Follies on NPR
Follies on NPR
mpd4165
Leading Actor Joined: 8/6/09
#1Follies on NPR
Posted: 11/22/11 at 12:46am
Oh how I wish I caught the Chicago Production or could make it to NY.
First Listen: 'Follies (New Broadway Cast Recording)'
#2Follies on NPR
Posted: 11/22/11 at 6:33am
This is great! Thank you! Like a moron, I didn't pre-order this.
I wish you could make it up to NY to see the show. It's wonderful!
"I'm the swell swab on the poop deck."
metropolis10111
Broadway Star Joined: 7/28/06
#2Follies on NPR
Posted: 11/22/11 at 10:13am
So glad they did this. I've never ever been a fan of this show.. still am not but the recording is well done. I just don't get this thing.
Edit:
So got through the whole thing..urggg never again.. ever... ever...ever... So cured me from wanting to see it live.
Updated On: 11/22/11 at 10:13 AM
PattiLover
Stand-by Joined: 2/20/04
#3Follies on NPR
Posted: 11/22/11 at 10:47amListening now. The recording sounds great. Very nice sound quality.
figaroindy
Understudy Joined: 4/30/08
#4Follies on NPR
Posted: 11/22/11 at 10:54amNot my favorite either, Metropolis, by a long shot...but I have to say I enjoyed the Chicago Shakespeare production (in October) better than the one on Broadway (in August). That was a production worth seeing.
#5Follies on NPR
Posted: 11/22/11 at 11:00am
So got through the whole thing..urggg never again.. ever... ever...ever... So cured me from wanting to see it live.
Really? What didn't you like about it?
"I'm the swell swab on the poop deck."
metropolis10111
Broadway Star Joined: 7/28/06
#6Follies on NPR
Posted: 11/22/11 at 11:23am
Well first off I love that half of the whole "Leave you.. leave you.. leave you" song on disk two found its way into Last Midnight of Into the Woods.... (not wanting to start anything.. I'm just saying EVERYONE recycles.) And oh my Lord of the Rings what the f was that gods awful strange 'opera' One More Kiss thing... I thought I was going to have to cage up my dog. So aside form some of the more cringe worthy lyrics in the talking/singing part I just found to much of the score to be one note. Sure there are a few good torch songs but a bunch of the score sounds a bit Company warmed over. It suffers from great songs and then kinda really awful ones.
FOR ME I think the whole divorce, I'm going to marry you right on the spot is far fetched and frankly just down right silly. I know they have loved each other for years..blah..blah..blah... whatever, it just feels a bit weak of a plot point for me. I feel that this show kind of suffers from being just being a bunch of uninteresting fifty somethings whining that they are unhappy... ok... big deal. I think there are much better shows out there that deal with the complexity of relationships without just beating you over the head with characters that if you knew in real life you would want to smack.
Updated On: 11/22/11 at 11:23 AM
ALittleCareless
Swing Joined: 9/22/11
#7Follies on NPR
Posted: 11/22/11 at 11:41am
"I think the whole divorce, I'm going to marry you right on the spot is far fetched and frankly just down right silly. I know they have loved each other for years..blah..blah..blah... whatever, it just feels a bit weak of a plot point for me."
That isn't a plot point, Sally is delusional, Ben neither loves her or ever says he is going to marry her. Ben did not love Sally for years, Sally did harbor an intense obsession with Ben.
#8Follies on NPR
Posted: 11/22/11 at 11:51am
Ok, so I loved the production in New York, but will not be buying this. I dislike cast recordings with so much dialogue. I can usually make it through one listening and then it is onto the shelf.
Perhaps I'll cherry pick some tracks if they are available as singles.
I had the same problem with the recent Company recording. Too much dialogue.
metropolis10111
Broadway Star Joined: 7/28/06
ALittleCareless
Swing Joined: 9/22/11
#10Follies on NPR
Posted: 11/22/11 at 12:02pmYou don't have to care. I was just correcting misconceptions about the plot.
#11Follies on NPR
Posted: 11/22/11 at 12:13pm
Ok, so I loved the production in New York, but will not be buying this. I dislike cast recordings with so much dialogue. I can usually make it through one listening and then it is onto the shelf.
Interesting. I enjoy hearing the dialogue; it sets me up for the next song.
I feel that this show kind of suffers from being just being a bunch of uninteresting fifty somethings whining that they are unhappy... ok... big deal. I think there are much better shows out there that deal with the complexity of relationships without just beating you over the head with characters that if you knew in real life you would want to smack.
It seems as though people either really love, or really hate this show. As has been said by others, it does have a sort of cult following. Although, this production is my first exposure to FOLLIES. I guess I'm part of the cult now 
"I'm the swell swab on the poop deck."
#12Follies on NPR
Posted: 11/22/11 at 12:15pmConversely, I love dialog on cast albums. I love how much they really give me a feel for the context of the song and the flow of the story.
#13Follies on NPR
Posted: 11/22/11 at 12:21pm
I'm probably in the minority, but I really don't like it. For me, I want to hear the songs and not the dialogue. After a listen or two, I start to get annoyed with the dialogue -- my brain just wants to get to the music.
I just want to listen to the music all the way through without alot of dialogue breaks. It's very disruptive for me.
musicalsFan
Broadway Star Joined: 3/3/04
#14Follies on NPR
Posted: 11/22/11 at 2:09pm
I still don't like Ron Raines in this. He's slightly less wooden then in DC. Too bad we couldn't have had Brent Barrett.
