Follies
Opening Night: September 12, 2011
Closing: January 22, 2012
Theater: Marquis Theatre
When former members of the "Weismann Follies" reunite on the eve of their theater’s demolition, two couples remember their past and face the harsher realities of the present. Reminiscing of their younger selves and the years gone by, the crumbling theater brings back memories for both couples of good times and bad. Follies echoes the songs, exuberance and romance of the vaudeville days between the two World Wars. The score features some of Stephen Sondheim’s best-known songs, including "Broadway Baby," "I’m Still Here," "Too Many Mornings," "Could I Leave You?" and "Losing My Mind." With a 28 piece orchestra, Follies will feature a cast of 41 and star two-time Tony Award-winner Bernadette Peters as Sally Durant Plummer, four-time Tony Award nominee Jan Maxwell as Phyllis Rogers Stone, two-time Tony Award nominee Danny Burstein as Buddy Plummer, three-time Emmy Award nominee Ron Raines as Benjamin Stone and Olivier Award-winner Elaine Paige as Carlotta Campion.
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September 12, 2011
Somewhere along the road from Washington to Broadway, the Kennedy Center production of “Follies” picked up a pulse. A vigorous heart now beats at the center of this revitalized revival of James Goldman and Stephen Sondheim’s 1971 musical, which opened on Monday night at the Marquis Theater. And though the subject is the ghosts of show business past, don’t expect gentle nostalgia. This “Follies” looks back as much in anger as in fondness. That’s what makes it so vibrant.
READ THE REVIEWSeptember 12, 2011
A revival of Stephen Sondheim’s "Follies" has arrived on Broadway just in time for Halloween. It’s perfect for the season — it’s got ghosts, skeletons bursting out of closets and a haunted house. It’s also a treat.
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September 12, 2011
Mention that the original 1971 production of Follies was passed over in the Tony Awards race for best musical and theater chat sites tend to explode into fresh howls of outrage, provoking the kind of breast-beating anguish rarely witnessed outside of Sicilian funerals. But 40 years after its Broadway premiere, Stephen Sondheim and James Goldman’s show still dazzles with its structural complexity and brilliant score, making it hard not to share that sense of injustice.
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September 12, 2011
Director Eric Schaeffer deserves credit for working hard to address the numerous shortcomings of his Kennedy Center production of Stephen Sondheim and James Goldman’s towering musical classic "Follies." Performances have been retooled, staging and pacing tightened, misconceived choreography redone, misguided casting changed, and a much-criticized red dress has vanished. As a result, the show’s potentially vast emotional power, smothered in its initial Washington, D.C. run, has begun to emerge. Unfortunately, problems remain. For those well-acquainted with the work, the result is a cruelly tantalizing miss. For audiences unfamiliar with "Follies," this production may prove more satisfying.
READ THE REVIEWSeptember 12, 2011
“I’m so glad I came,” says Sally Durant Plummer, a former Ziegf—er…Weismann’s Follies girl as she arrives at a reunion party 30 years after the Follies ended for good in 1941. A throwaway line perhaps, but as uttered by Bernadette Peters, these are loaded words. It is with an equal mix of trepidation and utter longing that Sally arrives for the party, where she will not only be reunited with the man of her misbegotten dreams, but also be forced to confront the ghosts of her past.
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