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Follies |
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Author: Book by James Goldman;
Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Reviewer: Carolyn Albert for Theatre Reviews Limited |
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You might have wondered why "FOLLIES" hadn't been revived on Broadway since its 1971 triumph when it won seven Tony Awards plus the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Musical. Further hailed for its sublime Sondheim score, the show seemed like a sure commercial and artistic success in this era of low risk for high reward. But once you've seen "Follies" - and you should see it - you will understand why most producers would've had second and third thoughts.
  
It took the venerable Roundabout Theatre Company to risk the resurrection. A not-for-profit with a sturdy subscriber base has two advantages: it can pay less to stars and be assured of a pre-paid audience. Furthermore, word of mouth and a load of publicity generated by nostalgia would fill the house no matter what the critics said. Then, if the show does happen to garner the Tony for best musical revival, maybe the potential loss wouldn't be too devastating.
All this and more had to be considered before the production went into its earliest stages. Now that I've had the opportunity to review it, I'm so glad the risk was taken. "Follies" is a dandy show - not the usual feel-good musical you'd recommend to your dentist or your visiting aunt - but exactly the musical that theater aficionados adore discussing. I was unable to see the original in 1971, but thanks to Roundabout (who also replayed Sondheim's "Company" to my appreciative joy a few years back), I finally got to see what all the lovely fuss was about. You should too - especially if you truly adore musical theater.
The show is an enormous expense to produce, primarily for the cast size. It's twice as populous as most shows because there are two casts. The first lives in the present: former showgirls and a few guys that were stars of Weismann's Follies, a Ziegfeld knockoff that ran from about fifty to thirty years earlier. The theater where they played had subsequent lives including being a porn palace, but is now about to be torn down to make way for a parking lot. But first Dimitri Weismann (LOUIS ZORICH) has invited everyone to a grand reunion. Ten of his former showgirls return, several accompanied by their husbands.
The second cast consists of the ghosts. All of the girls and guys have younger selves who sometimes appear alongside them in some of the production numbers, sometimes perform by themselves - showing how the Follies once were, and in the grand finale of this musical, provide support for the four principals, each of whom gets one super number to reveal his/her emotional breakthrough.
The four whose lives then and now comprise the lightweight story are Sally (JUDITH IVEY) who was in love with Ben thirty years ago. They made love passionately and often but, inexplicably, he proposed to her friend Phyllis (BLYTHE DANNER). Sally married Ben's friend Buddy and now they're all at the reunion, pretending to be happy, but their misery jumps right out along with their thirty-year history of adultery and compromises. Sally and businessman Buddy (TREAT WILLIAMS) live in Arizona and have two kids, now grown up, so what they have is each other, for better or worse - well, worse. Phyllis and celebrity lawyer Ben (GREGORY HARRISON) never had children. Ben didn't want any and now, Phyllis explains, it's too late. They snap and snipe from the get-go.
Contact rekindles the old affair but Sally has to learn that her thirty-year longing for Ben wasn't worth her anguish. Buddy, Phyllis, Ben and Sally each get one fabulous final number to sum up their lives, songs that have become cabaret standards. Choices were made in the casting to give the roles to actors that sing (rather than to singers who act). Thus, most of us have seen these and other songs performed more beautifully by better singers. Purists who love the score may feel let-down by the casting.
On the other hand, the whole point of the show is that nearly none of these performers were ever superstars. Their choices were never those of "Turning Point" - career vs. marriage. The wispy plot is simply that some young people just weren't wise enough to choose the right mates. Moreover, the entire show would've fallen flat if the players weren't credible - and these are good actors, particularly Ivey and Danner as Sally and Phyllis. Vocally, they are surprisingly good. No quibbles with Harrison and Williams, who have strong musical credits alongside their acting abilities.
For plot contrast, one couple that was an ideal match is illustrated in the majestic DONALD SADDLER who dances with evergreen MARGE CHAMPION [Dorothy Stanley at the performance I attended]. Choreographer KATHLEEN MARSHALL defined their graceful partnership in visual poignancy, showing in the unmistakably titled "Danse d'Amour" how they accommodated for aging by substituting less strenuous moves than did their shadow selves (ROD McCUNE & CAROL BENTLEY) who performed high lifts and deep bends.
