Anyone seeing FOLLIES in LA tonight? — Page 6

About the same effect it had in the original, when Phyllis wore red all night long.

No, a lesser effect. You're planning on having the two leading ladies wear the same color all night long?

Why not just do an all-red Follies?

With a red set too, while you're at it.

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All red?

I'd be out to LA in a flash for the Harmonia Gardens effect!

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No, a lesser effect. You're planning on having the two leading ladies wear the same color all night long?

But Phyllis didn't wear red in this production, so that's irrelevant. If Phyllis in '71 can wear red all evening and then come out in red for Loveland and it's effective, then it stands to reason Sally's choice of red in '11 isn't going to have some kind of debilitating effect on Phyllis' Loveland entrance.

OK, Liza, your turn: what does a red dress tell us about Sally's character?

It means when she picked out the dress, she thought, "I want to to win back from ex-lover. How shall I do this? Oh, yes, with this exquisite red dress!"

You all are obsessed with the choices made in the original, and are incapable of just accepting that subsequent productions are not going to be the original, and that maybe -- MAYBE -- someone else will have a different interpretation than you that works just as well.

Also, if the color of Sally's dress is so integral to the musical that red will ruin it, then the musical itself is hopelessly flawed.

Fair enough, lizabombs. If you think a costume reflects nothing more than a shopping choice, then that is one way to go.

Obviously I'll never win this argument. I guess we'll just leave it with me thinking there are more ways than one to interpret Sally's character, and you thinking that your way is the only true way, and everyone else be damned.

...let's put it this way: there is a reason not everyone is suited to being a costume designer.

Colors (not to mention things like line, silhouette, cut, etc.) all say something about a character... and have meaning.

Sally coming in wearing a bright red dress signals to the audience: "This character is fiery. This character is lusty. This character is passionate. This character is confident and strong. This character is bold."

Sally's not.

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Yep. That's exactly what Kad said.

Well, clearly I was paraphrasing. But that is in essence what he said: that by entering in the "wrong" color, the audience won't know she's bold or passionate when she's really weak and needy. Sorry, but if the script is strong enough, it won't matter what color her dress is. And when I saw her in DC with family members who didn't know anything about the show, they somehow figured it out, red dress and all.

Kad, while I agree that the red dress didn't work on Peters, a gaping hole in your argument is that the character of Sally could have chosen a red dress to deliberately project the traits you say the color signifies, knowing she herself doesn't posses them but hoping others may think she does.

If an audience can intuit characteristics based on color, characters can be smart enough to want others to intuit them too, particularly in the case of someone like Sally who is trying so hard to project a false exterior.

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Updated On: 5/6/12 at 04:58 PM

The revival shortened that line.
It became "where did you get your dress?"

Well they actually did alter the wig a bit for the transfer to Broadway. But it's still fairly similar.

Updated On: 5/6/12 at 05:23 PM

I have closing night tickets. I wonder if Mr. S will show up (unlikely, I know). I don't think I can hold out until then, so I'll probably be going for HotTix for an earlier performance as well. BTW, I saw the subscriber discount code mentioned, but I don't think anyone mentioned GoldStar. GoldStar currently has discount tickets (front rows, Mez, $47.50-55.00/ea) for performances through May 13. Given the current box office, I'm sure it's very likely that GoldStar will release additional blocks of tickets after May 13th.

My closing night tickets are for front row, center, balcony. Never sat in the balcony at the Ahmanson. Do you think I'll be good?
GoldStar - Discount Follies Tickets thru May 13th

So why is it so important to you to justify a decision the costume designer himself reconsidered?

My main point was that your insistence that Sally can't wear a red dress is baffling. And instead of just disagreeing, you told me I should think first before posting, as if somehow my opinion is wrong and yours is right because, well, because you say so. Sorry, bud. My opinion is as valid as yours, unless you are Mr. Sondheim himself or the ghost of James Goldman.

It's beyond hilarious to watch folks here treat an opinion -- e.g., "Sally's red dress in DC was a valid choice" -- as if it's on par with blasphemy. I don't really care about the dress much, aside from thinking it's something a desperate woman would wear to snatch back an old lover. I wish I had known that you guys were the ones who decided which "Follies" directorial choices were OK and which were made with no thought.

Girl, please.