theatre review FOLLIES, Broadway, Sept. 7

The new Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim and James Goldman's Follies is the first musical of the 2011-2012 season and it opens next Monday.  We caught one of the final previews of the show Wednesday night.   This show recently celebrated it's 40th anniversary (read my story on that here) and while this musical and this revival may not be perfect on all counts, it is most likely one of the best productions and one of the best casts that we will ever get for this show.  This production played the Kennedy Center in D.C. this past Spring, and with a few cast changes after that run, is now on Broadway.

Lead by a first rate cast, with almost spot on direction by Eric Schaeffer, the musical is set in 1971 at a 30th reunion of "follies" girls at the crumbling down theatre where they performed their show which is about to be torn down to make way for a parking lot.  Our four main characters are two couples, who find their marriages crumbling and their lives on the brink of being torn apart as well.  They are all unhappy in their marriages, with Sally still in love with Ben, the husband of her follies roommate Phyllis.  This is a show that makes you seriously think about "the road you didn't take."  We all have made choices throughout our lives and who knows what our lives would be like today if we had taken a different path?  Follies is a musical that must be viewed and perceived differently depending on the age of the audience member, as anyone under 30 who hasn't lived and thought of some of the same questions that our main characters ask wouldn't clearly understand the point of the story.   The fact that there are "ghosts" present in the theatre of the main character's younger selves from 30 years ago only adds an emotional resonance to those choices.  The ghosts of our two couples conjure up memories of the past to our four leads, some which they clearly wish they could forget, or wish they had made different choices so their lives didn't take the road they took.


Ron Raines and Bernadette Peters with their "younger
selves" Lora Lee Gayer and Nick Verina


This is the third production of the show I've seen.  The 1998 production at Paper Mill Playhouse was all glitz and glamour and the 2001 Broadway revival was more minimalistic, where as this production gets almost everything right.  Though I don't know if it only feels that way to me since I am 10 or 13 years older then when I saw those productions so the dialogue and situations connect more with me now.  Or is it just the fact that the four actors in this production are so perfect in their acting abilities that it no longer seems like a long evening with bitter, fighting couples?

Danny Burstein

The beauty of Sondheim's score for this musical is that it perfectly combines character driven songs with more performance type numbers.  The songs play off of the dual meaning of the title of the show, as not only does it refer to the show the girls performed in, but also the foolishness that our two couples exhibit.  In the middle of act two, when the ghosts in the show start to be able to be seen by the main couples, and our two couples and their younger selves start to argue, the show dissolves into a dream "follies" with lavish production numbers where our characters act out and display their own personal "folly."  While some may choose to live in the past or reimagine how past events actually happened, one can't change the present so they must face reality, something that our main characters struggle to do.  However, after the emotional impact of the last 20 minutes of the show, our characters might still struggle with their own personal decisions, but they are all in a somewhat better place then they were before.  Though the ending is in no way uplifting, it isn't a downer as well.

Jan Maxwell

Bernadette Peters is Sally, and she perfectly inhabits her character.  I've seen Peters in several shows before, but never have I seen her play someone so "small" and unsure of herself.  Sally's husband Buddy has accused her of being either drunk or crazy, and Peters portrayal is a cross between the two.  She also looks fantastic.  Danny Burstein is Buddy and it is nice seeing him play a lead character instead of the supporting ones he's played in the past (and received two Tony nominations for.)  Buddy is a tough character to play, as he loves Sally but knows she is still in love with Ben.  Burstein pulls this off, and the smart direction from Schaeffer give Burstein plenty of dramatic and comic moments to show what he's capable of.

Peters singing "Losing My Mind"

Jan Maxwell is Phyllis and like Burstein, she has played plenty of supporting roles and has four Tony nominations for them.  She is witty, sexy and like Peters, looks and acts impeccably. Ron Raines is Phyllis' husband Ben.  With his slight stubble and somewhat disheveled appearance, he doesn't exactly have the look of past Ben's, who were more in the tradition of a wealthy businessman or politician.  However, he has the best voice of our four leads and Sondheim has given him several beautiful songs to show it off.  "The Road You Didn't Take" has always been one of my favorite songs from this show (and this show doesn't have one bad song) and hearing Raines sing, with his clear diction and forceful delivery, is not only stunning but also really hits home the meaning of the song.

