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

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.

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

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And Shirley Temple, with class, no sass.

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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.

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

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).

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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