My Musical Theater Voyage of Discovery; The Sondheim Files - FOLLIES
FOLLIES. How do I begin to write about FOLLIES? It is (possibly) the most cultishly beloved musical to ever hit Broadway (well… Wicked may give it a run for its’ money; but it is beloved by a different group of people, a different type of fan). It is a legendary show and score and every time a production is mounted, rabid fans flock to it and then discuss it in homes and chatrooms around the world. Not being a theatrical historian, I had best steer clear of all of that and stick, strictly, to the recordings in my Ipod – and they are all there.
The OBC of Follies boasts the original cast – and that is a great thing to boast. There’s Alexis Smith (though, sadly, the Lucy and Jessie number is a little expurgated) and there’s Yvonne de Carlo (I am pretty sure her I’m Still Here is expurgated) and there’s Gene Nelson (which of his numbers was expurgated?)… well, you get the idea. It isn’t a great representation of the score but it is what we have. It is a chance to love those actors, those characters, that bit of theatrical history, however cut down it may be. I am happy to have every single note in my Ipod, especially that crowning glory, the original, the real LOSING MY MIND by Dorothy Collins. That’s where it all began.
Then there is the concert version – the most elegant, sophisticate, glamourous recording of FOLLIES one could wish for. When you have George Hearn and Barbara Cook singing Too Many Mornings, Lee Remick’s Lucy and Jessie, Mandy Patinkin’s clear as a bell vocal technique and the likes of Elaine Strictch, Comden and Green and Miss Carol Burnett. Well. It’s an embarrassment of riches and must, it must, it must be listened to.
The West End cast album is a let down. Oh yes it is. Don’t argue. The great Diana Rigg is a great actress and a not so great singer. The great Julia McKenzie fares better but, frankly, I find it a bit over the top. David Healey and Daniel Massey are wonderful actors and not so wonderful singers (though Massey does better than Healey). The actresses playing the Follies girls do respectable jobs (the rethinking of Broadway Baby is actually pretty interesting), with Dolores Gray being the thrill of the entire cd. There were songs cut from the score, new songs put in (that were, later, taken out – what does that tell you?), lyrics rethought, rewritten and changed back for subsequent productions. It just FEELS like a MESS. I remember, though, when it opened – how excited all the musical theater lovers, all the Sondheim lovers were. Everyone wanted to go to England to see it. It was a production of FOLLIES, for cryin’ out loud! The dual record album came out and the production photos looked so glamourous and so elegant! It was a thrill, out and out .. til you listened to the record. I have this cd in my Ipod and a couple of times a year I play it. It’s not my favourite; but it’s FOLLIES. I can’t NOT listen to it. I’ll say this too: the version of Loveland on this recording is my personal favourite – don’t know why; it just is. That and the I’m Still Here are the reasons I like this cd – and if you Youtube it, you can see Eartha Kitt’s (Gray’s replacement) version of I’m Still Here.