The nostalgic half of the show returns real old-timers to the stage portraying old-timers. BETTY GARRETT singing "Broadway Baby" got the biggest hand of the evening, so big that even she appeared surprised. POLLY BERGEN deserved her strong ovations with a wry "I'm Still Here" - a favorite song from this show. CAROL WOODS led the company of present and past ladies in a triumphant production number, "Who's That Woman?" JANE WHITE did a credible impression of a French chanteuse in "Ah, Paris!" JOAN ROBERTS warbled an operatic duet with her younger self (BROOKE SUNNY MORIBER), receiving respectful applause more for her history [the original Laurey in "Oklahoma!"] than for performance.
The four principals got the show's dramatic songs that move their story forward. Ben (Harrison) sang "The Road You Didn't Take." While Sally (Ivey) tries at first to feign happiness with "In Buddy's Eyes." Ben and Sally momentarily revive their lost romance by echoing a lifetime of regrets in "Too Many Mornings." Buddy (Williams) starts to examine his unsatisfactory relationship with "The Right Girl." Phyllis (Danner) shows her contempt for the philandering Ben with a very commendable interpretation of "Could I Leave You?"
In the finale segment of the show when the four principals face their follies, Buddy (Williams) appears in clown garb and catches the irony of the number commendably in "The God-Why-Don't-You-Love-Me Blues." Ben (Harrison) is stirring in his song of realized self-delusion, "Live, Laugh, Love."
But between the two masculine numbers comes the biggest vocal let-downs. Arriving at the end of the show as they do, they leave a sense of "might've been" that this otherwise excellent presentation of "Follies" struggles against. Sally (Ivey) just isn't vocally equipped to do justice to "Losing My Mind." But there's a stronger problem: this great song just doesn't belong at this point in the narrative. It's redundant. We already know all of the information it conveys and when it concludes, it doesn't drop off its passenger at the end of her journey. We soon see her acclimating to her life with Buddy - and wonder why because neither the book nor that final song has taken us there.
Phyllis (Danner) rushes through her number, one of silly irony: "The Story of Lucy and Jessie," without conveying the sense of empty ridiculousness that represents her own wasted life. So when she accepts her own lot with Ben, we just don't get why.
Librettist JAMES GOLDMAN has top theatrical and film credits, but his book here is not among his best work. Lacking a happy - or even a satisfactory ending, the potential joy of "Follies" is in hearing a great score song magnificently. I hope you can see why this show arouses so much controversy.
MARK THOMPSON's set takes in the entire theater, transforming the Belasco so that it looks like a tired chorine who has seen better days. Costumes by THEONI V. ALDREDGE are good stylistic designs for the seventies ladies and lovely suggestions of the semi-extravagant feathery frolics of the earlier shows. Lighting by HUGH VANSTONE captures the shadows and memories of present and past. Sound by JONATHAN DEANS was clear and clean. Orchestrations by JONATHAN TUNICK never overpowered the lyrics we wanted to hear and musical direction by ERIC STERN kept the songs paramount. Overall direction by MATTHEW WARCHUS emphasized the strengths of "Follies."
Of course the greatest folly you could commit is to miss this seldom-produced musical.
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Produced by the Roundabout Theatre Company: Todd Haimes, Artistic Director; Ellen Richard, Managing Director; Julia C. Levy, Executive Director, External Affairs.
CAST: Blythe Danner, Gregory Harrison Judith Ivey, Treat Williams; Polly Bergen, Marge Champion, Betty Garrett, Joan Roberts, Donald Saddler, Jane White, Carol Woods, Louis Zorich; Don Correia, Erin Dilly, Brooke Sunny Moriber, Larry Raiken, Nancy Ringham, Richard Roland, Joey Sorge, Dorothy Stanley, Lauren Ward; plus a 22-performer chorus of singers and dancers.
Theater: Belasco Theatre, 111 West 44th Street (6-7 Aves.)
Schedule: Limited engagement currently scheduled through September 30, 2001. Plays Monday - Saturday at 8, Wednesday & Saturday at 2.
Tickets: $45-90 at Belasco Theatre box office or through TeleCharge: 212/239-6200; or by clicking on "Buy Online Tickets" above.
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