Ann Miller sings I'm Still Here — Page 2

Donna always sang the final note of "Losing My Mind" up the octave. Stephen Sondheim allowed it because Donna liked to sing it that way. It did change on the recording. Donna is a fabulous person and in my opinion, she was the best Sally next to Dorothy Collins. The whole experience was a joy from the first rehearsal to the closing day. It is such a shame the show didn't move. The money was all there after the wonderful review from Ben Brantley in The New York Times. But Mrs. James Goldman felt that the Roundabout would do a classier production, and that was the end of that. We all had a beautiful experience. It was a stellar cast, and everyone got along famously....Some great stories, though....maybe one day I will write a book!

I second the uploading more. I would love to be able to see the full bootleg, can anyone tell me how I could get it?

The irony of course is that the Roundabout production ended up being the opposite of classy. It was wretched and wrongheaded and regrettable.

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Having seen both productions only on video, I am still shocked that the Papermill production didn't transfer over the Roundabout. I don't know how anyone could think the Papermill production was not classy, especially Mrs. Goldman when she would have already seen the Papermill production, which her husband had more of a hand in helping to succeed than the original Follies! I also can't help but think how great it would have been for so many talented performers to be back on Broadway, I can't think of the last time Donna McKechnie, Kaye Ballard, or Ann Miller were on Broadway and I think it would have been, to quote the show, a "final burst of glory" for these talented veterans of the stage.

Granted, I'm probably entirely too young to judge and didn't see these shows live but I actually had a smile on my face for most of Papermill's and actually CARED about these people, they still had their flaws but I felt that by the end they were willing to help and support eachother. Roundabout's left me cold and rather blue, which could be more in tune with the original production, but at least with the original the characters made resolutions to fix whatever problems they had, and I actually believed them!

And who could so no to Ann Miller?

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Wow. I have to say. I am IN LOVE with what I have seen from Donna McKechnie's Sally. It seem she is one of the few major Sallys who retained that child-like innocence in the spirit of Dorothy Collins. Love it.

Is this another BS story? It might as well be, but I was wondering since I know nobodyhome is pretty knowledgeable when it comes to this: I remember reading in Donna McKechnie's book that the cast was told that someone (Can't remember if it was Goldman, Sondheim, or who) had already promised the show to Roundabout, and there was nothing that could be done.
The Roundabout production is just depressing, not because of the content/tone of the show, but because it was so awful (judging from footage, audio I've seen/heard). The idea that that is the last Broadway revival of this beautiful show that we'll see in possibly decades is just so utterly depressing. Every time I think of the way Kathleen Marshall pooped all over the "Mirror Number," I get sad/mad/annoyed/upset.
I was going through some of Ken Mandelbaum's fantastic columns on Broadway.com, and around the time Roundabout was casting the revival, he mentioned Victor Garber and Donna Murphy were being courted to be part of the show. How interesting that they weren't part of this misconceived revival and instead went on to give acclaimed performances in the marvelous Encores! concert.

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I didn't actually write that Sondheim and Goldman didn't like the Paper Mill production. All I wrote was "neither Sondheim nor Goldman wanted the Paper Mill production to transfer." They may have liked it perfectly well for what it was without wanting it to be the Broadway revival of the show.

As it turned out, it made for a good recording. I don't think it was an especially good production, despite a couple of good performances (most notably from McKechnie), a lot of money being spent, and recreations and approximations of the original choreography.

I do find it difficult to believe that Bobbi Goldman promising the Roundabout that they could produce a revival of Follies would by itself scuttle the move of the Paper Mill production if both Sondheim and James Goldman felt strongly about that production moving. These things happen all the time. Verbal contracts aren't worth the paper they're printed on.

Well, maybe that's why he died a few months later.

Kaye Ballard said in her autobiography that she didn't think Sondheim really liked it. I don't have the book with me at the moment, but I believe she said she thought Sondheim didn't think the Papermill production was classy enough.