And THAT is something you want to see
Papermill Playhouse did an all star cast of FOLLIES that was the excitement of the theatrical season in 1998. The women were Dee Hoty and Donna McKechnie, the men were Laurence Guittard and Tony Roberts; the Follies girls were Kaye Ballard, Phyllis Newman, Lilianne Montevecchi and ANN MILLER. The production was all sequins and glitz and the show queens were out in full force, including me (and Pat) and we LOVED it. It had drawbacks. That New York theatrical treasure, Tony Roberts, is not a dancer and Buddy has dance numbers. Oops. Ann Miller was a little TOO old. So what. The production was criticized by some, lauded by some; none of that matters. What matters is that there was a production of FOLLIES to be seen. We saw it. Then I had the privilege to photograph the recording sessions (the photos were not used on the cd because the producer of the cd would not agree to my fee – and this bitch does not work for free). The cd released is one of the most exciting cds you can get because not only did that wonderful cast of talent make a permanent record of that fabulous production and score, they sang the songs that have become legendary for having been written and then cut from the original production. It is a GREAT cd. The performances are heartfelt and well acted, as well as being well sung. The arrangements by Jonathan Tunick are snazzy and precise, delicious and accurate. The musicians deliver the goods and the mixing is so good that the actors sound like they are singing on a stage without overpowering the microphone. And all that added material! Oh! What heaven. Meredith Patterson and Michael Gruber doing the LITTLE WHITE HOUSE duet is sublime perfection; Dee Hoty doing all the different versions of the LUCY AND JESSIE number is a particular treat for me. Ann Miller’s delivery of CAN THAT BOY FOXTROT is classy and sassy; and to get to hear Peter Davenport’s perfect tenor on BRING ON THE GIRLS is to take a quick trip to heaven. Then there is Donna McKechnie, whose performance in this show needed, deserved to be preserved, and who is sheer genius. I listen to her tracks and I remember how she couldn’t move across the stage without making me cry. I’m telling you, if you haven’t heard this cd, if you don’t own this cd, then you aren’t a true Sondheim fan. It is worth owning, worth listening to and worth taking up space in your Ipod.
An added treat in my Ipod is an audio bootleg of the Roundabout revival of FOLLIES, a production which was (and still is) much criticized – but not by me. I loved this show, loved this production, loved the performances – in spite of the flaws created by a relatively ugly set and some misguided direction. I loved it and blogged about it at length. I saw the show four or five times and each time it got better. When you have two of America’s best actresses at the helm, you are starting in a good place; and Blythe Danner and Judith Ivey are certainly two of America’s best actresses. I am fortunate to have seen the show so many times and to get to revel in Polly Bergen’s brilliance, Betty Garrett’s brass, Carol Woods’ belt and the immense joy of seeing Marge Champion dance (with Donald Saddler, no less!). I won’t even begin to write about the thrill of seeing two of my teenage heartthrobs onstage at the same time (that’s right, Gregory Harrison and Treat Williams were my teen idols – no Leif Garrett or Scott Baio for me). I adored this show and, as much as I was (genuinely) destroyed by Judy Ivey’s performance of LOSING MY MIND, the more devastating number was IN BUDDY’S EYES. I have a LOT of the Roundabout production in my Ipod and I play it, often, and enjoy the reverie.
The OBC of Follies boasts the original cast – and that is a great thing to boast. There’s Alexis Smith (though, sadly, the Lucy and Jessie number is a little expurgated) and there’s Yvonne de Carlo (I am pretty sure her I’m Still Here is expurgated) and there’s Gene Nelson (which of his numbers was expurgated?)… well, you get the idea. It isn’t a great representation of the score but it is what we have. It is a chance to love those actors, those characters, that bit of theatrical history, however cut down it may be. I am happy to have every single note in my Ipod, especially that crowning glory, the original, the real LOSING MY MIND by Dorothy Collins. That’s where it all began.
Then there is the concert version – the most elegant, sophisticate, glamourous recording of FOLLIES one could wish for. When you have George Hearn and Barbara Cook singing Too Many Mornings, Lee Remick’s Lucy and Jessie, Mandy Patinkin’s clear as a bell vocal technique and the likes of Elaine Strictch, Comden and Green and Miss Carol Burnett. Well. It’s an embarrassment of riches and must, it must, it must be listened to.
The West End cast album is a let down. Oh yes it is. Don’t argue. The great Diana Rigg is a great actress and a not so great singer. The great Julia McKenzie fares better but, frankly, I find it a bit over the top. David Healey and Daniel Massey are wonderful actors and not so wonderful singers (though Massey does better than Healey). The actresses playing the Follies girls do respectable jobs (the rethinking of Broadway Baby is actually pretty interesting), with Dolores Gray being the thrill of the entire cd. There were songs cut from the score, new songs put in (that were, later, taken out – what does that tell you?), lyrics rethought, rewritten and changed back for subsequent productions. It just FEELS like a MESS. I remember, though, when it opened – how excited all the musical theater lovers, all the Sondheim lovers were. Everyone wanted to go to England to see it. It was a production of FOLLIES, for cryin’ out loud! The dual record album came out and the production photos looked so glamourous and so elegant! It was a thrill, out and out .. til you listened to the record. I have this cd in my Ipod and a couple of times a year I play it. It’s not my favourite; but it’s FOLLIES. I can’t NOT listen to it. I’ll say this too: the version of Loveland on this recording is my personal favourite – don’t know why; it just is. That and the I’m Still Here are the reasons I like this cd – and if you Youtube it, you can see Eartha Kitt’s (Gray’s replacement) version of I’m Still Here.
