theater from the City University of New York....
directed this fully staged version of Follies to launch Barrington's (Massachusetts) 11th season in June-July 2005. Principal cast included: Kim Crosby

Kim Crosby (singer)

Kim Crosby is an American singer and actress. Crosby was born in Ft. Smith, Arkansas and grew up in Springfield, Missouri. She attended Southern Methodist University and the Manhattan School of Music, and she is a former America's Junior Miss....
(Sally), Leslie Denniston (Phyllis Rogers Stone), Jeff McCarthy

Jeff McCarthy

Jeff McCarthy is an American character actor who has appeared in television, theatre and films. He has made guest appearances on two Star Trek series; on Star Trek: The Next Generation, he appeared in the season 3 episode "The Hunted " as Roga Danar, and in the pilot episode of Star Trek: Voyager entitled "Caretaker " as the unnamed c...
(Ben Stone), Lara Teeter

Lara Teeter

Lara Teeter is an United States dancer, actor, singer, theatre director, and college professor.Born in Guthrie, Oklahoma, Teeter earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Oklahoma City University, studying vocal performance under Florence Birdwell....
(Buddy Plummer), Joy Franz (Solange La Fitte), Marni Nixon

Marni Nixon

Donna McKechnie

Stephen Sondheim

2007 Encores! concert

New York City Center

New York City Center, historically known as City Center of Music and Drama, and also known as New York City Center 55th Street Theater, is a 2,750-seat Moorish Revival concert hall located at 131 West 55th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues in Manhattan, New York City....
's Encores!

Encores!

New York City Center Encores! Great American Musicals in Concert has been performing since 1994. Encores! is dedicated to performing the full score of musicals that may otherwise rarely be heard in New York City....
"Great American Musicals in Concert" series featured Follies as its 40th production for 6 performances in February 2007 in a sold out semi-staged concert. The cast starred Donna Murphy

Donna Murphy

Donna Murphy is an United States stage, film, and television actress....
(Phyllis), Victoria Clark

Victoria Clark

Victoria Clark is an American musical theatre singer and actor. Clark has performed in many Broadway theatre musicals and in other theatre, film and television work, and her soprano voice can be heard on numerous cast albums and several animated films....
(Sally), Victor Garber

Victor Garber

Victor Joseph Garber is a six-time Emmy Award-nominated Canada film, stage and television actor and singer. Garber is perhaps best known for playing Jack Bristow in the television series Alias and Thomas Andrews in James Cameron's Titanic . As of 2008 he has a main role on the television series Eli Stone as Jordan Wethersby....
(Ben), and Michael McGrath (Buddy). Christine Baranski

Christine Baranski

Christine Jane Baranski is an Emmy-, Screen Actors Guild Awards-, Tony- and Drama Desk award-winning United States stage and screen actress....
played Carlotta, and Lucine Amara

Lucine Amara

Lucine Amara is an American soprano, a versatile singer with a fine voice, largely based at the New York Metropolitan Opera....
sang Heidi. The cast also included Jo Anne Worley

Jo Anne Worley

Jo Anne Worley is an United States actress. Her work covers television, movies, theater, game shows, talk shows, commercials, and cartoons. She is best known for her work on the comedy-variety show Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In....
, and Philip Bosco

Philip Bosco

Philip Michael Bosco is an United States Tony Award- and Daytime Emmy award-winning actor....
. The director and choreographer was Casey Nicolaw, the music director Eric Stern. One objective of the Encores!

Encores!

New York City Center Encores! Great American Musicals in Concert has been performing since 1994. Encores! is dedicated to performing the full score of musicals that may otherwise rarely be heard in New York City....
series is to use the full original instrumentation intended by the composer. Stephen Sondheim spoke from the stage at the post-matinee audience "talkback" session.

Song list

The original Broadway production of Follies was performed in one act; however, many later productions added intermissions.

Beautiful Girls - Roscoe and Company
Don't Look at Me - Sally and Ben
Waiting for the Girls Upstairs - Ben, Sally, Phyllis and Buddy, with Young Ben, Young Sally, Young Phyllis and Young Buddy
Rain on the Roof - Emily and Theodore
Ah, Paris! - Solange
Broadway Baby - Hattie
The Road You Didn't Take - Ben
Bolero d'Amour - Danced by Vincent and Vanessa; omitted from some productions
In Buddy's Eyes - Sally
Who's That Woman? - Stella and Company
I'm Still Here - Carlotta
Too Many Mornings - Ben and Sally
The Right Girl - Buddy
One More Kiss - Heidi and Young Heidi
Could I Leave You? - Phyllis
Loveland - Company
You're Gonna Love Tomorrow / Love Will See Us Through - Young Ben, Young Sally, Young Phyllis and Young Buddy
Buddy's Blues - Buddy
Losing My Mind - Sally
The Story of Lucy and Jessie - Phyllis; some productions substitute Ah, But Underneath...
Live, Laugh, Love - Ben
Finale - Company; varies by production, often a reprise of Beautiful Girls

