FOLLIES "update"
FOLLIES "update"
#1FOLLIES "update"
Posted: 11/13/06 at 11:39am
As per ATC. I don't know how reliable it is, but found it interesting:
"Clark, Murphy and McGrath are cast.
There's an offer out to Ben. Not the actor previously rumored. They're aiming bigger.
JoAnn Worley is Stella, as previously rumored.
There's an offer out to Karen Morrow for Hattie.
And Carlotta will be Christine Baranski."
"If you are going to do something, do it well. And leave something witchy."
-Charlie Manson
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
#2re: FOLLIES 'update'
Posted: 11/13/06 at 11:56am
I'm thrilled for Murphy.
I wonder who they are trying to get for Ben!
But Baranski as Carlotta?
I can't wait for this, but who knows If I'll be able to see in my nosebleed rear gallery seats!
#3re: FOLLIES 'update'
Posted: 11/13/06 at 12:40pmMy money is on Brian Stokes Mitchell for Ben.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
#5re: FOLLIES 'update'
Posted: 11/13/06 at 1:12pm
My money is on Brian Stokes Mitchell for Ben
- I can't really see it happening. If that did happen, I would love something like Vanessa Williams as Phyllis, which someone suggested a few months ago.
#6re: FOLLIES 'update'
Posted: 11/13/06 at 1:35pm
Yes, I was the one who wanted Vanessa Williams, but Donna Murphy was my favortie "traditional" choice. I'm not that excited about Baranski, but she is a great actress and I am intrigued. I would still love to see James Naugton as Ben.
Please, no BSM. He is just too warm and he does not have the right personality for the character. I did love the idea of Stephen Bogardus, too bad.
Maybe Martin Vindovic (sp?), though he is not a big name.
virgil blessing2
Leading Actor Joined: 7/12/04
#7re: FOLLIES 'update'
Posted: 11/13/06 at 1:37pmis this a 1 night only FOLLIES in concert, and possibly benefitting a worthy cause?
"I am not 'a' Eunice Burns. I am THE Eunice Burns!!!"
#8re: FOLLIES 'update'
Posted: 11/13/06 at 1:39pmThere are 5 performances. It is part of the City Centers Encores! series. It's not a benefit, though.
"If you are going to do something, do it well. And leave something witchy."
-Charlie Manson
#9re: FOLLIES 'update'
Posted: 11/13/06 at 3:00pmI had heard it was Bogardus, I guess that was the previous rumor that is now out the door.
C is for Company
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/16/05
#10re: FOLLIES 'update'
Posted: 11/13/06 at 4:12pm
Thank GOD for Murphy and Baranski! All the more excited now and satisfied with a (hopefully) great Phyllis 
#11re: FOLLIES 'update'
Posted: 11/13/06 at 4:15pm
"is this a 1 night only FOLLIES in concert, and possibly benefitting a worthy cause? "
That particular FOLLIES will take place in London in February, with Philip Quast and Maria Friedman in the cast. I think this discussion is for an American production.
FoscasBohemianDream
Broadway Star Joined: 1/20/06
#12re: FOLLIES 'update'
Posted: 11/13/06 at 5:09pm
Bogardus was indeed the previously rumored actor.
I'm not sure I would enjoy Brian Stokes Mitchell as Ben, I believe James Naughton, Brent Barrett, and Marc Kudisch would all be better choices.
Barinski as Carlotta????
#13re: FOLLIES 'update'
Posted: 11/13/06 at 5:29pmI think that it would be nice to have John McMartin play Theodore Witman
#14re: FOLLIES 'update'
Posted: 11/13/06 at 5:33pm
Baranski can pull it off.
Am I the only insane person hear who'd like to see Peter Gallagher as Ben? He needs to return to the stage, even if it's for five performances. The OC, although it is getting better, isn't going to last forever.
FoscasBohemianDream
Broadway Star Joined: 1/20/06
#15re: FOLLIES 'update'
Posted: 11/17/06 at 6:48pm
I got an e-mail from City Center saying the cast would be announced today, wonder what happened.