And THAT is something you want to see
Papermill Playhouse did an all star cast of FOLLIES that was the excitement of the theatrical season in 1998. The women were Dee Hoty and Donna McKechnie, the men were Laurence Guittard and Tony Roberts; the Follies girls were Kaye Ballard, Phyllis Newman, Lilianne Montevecchi and ANN MILLER. The production was all sequins and glitz and the show queens were out in full force, including me (and Pat) and we LOVED it. It had drawbacks. That New York theatrical treasure, Tony Roberts, is not a dancer and Buddy has dance numbers. Oops. Ann Miller was a little TOO old. So what. The production was criticized by some, lauded by some; none of that matters. What matters is that there was a production of FOLLIES to be seen. We saw it. Then I had the privilege to photograph the recording sessions (the photos were not used on the cd because the producer of the cd would not agree to my fee – and this bitch does not work for free). The cd released is one of the most exciting cds you can get because not only did that wonderful cast of talent make a permanent record of that fabulous production and score, they sang the songs that have become legendary for having been written and then cut from the original production. It is a GREAT cd. The performances are heartfelt and well acted, as well as being well sung. The arrangements by Jonathan Tunick are snazzy and precise, delicious and accurate. The musicians deliver the goods and the mixing is so good that the actors sound like they are singing on a stage without overpowering the microphone. And all that added material! Oh! What heaven. Meredith Patterson and Michael Gruber doing the LITTLE WHITE HOUSE duet is sublime perfection; Dee Hoty doing all the different versions of the LUCY AND JESSIE number is a particular treat for me. Ann Miller’s delivery of CAN THAT BOY FOXTROT is classy and sassy; and to get to hear Peter Davenport’s perfect tenor on BRING ON THE GIRLS is to take a quick trip to heaven. Then there is Donna McKechnie, whose performance in this show needed, deserved to be preserved, and who is sheer genius. I listen to her tracks and I remember how she couldn’t move across the stage without making me cry. I’m telling you, if you haven’t heard this cd, if you don’t own this cd, then you aren’t a true Sondheim fan. It is worth owning, worth listening to and worth taking up space in your Ipod.
An added treat in my Ipod is an audio bootleg of the Roundabout revival of FOLLIES, a production which was (and still is) much criticized – but not by me. I loved this show, loved this production, loved the performances – in spite of the flaws created by a relatively ugly set and some misguided direction. I loved it and blogged about it at length. I saw the show four or five times and each time it got better. When you have two of America’s best actresses at the helm, you are starting in a good place; and Blythe Danner and Judith Ivey are certainly two of America’s best actresses. I am fortunate to have seen the show so many times and to get to revel in Polly Bergen’s brilliance, Betty Garrett’s brass, Carol Woods’ belt and the immense joy of seeing Marge Champion dance (with Donald Saddler, no less!). I won’t even begin to write about the thrill of seeing two of my teenage heartthrobs onstage at the same time (that’s right, Gregory Harrison and Treat Williams were my teen idols – no Leif Garrett or Scott Baio for me). I adored this show and, as much as I was (genuinely) destroyed by Judy Ivey’s performance of LOSING MY MIND, the more devastating number was IN BUDDY’S EYES. I have a LOT of the Roundabout production in my Ipod and I play it, often, and enjoy the reverie.
posted by StephenMosher at 9:49 AM
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