FOLLIES 1971 Video Footage (and some Merrily 1981)- Page 6

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/29/11 at 12:25pm

I actually like the Merrily score better than Follies. Probably (or at least starting with) because I prefer the style of music.

I also think it has one of the best overtures ever written for Broadway. It's right up there with Gypsy, Candide, and South Pacific.

[Amalia Balash]

Posted: 8/29/11 at 5:49pm

For thirty years I've had a very soft spot for the Merrily OBCR even though the book has never worked for me. Thank you so much for sharing these glimpses of the original production.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 9/9/11 at 2:43pm

This thread has been through Brenda Frazier, and it's still here.

[chewy5000]

Posted: 9/10/11 at 12:45am

It's also been through the first first family with class, en masse.

[justoldbill]

Posted: 9/10/11 at 1:12am

And Shirley Temple, with class, no sass.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 9/12/11 at 5:53pm

The ghosts are very excited.

[nobodyhome]

Posted: 9/12/11 at 11:56pm

As Phyllis says, there are at least two. There is a complete video of a preview, specifically Oct. 19, 1981, which was Jim Walton's first performance as Frank.

There is another video that was shot after opening (I believe that one is from Nov. 25), but it only circulates (as far as I know) in incomplete copies. Several people have told me they had complete copies, but when I'd ask them if it included certain sections, they'd always end up saying that it didn't. (So why did they think it was complete?) So I'm not sure if a complete copy exists. This video was donated to the TOFT collection. It's this video that's excerpted at youtube.

I've heard rumors that yet another video exists, but I'm not sure those rumors are to be trusted.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 9/13/11 at 12:41am

Rumors themselves should always be trusted.

It's the people who spread them who should never, under any circumstances, be trusted.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 9/13/11 at 12:43am

I'm almost positive I have two different complete versions. I'll have to check this week.

[nobodyhome]

Posted: 9/13/11 at 1:37am

Thanks, Jordan. Please let us know.

These are the parts that are missing on every copy I've ever found:

1. Most of the first part of the "Old Friends" scene.

2. A chunk at the beginning of Act Two. Specifically, after a few seconds of the entr'acte, it jumps to a point after the end of "It's a Hit!"

3. Part of "Opening Doors."

Probably about eight minutes altogether.

[Charley Kringas Inc]

Posted: 9/17/11 at 2:57pm

I'd love to see the earlier video recording. From what I've heard it includes "Honey" (and, I think, "Darling!", or at least I hope so because that's one of my favorite cut Sondheim songs). There's also an audio recording of the second preview, which is essentially the show in its earliest, most original state. It sounds incredibly audacious and energetic and, frankly, as close to a great show as the show has ever been, very weird and off-the-wall and exciting (and yes, kind of bad in some places but astounding in others).

[3bluenight]

Posted: 9/17/11 at 9:56pm

hi,
just thought i'd jump into this one -

i've also heard that there is a preview performance recording out there -
i've also heard that it includes "honey" and "thank you for coming."

i would tend to agree with ac. one can't always believe the speaker, but the rumor itself....

[chewy5000]

Posted: 9/17/11 at 11:06pm

I have an audio recording labelled October 9th 1981, with James Weissenbach as Frank. Includes "Darling", "Honey" and "Thank you for coming"

[nobodyhome]

Posted: 9/18/11 at 3:06am

"Darling!" was gone after four previews, and I think that "Thank You for Coming" was gone after four as well. It was definitely gone by the time I saw it for the second time a couple of weeks into previews (after having been there for the third preview). "Honey" remained in the show till fairly late in previews and is on a couple of the audios, including the one mentioned by chewy5000, which is of the second preview, from Oct. 9, 1981.

Several sources, including ibdb, date the first preview as having been Oct. 1. But it was actually Oct. 8.
Updated On: 9/18/11 at 03:06 AM

[Charley Kringas Inc]

Posted: 9/18/11 at 1:16pm

Yeah, the Oct 9th recording is the one I have as well. At the very least it's nice to have an audio of "Darling!", which is, except for being printed in "Finishing The Hat", entirely lost, and too bad because it's excellent. It does, though, represent a more cartoonish Gussie than in the current version of the show, so unlike "Honey" it couldn't be reintroduced (not to mention it took place at the Polo Lounge). Nonetheless, the vamp was terrific.

The Oct 9th recording is vastly different from the final Broadway version, and almost entirely removed from the current version. It includes the "historical" transitions (excessive but clever), "Radical Chic" at Frank's apartment (Gussie's entourage floods it after the "Old Friends" scene), and a really, really funny joke about the Alvin theater, not to mention more integrated singing and more character detail, particularly on Charley, who is an outspoken intellectual.

[nobodyhome]

Posted: 9/18/11 at 1:32pm

Just wanted to mention that the Alvin Theatre joke was in the version that opened on Broadway (and it was also in the original licensed version), though of course it's not in the later versions.

I've always loved "Darling!" (though it did need to be cut or at least shortened) and I greatly miss the original Gussie.

[Charley Kringas Inc]

Posted: 9/18/11 at 5:32pm

Ah, ok. The stage door scene is missing from the video I have (same video the clips are from) so I wasn't sure. "She'll feel obligated to call it Alvin" makes me giggle every time I hear it.

I love Gussie in all forms. In the original she was emblematic of Hal Prince's basic concept, that the kids would present the "high life" in an almost surreal way, underlining its falseness. It's a terrible shame that the revisions, even during the original run, all were in service of burying the concept, which certainly wasn't at fault (opening in New York, on the other hand, did major damage, as did Eugene Lee's ugly, ugly set). The show as it is now, without the high school bookends (which were fine, and perfectly serviceable) is nothing more than a lengthy cautionary tale with no closure.

[Charley Kringas Inc]

Posted: 9/18/11 at 5:32pm

Whoops, double post. Updated On: 9/18/11 at 05:32 PM

[sondheimfan2]

Posted: 9/18/11 at 8:33pm

Help! Where are the clips from MERRILY? I can't believe they have surfaced!

[Charley Kringas Inc]

Posted: 9/18/11 at 8:57pm

Towards the bottom of the previous page. Updated On: 9/18/11 at 08:57 PM

[sondheimfan2]

Posted: 9/18/11 at 9:13pm

Thank you SO MUCH for posting these. I have been obsessed with this show since its premiere. WOW!

[PalJoey]

Posted: 10/2/11 at 6:02pm

Bumped for a newbie/lurker who would never find the Search function.

[Charley Kringas Inc]

Posted: 10/10/11 at 4:02am

Darling! (Preview Audio) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hDDWHvypZw

[PalJoey]

Posted: 10/29/11 at 12:24pm

Bump for for a 17-year-old kid from Long Island and a 15-year-old kid from the Bronx, who saw it in September 1971 and saw it again last night.

[charlesjguiteau]

Posted: 10/29/11 at 12:35pm

And, PJ? What was the experience for those teenagers like this time around? You've got us all involved now. :)