"Follies in Concert" Comments- Page 2

[BNN]

Posted: 4/27/08 at 10:36pm

PalJoey, if you want to give me a heart attack, you are doing a great job.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 4/27/08 at 10:40pm

That's why the next revival should recreate the original staging and design. I know it will never happen but it's nice to dream.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 4/27/08 at 10:41pm

Didja watch it?

Oops--fixed the link--it's on Page 1. Here it is again:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhQeVQ6677A

Updated On: 4/27/08 at 10:41 PM

[Tom148502]

Posted: 4/27/08 at 10:42pm

BigFatBlonde said about Follies in Concert, "My wish is that they had issued the concert recording dialogue and all."

I was there and there was very little dialogue. VERY little.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 4/27/08 at 10:46pm

If time travel ever comes to fruition I'm going to Follies in 1971!

[BNN]

Posted: 4/27/08 at 10:48pm

After seeing the London version of Who's That Woman (somewhere on the internet) it looked nice, but seeing that lower quality video was INCREDIBLE. I can't even imagine what that number must have looked like live.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 4/27/08 at 10:48pm

Well that YouTube link is a little BroadwayWorld time machine.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 4/27/08 at 10:49pm

I know. I'm watching it now.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 4/27/08 at 11:00pm

BNN--I was 15. It was the best thing ever. Better than the Wizard of Oz, better than Disneyland, better than losing my virginity.

And nothing has ever been that good since. Not even A Chorus Line. Not even Dreamgirls. Not even Sunday in the Park with George.

And Who's That Woman was the climax of it's perfection--that's where the writing and the staging and the sets and the costumes and the performers all came together. After that number, there were great songs and great performances, but the book was, well, what it was.

But nothing has ever been that good since.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 4/27/08 at 11:18pm

PalJoey, do you think that it NEEDED Bennett's actual presence to work or do you think that if Bennett's choreography were to be re-staged to a T that we could see that kind of lush, brilliant magic again?
Some of us were not there to see this, so all we have is hope... and your fabulous videos like this and FOLLIES miniature.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 4/27/08 at 11:37pm

It's restaged to a T in A Chorus Line. What's missing is Michael.

[chip08ME]

Posted: 4/27/08 at 11:37pm

That video truly made my night. I just finished reading Everything Was Possible and to be able to experience only a fraction of what is described in the book and those who saw the original production was magical.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 4/27/08 at 11:51pm

Good point.
Oh well, even FOLLIES lite is better than most.

[TheEnchantedHunter]

Posted: 4/27/08 at 11:52pm

You can hear the audience desperately trying (and failing) to ratchet up the evening into a spectacular event, along the lines of Garland at Carnegie Hall or the Sondheim Tribute. But, except for isolated moments like Barbara Cook, it was a disappointing evening.




Lola Delaney
In A Midwestern City
Updated On: 4/28/08 at 11:52 PM

[PalJoey]

Posted: 4/28/08 at 12:04am

You can only wish you had been there.

Now begone, Hunter--before somebody drops a house on you too!

Updated On: 4/28/08 at 12:04 AM

[MTVMANN]

Posted: 4/28/08 at 2:52am

Thank you PalJoey for posting! How lucky you were to have seen it live back in the 1970's!

[courtnyj]

Posted: 4/28/08 at 3:26am

I'm *finally* reading Everything Was Possible and loving it. It's making me even more obsessive with all things Follies.

Thank you for the video PalJoey!

[PalJoey]

Posted: 4/28/08 at 8:24am

I just uploaded the "Follies in Miniature" to YouSendIt again. PM me if you want the link.

[Sirius Black]

Posted: 4/28/08 at 11:41am

Laura will make a great Phyllis or Sally someday.

Updated On: 7/9/08 at 11:41 AM

[PalJoey]

Posted: 4/29/08 at 12:20pm

And check out Mary McCarty's little shuffle-off-to-Buffalo salute as she leaves the stage for the dance break--and then watch as she comes back in at the end and takes the focus back from the women and the ghosts!

[Tom148502]

Posted: 4/29/08 at 12:27pm

Pal Joey's mention of original Follies production reminds me that night after I saw the OBC, I went to a nightclub on the East Side called Mary Mary. It was operated by Mary McCarty and she met people at the door. The entertainment that nigth was, among other things, Yvonne DeCarlo who, of course, sang "I'm Still Here." If I remember correctly, Dorothy Collins' husband, Ron Holgate, also did a number. Perhaps because I had mentioned to Mary McCarty when she greeted us that she had been one of the stars of the first show I ever saw on Broadway, Miss liberty, she sang "Falling Out of Love Can Be Fun."

[PalJoey]

Posted: 4/29/08 at 4:26pm

Wow. I was only 15 but I remember KNOWING that Mary McCarty had a club and wishing I could go.

Did you look at the YouTube link, Tom?

[jv92]

Posted: 4/29/08 at 4:33pm

PalJoey- THANK YOU!

[Tom148502]

Posted: 4/29/08 at 5:02pm

Yes, I looked at the YouTube line, Joey.

In thinking back about the Follies in Concert. Barbara Cook was about the only performer that I didn't like. Don't get me wrong, I love Barbara Cook, always have, but, since NO ONE could ever top Dorothy Collins as Sally, Cook just didn't measure up to Collins. Nevertheless, it was one of the most exciting evening in a theatre that I've spent....well worth pushing the re-dial button on my phone for over 3 hours on the day that tickets went on sale!

[baddadnpa]

Posted: 4/29/08 at 5:56pm

I am not a fan of Patinkin, who I understand stopped Buddy's Blues after screwing up and had to restart.

I enjoy the live recording however. Love Cook, Remick, Hearn, Stritch, Burnett, Newman. I think the audience makes it - they go nuts during the overture and it is thrilling.

The only production of this I saw was the Roundabout revival, and even though it is reviled by most, I loved it. Even a bad Follies is a good Follies.