Anyone seeing FOLLIES in LA tonight?- Page 9
Anyone seeing FOLLIES in LA tonight?
Anyone seeing FOLLIES in LA tonight?#201
Posted: 5/7/12 at 5:43pmMatt, that look is more Sally than the red dress and the Bernadette wig.
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Leading Actor Joined: 1/31/10
Anyone seeing FOLLIES in LA tonight?#202
Posted: 5/7/12 at 5:44pmSonofRobbieJ, why do you think Uptown/Downtown is infinitely superior to its replacements? I've always found the lyrics rather awkward.
Anyone seeing FOLLIES in LA tonight?#203
Posted: 5/7/12 at 5:47pm
That's exactly what I had in mind, Mister Matt. I didn't realize it had already been worn! (What is that from, if I may ask?)
BTW, sorry about Rachel Reilly. Or maybe congrats: since she seems to be crying in your avatar, perhaps you were pleased with last night's show.
Anyone seeing FOLLIES in LA tonight?#204
Posted: 5/7/12 at 5:48pm
That's a picture of Bernadette from the movie HEARTBEEPS in which she co-starred with Andy Kaufman.
Updated On: 5/7/12 at 05:48 PM
Anyone seeing FOLLIES in LA tonight?#205
Posted: 5/7/12 at 6:01pmOh, yes, of course. Thank you, Carlos and Matt.
Anyone seeing FOLLIES in LA tonight?#207
Posted: 5/7/12 at 9:06pmGaveston2 when you saw it was Michael Hayes back as Roscoe? Did they have any souvenirs for sale yet?
Anyone seeing FOLLIES in LA tonight?#208
Posted: 5/8/12 at 12:39am
COLE PORTER, 1944, written for Seven Lively Arts:
Is It the Girl or Is It the Gown?
Is it the girl
Or is it the gown?
Which one of the two
Do you love?
Is it her hair
You long to caress
Or is it that ex-
Quisite dress?
Is she the dream
Of all you desire
Or is it her frock
That happens to knock you down?
Is it the girl
You love so dearly
Or is it merely
Her beautiful gown?
Anyone seeing FOLLIES in LA tonight?#209
Posted: 5/8/12 at 11:08amRe: Uptown/Downtown. I guess it's just a personal preference. I adore the imagery of the song, and the section that starts 'She sits are the Ritz...' is one of my all-time favorite Sondheim lyrics. I actually think Lucy and Jessie is a little to self-conscious in its rhyming. I generally do not like Ah, But Underneath...however, I do think that song would have served Jan Maxwell best in the show. Not only would it have played to her strengths more (better vocalist than dancer), but I felt that the arc she created for the character would have been best served by that song.
Anyone seeing FOLLIES in LA tonight?#210
Posted: 5/8/12 at 2:23pm
Though I do agree that "Ah, But Underneath" would have suited Jan better (singing), I feel "Lucy and Jessie" fits her characterization of Phyllis better.
"Lucy and Jessie" talks about the duality of how she lived her past self and her current state, and how after having an epiphany moment, they come together and would make her a better person. Phyllis in this character finds her voice, which is why she's so outwardly angry during "Could I Leave You".
"Ah, But Underneath" ends with the line "Sometimes when the wrappings fall/ There's nothing underneath at all". Which fits with less of an outward reaction during "Could I leave You". The message of this song is that Phyllis has built up so much armor around herself that she doesn't know what she is on the inside anymore. I don't think Jan's Phyllis is portrayed that way in this production.
Anyone seeing FOLLIES in LA tonight?#211
Posted: 5/8/12 at 2:29pm
See...that's exactly how I interpreted her performance. Well... not exactly. But my take on her take was that she spent so many years supressing her natural impulses and creating this version of a human being that wasn't real, that she no longer knew who she was at her center. That doesn't mean she can't show anger and hurt and all the other things she brought to Could I Leave You?
Plus...I just plain don't like Lucy and Jessie. There. I've said it. Burn me as a witch.
Anyone seeing FOLLIES in LA tonight?#212
Posted: 5/8/12 at 2:40pmWicked, I'm seeing it tonight. I'll let you know tomorrow...