Elaine Paige singing "I'm Still Here"

While Peter's voice is a little rougher now, her rendition of "Losing My Mind" is stunning.  During this song, Sally finally understands the truth about her life and that Ben doesn't love her, even though she has been holding on for 30 years that he does truly love her.  The beauty of Peters' delivery of this song comes from the fact that she remains completely still throughout, with the lyrics seemingly trapped inside of her with pauses between them and only being said once she truly understands them. Even so, they still  come out slow as if Sally is somewhat afraid to say them, as if she does, then she will know it is true.  The result is of a woman who finally realizes that she truly has lost her mind, thinking that a man loved her for so long, when he never did.  It was a revelation to me and more than makes up for her slightly by the numbers and lo key solo of "In Buddy's Eyes" in act one.

Terri White and the Follies ladies

The supporting cast has several ladies who all get a solo song and some witty dialogue to speak.  Elaine Paige gets the highest billing of these actresses, mainly because her character has a little more to do than the others and she gets to sing the Sondheim classic "I'm Still Here."   Paige is a huge star in the UK, having originated the parts of Eva in Evita and Grizabella in Cats in the West End, but she hasn't quite found success in the US, so it is nice to see her in this featured part.  She delivers on her solo song as well as on her portrayal of her character and she also has a lot of fun when she joins in on the shows one big female dance number with her other cast mates.  That song, "Who's That Woman" is led by Terri White, and White is a firecracker.  She not only has a huge voice but jumps right into the tap dancing required for this song.  Like Paige, White and the other ladies have a blast with this song, and the choreography by Warren Carlyle perfectly combines the actresses with the ghosts of their younger selves into this number.  If anyone in the audience didn't realize what all of these younger people were doing wandering around the stage before, this number should make them clearly understand the point of them being there.



Houdyshell and Peil

 Jayne Houdyshell gets to sing another gem from this show "Broadway Baby" and boy does she deliver.  Disheveled is an understatement to describe her appearance, but she definitely stands out from the crowd and like every other person in this cast is clearly having a blast.  Mary Beth Peil, probably best known to audiences today from her role as the mother in law on tv's The Good Wife, looks nothing like that character in this show with her long flowing hair and her skin tight, sexy costumes.  Her performance of "Ah Paris" is all style over substance and she completely pulls it off.  Rosalind Elias, who has had an over 50 year career singing in major opera houses around the world, is making her Broadway debut in this show as "Heidi."  She drifts out in act two, as if on a cloud and delivers her song "One Last Kiss" with such a force that you have to stand up and listen, when her younger self joins in, you see how her voice has aged, and the emotional connection between the two when the older "Heidi" appears to see her younger self singing the song with her packs a wallop.



Rosalind Elias and Leah Horowitz - "One Last Kiss"

 A little issue I have with this production has to do with the set and how it is used for the more dramatic scenes.   The set perfectly evokes the stage of a expansive theatre that's best days are in the past, but when the party goers disappear in order for a scene with two of our main characters to play out, you get no sense that they are in a more private area of the theatre, it seems they are still on the stage of this huge theatre. In past productions scrims or small set pieces have been used to give you the feeling that they are backstage or off in a private corner, not sure why they didn't try to do something similar for this production.  Instead it is as if everyone at the party ran outside for a smoke as they knew someone needed to have a private conversation on the stage of the theatre.  Fortunately the lighting and costumes are in peak condition.

the "younger" versions of our two couples - Kirsten Scott,
Nick Verina, Lora Lee Gayer and Christian Delcroix

While this show and production is a magical and truly enjoyable evening, there are still some problems with the book and how some of the songs, as great as they are, seem a bit shoe horned into it, but this cast really delivers. As I said above, this is probably the best cast we'll ever get for this show, as it isn't made up only of "stars" like other productions were, but has actors who can really act the book and deliver on the songs.  A recording is being made of this production and it will be a 2 cd set and include all of the music from the show, unlike the Original Broadway Cast album which featured truncated versions of many of the songs in order to fit on one lp.  This production is currently advertised as a limited run, playing through December 30th.

Official Show Site

Amazon link for the new cast recording -


Highlights from the 2011 Broadway revival -