Current reviews of Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off Off-Broadway productions, along with musings by an inveterate and always-hopeful theater buff. 276,553 visitors and growing!
I don’t often return to see an existing production for a second time. After all, life is short, and there’s a lot of theatergoing to do.
Nevertheless, ever since I saw an early preview of Follies, I have had a hankering to see it again, wondering what changes might have taken place between then and now. It is such a significant musical, and the opportunity to see a full-scale production with a full-scale orchestra in the pit is not likely to come around again for a long, long time. I simply could not get it out of my mind.
In my blog review of the show back in early September, I noted that while I admired much about the production, I was less than thrilled with the performances of the two leading women. Jan Maxwell as Phyllis seemed tentative and in over her head as a singer and dancer; Bernadette Peters as Sally seemed unsure of how best to approach her role and was—much to my surprise—over her head herself as a singer. I also thought that the former Follies girls in attendance at the reunion--save for Susan Watson--were pretty much devoid of individuality or presence.
And yet, I could not stay away.
And now I say, WOW, WOW, and yet again WOW!!!
Any doubts I had were washed away in one sublime evening of near perfection. It’s as though everyone involved has come to realize that this is the experience of a lifetime, and they are finding inspiration from each other to continue to perfect their performances.
The women playing the former Follies girls have found personalities in every tiny bit they have been given to work with from the script, and each is a delight. Solange (Mary Beth Peil), Stella (Terri White) and Carlotta (Elaine Paige) are more than just moment-in-the-spotlight performers; they have developed into real characters. Ms. Watson and Jayne Houdyshell continue to shine, as do the actors playing the young Ben (Nick Verina), young Buddy (Christian Delcroix), young Phyllis (Kirsten Scott), and especially Lora Lee Gayer as young Sally (so very Bernadette in appearance and manner).
The leading men, Ron Raines as Ben and Danny Burstein as Buddy, remain terrific in their roles, but it is the two ladies at the center of things, Ms. Maxwell and Ms. Peters, who have spent the weeks since previews figuring out who they are and why they are there, and they are now giving absolutely stellar performances. Their numbers during the Loveland portion of the show are nothing short of phenomenal. I now cannot imagine anyone ever doing a better job of performing “The Story of Lucy and Jessie” (Ms. Maxwell) or “Losing My Mind” (Ms. Peters). Indeed, the entire Loveland sequence is utter perfection. Would that I could bottle it and take it out on a gloomy day!
With Follies set to close on January 22, do yourself a favor for the new year and go see it for yourself (or see it again). You’ll not have another opportunity like this anytime soon.
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If you’ve never seen Follies, James Goldman and Stephen Sondheim’s magnum opus of a musical, get ye hence to the revival now in previews at the Marquis Theater. And thank your lucky stars that you have been given this opportunity to see a full-blown production with a cast of 41 accompanied by a 28-piece orchestra performing Jonathan Tunick’s wonderful orchestrations.
And, you know what, even if you’ve seen it before, get ye hence to the Marquis Theater. If nothing else, you’ll love debating the casting and directing decisions, for Follies will forever stand beside Leonard Bernstein’s Candide in never offering up the complete and definitive version. How could it, when every audience member knows with ego-centric certainty who should play each role and how each song should be performed?
That may be Follies’ greatest strength, the fact that it can be interpreted and reinterpreted from production to production. Even this one, which comes to New York after a successful and well-received run at Washington’s D. C.’s Kennedy Center, made the transfer having undergone a good deal of tinkering on its way up I-95.
Back in 1971, when Follies opened on Broadway, The New York Times critic Clive Barnes gave it a mixed and somewhat smarmy review, but he provided a succinct plot summary that I could not hope to match, so I will quote him: “Years ago, in 1941, Buddy loved Sally, Sally loved Ben, Phyllis loved Ben, and Ben loved Ben. Buddy married Sally, Ben married Phyllis, but their marriages are not working out.”
The various meltdowns occur before our eyes during a one-time reunion of performers from “Weismann’s Follies,” who have come together 30 years later at the theater where they once shared the spotlight. The theater, which is about to be torn down to make way for a parking lot, is haunted both by memories and by the ghosts of their former youthful selves, who sometimes lurk in the background, sometimes interact with the living, and sometimes compete directly for the audience’s attention.
This all may sound rather soap opera-ish, but it’s certainly real enough to Buddy, Ben, Phyllis, and, especially, to Sally, who has carried an unrequited torch for Ben for so long she can barely distinguish reality from fantasy.