The dialogue makes me remember the performance I just saw which happens to be this past Sunday.
#15Follies on NPR
Posted: 11/22/11 at 3:13pm
Thinking that Sally and Ben are "in love" is just such a fundamental misunderstanding....I mean how would the entire Loveland sequence even make much sense if you thought Ben loved Sally?
I don't know, I still think (as I posted in another thread) that people do not 'get' this show.
"You can't overrate Bernadette Peters. She is such a genius. There's a moment in "Too Many Mornings" and Bernadette doing 'I wore green the last time' - It's a voice that is just already given up - it is so sorrowful. Tragic. You can see from that moment the show is going to be headed into such dark territory and it hinges on this tiny throwaway moment of the voice." - Ben Brantley (2022)
"Bernadette's whole, stunning performance [as Rose in Gypsy] galvanized the actors capable of letting loose with her. Bernadette's Rose did take its rightful place, but too late, and unseen by too many who should have seen it" Arthur Laurents (2009)
"Sondheim's own favorite star performances? [Bernadette] Peters in ''Sunday in the Park,'' Lansbury in ''Sweeney Todd'' and ''obviously, Ethel was thrilling in 'Gypsy.'' Nytimes, 2000
#16Follies on NPR
Posted: 11/22/11 at 3:17pmI am 3/4 through and enjoying it very much. I love recordings that include dialouge.
Just give the world Love.
#17Follies on NPR
Posted: 11/22/11 at 3:42pm
For the record, I "get" the show and still hate it. I think the whole thing is an utter bore with some tuneful songs.
Also, this recording is not good. I am not impressed (even by Jan, whom I loved live).
Gaveston2
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/28/11
#18Follies on NPR
Posted: 11/22/11 at 3:50pm
"...cringe worthy lyrics...."?!?!?
Oh, children, please.
#19Follies on NPR
Posted: 11/22/11 at 3:52pmI've just finished Act One, and I'm loving it so much! I can't wait to get it!
#20Follies on NPR
Posted: 11/22/11 at 3:57pm
"...gods awful strange 'opera' One More Kiss thing..."
Just goes to show ya...I personally think this song is the defining moment in Follies, and the thing I look forward to the most.
I think Follies has a cult following not because it's so phenomenal, but because, of all of Sondheim's shows, it has the most potential to be phenomenal. But it never is. It's a brilliant notion, with brilliant ideas and moments that was just never put together in quite the right way to make it as satisfying as you want it to be...and know it could have been.
Sondheim should have spent less time futzing with those Misner boys and put a little effort into a reworking of this.
Art has a double face, of expression and illusion.
#21Follies on NPR
Posted: 11/22/11 at 4:00pm
Damn, Paige's I'M STILL HERE sounded fabulous. FABULOUS.
And she got all the words right!! (kidding...she got them right when I saw her).
Gaveston2
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/28/11
#22Follies on NPR
Posted: 11/22/11 at 4:15pm
artscallion, I'm not assuming the same is true for others, but I know "One Last Kiss" was the song in the original production that was most difficult for me to enjoy. At the time, I had little knowledge of operettas or operas (and let's face it, without an intermission, it's pretty late in the evening for an operetta ballad).
On the other hand, I now find it magnificent and I understand why you find it so central to the show. The problem was my lack of experience, not the song.
#23Follies on NPR
Posted: 11/22/11 at 5:32pm
"I think Follies has a cult following not because it's so phenomenal, but because, of all of Sondheim's shows, it has the most potential to be phenomenal. But it never is. It's a brilliant notion, with brilliant ideas and moments that was just never put together in quite the right way to make it as satisfying as you want it to be...and know it could have been.
Sondheim should have spent less time futzing with those Misner boys and put a little effort into a reworking of this."
I agree with that--at least I feel Follies is a flawed masterpiece, and that will always be part of its allure, but (while I do kinda feel that he spent SO long on Wise Guys/Bounce/Road Show, despite the fact that I've finally started to like Road Show best), I don't agree with your last statement.
He's always been game to work with collaborators on changing Follies, but I feel he thinks he's done the best he can with it and frankly I'm someone who still thinks the original script (even compared to the current one which largely harkens back to it) is still the best, and let's just leave it there. Certainly, I get the feeling Sondheim doesn't feel there's more he can do with it.
And I've ALWAYS loved "One More Kiss" (not so keen on on One Last Kiss from Birdie ) . I'm glad Sondheim insisted they record it for the first cast album even if it didn't fit on the LP release. To me it kinda sums up the show--but I guess even as a kid I did love the operetta style it pastiches. Frankly it's SO short anyway, that I don't think coming 90 or so minutes into the show is too late in the evening for it...
#24Follies on NPR
Posted: 11/22/11 at 5:34pm
"Ok, so I loved the production in New York, but will not be buying this. I dislike cast recordings with so much dialogue. I can usually make it through one listening and then it is onto the shelf.
Perhaps I'll cherry pick some tracks if they are available as singles.
I had the same problem with the recent Company recording. Too much dialogue."
Sometimes this bothers me too, but in the case of both Company and especially Follies, I feel like we already have decent and/or great recordings that do basically just show off the songs, that I kinda like having this as an alternative. It depends if I want to sit down and sorta relive the show, or just listen to the songs.
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