Critical response

In the foreword to "Everything Was Possible", Frank Rich

Frank Rich

Frank Rich is a New York Times columnist who focuses on American politics and American popular culture. His column ran on the front page of the Sunday Arts & Leisure section from 2003 to 2005; it now appears in the expanded Sunday Week in Review section....
wrote: "From the start, critics have been divided about Follies, passionately pro or con but rarely on the fence. ...Is it really a great musical, or merely the greatest of all cult musicals..." (Chapin, p. xi) Ted Chapin wrote, "Taken as a whole, the collection of reviews Follies received was as rangy as possible." (Chapin, p. 300)

In his New York Times review of the original Broadway production, Clive Barnes

Clive Barnes (critic)

Clive Alexander Barnes CBE was a UK-born writer and critic. Barnes was educated at Emanuel School, and St. Catherine's College, Oxford. He was the chief dance, drama and opera critic for the New York Post....
wrote: "...it is stylish, innovative, it has some of the best lyrics I have ever encountered, and above all it is a serious attempt to deal with the musical form." Barnes also called the story shallow and Sondheim's words a joy "...even when his music sends shivers of indifference up your spine."

Walter Kerr

Walter Kerr

Walter Francis Kerr was an American writer and Broadway theater critic. He also was a writer, lyricist, and director of several Broadway musicals....
wrote in the New York Times, "Follies is intermissionless and exhausting, an extravaganza that becomes so tedious... because its extravaganzas have nothing to do with its pebble of a plot." On the other hand, Martin Gottfried

Martin Gottfried

Martin Gottfried is an United States critic, columnist, and author.A 1955 graduate of Columbia College of Columbia University in New York City, Gottfried began his writing career as the classical music critic for The Village Voice, doubling as an off-Broadway reviewer for Womens Wear Daily, a position that made him the youngest member of th...
wrote: "'Follies is truly awesome and, if it is not consistently good, it is always great."

Frank Rich, in reviewing the 1985 concert, wrote: "Friday's performance made the case that this Broadway musical... can take its place among our musical theater's very finest achievements."

Ben Brantley

Ben Brantley

Ben Brantley is the chief theater critic of the New York Times....
, reviewing the 1998 revival, concluded that it was a "...fine, heartfelt production, which confirms Follies as a landmark musical and a work of art..."

Awards and nominations

Original 1971 Broadway

New York Drama Critics' Award for Best Musical

Tony Awards

Best Musical (nominee)
Best Book of a Musical (nominee)
Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Gene Nelson) (nominee)
Best Music and Lyrics (Stephen Sondheim) (winner)
Best Director (Harold Prince and Michael Bennett) (winners)
Best Actress in a Musical

Alexis Smith (winner)

Dorothy Collins (nominee)

Best Choreographer (Michael Bennett) (winner)
Best Scenic Design (Boris Aronson) (winner)
Best Costumes (Florence Klotz) (winner)
Best Lighting (Tharon Musser)(winner)

Drama Desk Award

The Drama Desk Award, created in 1955, is an award which recognizes theatres produced on Broadway theatre, off-Broadway, off-off-Broadway, and for legitimate not-for-profit theaters....

Outstanding Choreography (winner)
Outstanding Lyrics (winner)
Outstanding Music (winner)
Outstanding Costume Design (winner)
Outstanding Set Design (winner)
Outstanding Performance - Starring- Alexis Smith (winner)
Outstanding Director Harold Prince, Michael Bennett - (winner)

2001 Broadway revival

Tony Awards

Best Revival of a Musical (nominee)
Best Actress in a Musical (Blythe Danner) (nominee)
Featured Actress in a Musical (Polly Bergen)(nominee)
Best Costume Design (nominee)
Best Orchestrations (nominee)

Drama Desk Award

Outstanding Revival of a Musical (nominee)
Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical (Polly Bergen) (nominee)
Outstanding Orchestrations (nominee)

Follies

Background and story

Productions

1971 Broadway premiere

1972 Los Angeles

1985 Lincoln Center concert

1987 London production

1995 and 1998 regional productions

1996 Dublin production

2001 Broadway revival

2002 London revival

2005 Barrington Stage Company

2007 Encores! concert

Song list

Critical response

Awards and nominations

Further reading

External links