Anyone seeing FOLLIES in LA tonight?#213
Posted: 5/8/12 at 2:44pm
paljoey, thank you for the Porter lyric. That is quite simply the gayest lyric I've ever read!
Is it possible anyone still thought Porter was straight after that?
Anyone seeing FOLLIES in LA tonight?#214
Posted: 5/8/12 at 2:56pm
I know SonofRobbiej knows this, but for the sake of the children reading it should be pointed out that the rhyming of "Lucy and Jessie" is deliberately self-conscious, just as when Porter rhymes "G.O.P. or gop" and "de trop" with "You're the Top."
I believe Sondheim lets Phyllis parody Porter because the deliberate artificiality of the lyric is a parallel to Phyllis' artificially created personality. And of course because Porter was famous for writing about rich people.
(I don't see how "Uptown/Downtown" has rhymes that are any less self-conscious, but the images of "U/D" are concrete things the mind can visualize; "Lucy and Jessie" deals more in abstract concepts. Rhymes like "maturity/security" don't paint word pictures and are therefore less easy for the mind to grab quickly. Nonetheless, I prefer "Lucy and Jessie", perhaps only because I knew it for years before I heard the alternatives.)
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/10/04
Anyone seeing FOLLIES in LA tonight?#215
Posted: 5/8/12 at 3:02pm
Tonight, tonight!
I'll see the show tonight!
Anyone seeing FOLLIES in LA tonight?#216
Posted: 5/8/12 at 3:54pm
Robbie, Robbie, Robbie may you not be burned as a with for disliking "Lucy/Jessie," but may you be ringed with the fires that Wotan put around the sleeping Brunnhilde.
You may like "Uptown, Downtown"--I happen to think it's a nifty little song well-suited for cabaret performance--and you may dislike "Lucy/Jessie," but to say that one's rhyme scheme is self-conscious and the other's is not....well, come on now--can you really say that "Ritz, oh/schizo" is NOT self-conscious:
She sits at the Ritz
With her splits of Mumms
And starts to pine for a stein
With her Village chums,
But with a Schlitz in her mitts
Down at Fitzroy's Bar,
She dreams of the Ritz, oh--
It's so schizo.
The two girls as described in "Uptown/Downtown" are not at all like the character--Phyllis and Sally's first apartment in New York was in the east forties, under the 3rd Avenue el...hardly "downtown."
But the two girls as described in "Lucy/Jessie"?
Jessie is racy
But hard as a rock.
Lucy is lacy
But dull as a smock.
Jessie wants to be lacy,
Lucy wants to be Jessie.
Phyllis to a T.
Anyone seeing FOLLIES in LA tonight?#217
Posted: 5/8/12 at 4:56pm
Victoria Clark's L.A. costume looks stunning. I venture to say I prefer it to either of the previous dresses worn by Bernadette Peters in this production.
Tony Kushner: You can sing it at my funeral.
Anyone seeing FOLLIES in LA tonight?#218
Posted: 5/8/12 at 5:05pmVictoria Clark looks stunning and so young!
Anyone seeing FOLLIES in LA tonight?#219
Posted: 5/8/12 at 5:08pmI like that her hair is down.
Anyone seeing FOLLIES in LA tonight?#220
Posted: 5/8/12 at 5:09pmFrom that angle she looks like Mary Steenburgen.
Anyone seeing FOLLIES in LA tonight?#221
Posted: 5/8/12 at 5:17pm
I fully accept all of your explanations about thoughts on Lucy/Jessie v. Uptown/Downtown.
I simply just plain don't like Lucy and Jessie.
Anyone seeing FOLLIES in LA tonight?#222
Posted: 5/8/12 at 5:30pm
I don't not like Lucy and Jessie (although I do not like "Ah, But Underneath!" at least when it's being sung in a production of Follies), but I've always preferred "Uptown, Downtown." It is very similar to Lucy and Jessie, but there's something about it I like more.
I like the lines about reconciling "who she was with who she is" and I've always liked that Harriet, like Phyllis, is essentially the female version of a male name, which I thought was clever.
Anyone seeing FOLLIES in LA tonight?#223
Posted: 5/8/12 at 5:31pm
"From that angle she looks like Mary Steenburgen."
She totally does.
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