As the four lost middle-aged souls struggle to exorcise their various demons, the rest of the cast members wander in and out, stopping to perform songs from their heyday, including such showstoppers as “Broadway Baby” and “I’m Still Here,” both of which have been performed and recorded by so many singers that it’s the rare audience member who hasn’t heard them before.
Indeed, Follies could be considered to be a mini-version of Sondheim’s Greatest Hits. In addition to these two powerhouse numbers, usually reserved for singers in late career, there are Sally’s songs, the romantic yet ironic “In Buddy’s Eyes” and the wrenching “Losing My Mind;” Ben and Sally’s soaring duet “Too Many Mornings;” and Phyllis’s scathing ”Could I Leave You?” all of which have established lives of their own beyond the stage.
OK. Now comes the part where I get to discuss my own likes and dislikes about the production. Know, however, that nothing I say is intended to keep you away from the Marquis. Follies is a must-see show that serves as a touchstone between the musical theater history it tapped into and the next generation of musicals that it influenced, including A Chorus Line just five years later. (Michael Bennett co-directed, with Hal Prince, the original Follies before coming up with A Chorus Line).
Let me begin with some comments about casting. The roles of Ben, Buddy, Phyllis, and Sally are played, respectively, by Ron Raines, Danny Burstein, Jan Maxwell, and Bernadette Peters. I thought the gentlemen were fine, both strong singers and performers and both good fits for their characters. Each does splendidly with his personal psychological breakdown number in the section of the show known as “Loveland,” a surrealistic re-creation of songs from the imagined Follies of long ago.
If I have any doubts, it is about the leading women. I have come to envision a Phyllis as a goddess of shattering rage, especially with the delivery of her tour de force song, “Could I Leave You?” I have, for example, seen Donna Murphy perform this number with such toxic fury that I wanted to cringe beneath my seat and call 911.
Jan Maxwell is a terrific actress, and she can sing well enough and dance (sort of), so that she can get by. But she is not the Phyllis of my imagination. Rather, she gives us a more complex characterization, one that lets us see her self-doubt and the last glimmer of love for her supercilious husband, who has kept her at arms-length for many years.
There surely is room for such an interpretation; I just need to mull this one over a little more.
Then there is Bernadette Peters as Sally, a character who is emotionally complicated and who may be suffering from bipolar disorder. We need to see Sally as someone whom Buddy has loved all of these years while being thoroughly frustrated by her obsession with Ben.
Sally is supposed to be unglamorous, a bit of a frump, someone who does not wish to stand out in a crowd despite her earlier career. That’s a pretty tall order for Ms. Peters—not because she is incapable of meeting the acting challenge, but because she is uniquely Bernadette Peters no matter what role she plays.
In watching her perform, it seemed to me that she is still struggling to find the right mannerisms and tone for Sally. And I am not entirely certain she is comfortable with the specific musical range required for Sally’s numbers. I know precious little about vocal technique, but in the performance I saw, she appeared to be reaching mightily for notes that were below her comfort zone, and there was altogether too much vibrato in her singing.
By way of comparison, consider the incomparable Barbara Cook, who, in her 80s, can still perform “In Buddy’s Eyes” and “Losing My Mind” like no other. So, here’s something else I need to reconcile in my mind.
Of the rest of the cast, I liked the younger versions of the four leads, as played by Lora Lee Gayer (Sally), Kirsten Scott (Phyllis), Christian Delcroix (Buddy), and Nick Verina (Ben). They did a credible job of “ghosting” their older counterparts, and of performing their numbers in the “Loveland” sequence—“You’re Gonna Love Tomorrow” and “Love Will See Us Through.”
Those playing the former Weismann Follies performers also did well as they took turns center stage offering up their featured numbers, but only one stood out as being a flesh-and-blood character. That was Susan Watson as Emily. Ms. Watson still has the gamine looks and the lithe moves of a dancer that made her seem genuine. With the little she was given to do, she imbued her character with a poignant touch of age-borne forgetfulness and confusion that left a real impression that here was a true veteran of the long departed Follies.
I'll tip my hat as well to Elaine Paige, who was apparently having trouble earlier on remembering the lyrics to “I’m Still Here.” In the performance I attended, she nailed it, sold it, and made it her own, leading to waves of sustained applause. I also liked Jayne Houdyshell (“Broadway Baby”), largely because she seemed to be having such great fun just being there.