Updated On: 11/17/06 at 06:48 PM
FoscasBohemianDream
Broadway Star Joined: 1/20/06
#16re: FOLLIES 'update'
Posted: 11/17/06 at 7:42pm
Did some research at ATC, Karen Morrow turned down the offer to play Hattie; also, as per user Marlo*Manners, Lucine Amara has been cast as Heidi though Solange, Ben, and the young leads have not been cast yet. May I say that Erin Davie would make a great Young Sally?
Gothampc
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
#17re: FOLLIES 'update'
Posted: 11/17/06 at 9:28pmI thought this was supposed to be a starry spectacle on the level of Meryl Streep. Looks like they are going for Broadway caliber.
If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.
#18re: FOLLIES 'update'
Posted: 11/18/06 at 6:23amI am surprised Karen Morrow turned down Hattie. They probably didn't want to pay her so she said "Screw it".
"It does what a musical is supposed to do; it takes you to another world. And it gives you a little tune to carry in your head. Something to take you away from the dreary horrors of the real world. A little something for when you're feeling blue. You know?"
IssaMe
Broadway Star Joined: 5/15/03
#19re: FOLLIES 'update'
Posted: 11/18/06 at 8:54am
At mid-week's City Center Board of Directors meeting, it was expected that the full casting would be announced on Friday (as indicated above). But apparently some of the final offers that are out have not yet been officially responded to...holding things up a bit. Maybe by Monday?
Meanwhile, unlike many other Encores! shows, this one is almost totally sold out already.
MargoChanning
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/5/04
#20re: FOLLIES 'update'
Posted: 11/19/06 at 11:00pm
No surprises:
"Initial principal casting has been announced for the City Center Encores! production of the 1971 Stephen Sondheim-James Goldman musical Follies, which will run February 8-11. The production will be directed by Tony Award nominee Casey Nicholaw, with music direction by Eric Stern.
Christine Baranski will play Carlotta Campion, Philip Bosco will play Dimitri Weismann, Victoria Clark will play Sally Durant Plummer, Michael McGrath will play Buddy Plummer, Donna Murphy will play Phyllis Rogers Stone, and Joanne Worley will play Stella Deems. Casting for the role of Benjamin Stone, as well as some other parts, will be announced at a later date.
The production will also feature Lucine Amara as Heidi Schiller, Leena Chopra as Young Heidi, Yvonne Constant as Solange Lafitte, Robert Fitch as Theodore Whitman, Diane J. Findlay as Sandra Cranes, Arthur Rubin as Roscoe, Dorothy Stanley as Dee Dee West, and Gerry Vichi as Max Deems.
Nicholaw is the director/choreographer of The Drowsy Chaperone and the choreographer of Monty Python's Spamalot. He has previously worked on the Encores! productions of Can-Can and Bye Bye Birdie. Stern has conducted and arranged more than Broadway musical, and has led such major orchestras as the Boston Pops and the Cleveland Symphony."
http://www.theatermania.com/content/news.cfm/story/9501
"What a story........ everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." -- Birdie
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FoscasBohemianDream
Broadway Star Joined: 1/20/06
#21re: FOLLIES 'update'
Posted: 11/20/06 at 12:02amI'm really intrigued to know who they'll be casting as Ben since according to ATC they are going for a "big" name. I'm terribly delighted to hear that Murphy will indeed be playing Phylis.
#22re: FOLLIES 'update'
Posted: 11/20/06 at 12:23amI can't wait to ask Joanne Worley to sign my PRINCE OF CENTRAL PARK playbill!
#23re: FOLLIES 'update'
Posted: 11/20/06 at 12:39am
Got my ticket yesterday, cannot wait to see/hear Donna Murphy performing "The Story of Jessie and Lucy," let alone see Murphy and Victoria Clark performing together during "Waiting for the Girls Upstair."
I've read many rumors about the casting of the principal roles, but no one has mentioned any rumors about Young Ben, Phylis, Sally, and Buddy. Does anyone know what actors have been approached to play these roles?
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
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