I’ve got to say, I wasn’t overly thrilled with the costumes, wigs, and makeup—especially for the older women. Surely former Follies performers would know how to dress, fix their hair, and have their makeup done for a reunion of this nature without looking like Bette Davis in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane.
In any event, my quibbles are my own. I encourage you to go see Follies and form your own judgment. This is being touted as a limited engagement, with tickets on sale only through January 1. Whatever its flaws, given the economics of Broadway, you're not likely to have the opportunity to see a large-scale production of Follies any time in the near future. Next time might be with a cast of four playing all of the roles as well as the musical instruments.
Feel free to tell your friends about this blog, and to share your own theater stories by posting a comment.
Broadway or Off-Broadway: The Theater Capital of the World!
Summertime is supposed to be a down time for New York theater-going, but this summer has been offering up a lot of unexpected treats. Certainly, there has been plenty to keep me busy so that it doesn’t feel like the doldrums at all.
Two of this summer’s big openers on Broadway are the excellent revival of Master Class, starring Tyne Daley in what is likely to be a Tony-nominated performance as opera diva Maria Callas, and the upcoming revival of Follies, with a cast that includes Bernadette Peters, Elaine Paige, and Jan Maxwell. Not so shabby! I’ve already seen (and written about) Master Class, and I’ve got my Follies ticket for a couple of weeks from now.
There’s also the opportunity to partake of the “summer of love” that is Hair, making a short return to Broadway following a 20-city tour. If you failed to catch Diane Paulus’ Tony-winning revival, now would be the time to do so. I speak as one who saw the original Broadway company in1968, and found the current production to be as energetic, exciting, and fun, with a great ensemble cast. I’m seeing it again next week, as it happens. Who knows? Maybe this time I’ll join the end-of-show onstage dance party!
If you want to see a Broadway show but don’t want to pay full Broadway prices for your tickets, I have noticed that the August heat and humidity have been accompanied by shorter lines at the Times Square TKTS discount tickets booth.
Yesterday (for a Saturday matinee), I walked right up to the window and snagged a half-price ticket to Anything Goes, splendidly directed and choreographed by Kathleen Marshall. The Tony-winning production boasts a top-notch cast and a truckload of marvelous Cole Porter tunes. Even if you feel you are overly familiar with the show and the score, there are surprises and delights to be found in the de-lovely dance numbers and in the comic timing displayed by John McMartin, Adam Godley, and Jessica Stone in supporting roles.
The names over the title, Sutton Foster and Joel Grey, are no slouches either. She is a dynamo, and he is teddy bear adorable, and the newly refurbished and renamed Stephen Sondheim Theatre (formerly Henry Miller’s Theatre) is an inviting and comfortable venue, with good sight lines throughout.
Moving to Off-Broadway, I’m looking forward to seeing Elysian Fields, set for a short run at the Kraine Theater in the East Village (August 22-26) as part of the New York International Fringe Festival. The playwright, Chris Phillips, has come up with an intriguing concept, to create a play around characters who are discussed but not seen in three Tennessee Williams plays: Allen from A Streetcar Named Desire, Sebastian from Suddenly Last Summer, and Skipper from Cat On A Hot Tin Roof.
This being the centenary year of Tennessee Williams' birth, there have been quite a few opportunities to see revivals of both his well-known and lesser-known plays. Elysian Fields sounds like an interesting addition and tribute to the mix, which has included the recent One Arm (an unproduced screenplay written by Willams and adapted for the stage by Moisés Kaufman) and the current production of The Pretty Trap, an early one-act version of The Glass Menagerie at Theatre Row’s Acorn Theatre, starring Katharine Houghton in the pivotal role of Amanda Wingfield.
And as long as we are taking a stroll along West 42nd Street, I look forward to paying a visit to Playwrights Horizons and its latest production, Completeness, a new comedy about romance and sexual politics written by Itamar Moses and directed by Pam MacKinnon. Playwrights Horizons continues its policy of offering discounted tickets through this blog. Regular priced tickets are $70, but discounts are available for $40 for performances from August 19-September 4, and then for $50 through September 25. For more information, go to www.playwrightshorizons.org or call 212-279-4200. When ordering, use the discount code COMPBLOG.
I've got my summer tickets lined up. What are you waiting for?
Feel free to tell your friends about this blog, and to share your own theater stories by posting a comment.
