FOLLIES at Carnegie Hall- Page 8
FOLLIES at Carnegie Hall
#175FOLLIES at Carnegie Hall
Posted: 6/25/24 at 5:15pm
SonofRobbieJ said: "joevitus said: "wiggum2 said: "I found my book and the Michael Bennet info
https://ibb.co/bzzLgFC"
Bennet says one thing, Sondheim another. Choose whomever you trust."
I need to go dig through my books to see what I (and you, joevitus) are thinking of. I wonder if it's in Everything Was Possible. I would (probably) trust Ted Chapin to be the ref on this."
You can find both views expressed in Sondheim and Co. Sondheim said he preferred Uptown/Downtown but Michael Bennet insisted on a new song for that spot to start fresh (and asked for a new song to replace "Bring on the Girls," leading to "Beautiful Girls," for the same reason). Bennet said he preferred Uptown/Downton and never knew why Sondheim replaced it, and that the song switch rendered the choreography meaningless. I guess Bennett repeated that comment elsewhere, or other biographers picked it up from Sondheim and Co. Sondheim, for his part, repeated the story on both the liner notes for the Paper Mill Playhouse cast recording of Follies and in his collection of lyrics Finishing the Hat that Bennett insisted on the song change to start fresh.
#176FOLLIES at Carnegie Hall
Posted: 6/25/24 at 5:21pm
RE: Kelli lacking charisma, I know what you mean and I used to kind of write her off as 'boring' because I am used to and enjoy big personality stars (i.e. Bernadette, Patti etc.) but I recognise now that Kelli is a different kind of star - really focused on the nuance of the singing and acting in the role. I don't feel like I want to see Kelli in 'Hello, Dolly' for example, but I think she would take Sally on the right journey of pathos......I still remember going back to my hotel room after seeing Kelli in Bridges and I had this stirring feeling inside of me that I had just seen something very special. A lot of that I think was Kelli's performance (in addition to the score and her co-star of course too).
"You can't overrate Bernadette Peters. She is such a genius. There's a moment in "Too Many Mornings" and Bernadette doing 'I wore green the last time' - It's a voice that is just already given up - it is so sorrowful. Tragic. You can see from that moment the show is going to be headed into such dark territory and it hinges on this tiny throwaway moment of the voice." - Ben Brantley (2022)
"Bernadette's whole, stunning performance [as Rose in Gypsy] galvanized the actors capable of letting loose with her. Bernadette's Rose did take its rightful place, but too late, and unseen by too many who should have seen it" Arthur Laurents (2009)
"Sondheim's own favorite star performances? [Bernadette] Peters in ''Sunday in the Park,'' Lansbury in ''Sweeney Todd'' and ''obviously, Ethel was thrilling in 'Gypsy.'' Nytimes, 2000
#177FOLLIES at Carnegie Hall
Posted: 6/25/24 at 5:34pm
joevitus said: "SonofRobbieJ said: "joevitus said: "wiggum2 said: "I found my book and the Michael Bennet info
https://ibb.co/bzzLgFC"
Bennet says one thing, Sondheim another. Choose whomever you trust."
I need to go dig through my books to see what I (and you, joevitus) are thinking of. I wonder if it's in Everything Was Possible. I would (probably) trust Ted Chapin to be the ref on this."
You can find both views expressed in Sondheim and Co. Sondheim said he preferred Uptown/Downtown but Michael Bennet insisted on a new song for that spot to start fresh (and asked for a new song to replace "Bring on the Girls," leading to "Beautiful Girls," for the same reason). Bennet said he preferred Uptown/Downton and never knew why Sondheim replaced it, and that the song switchrendered the choreography meaningless. I guess Bennett repeated that comment elsewhere, or other biographers picked it up from Sondheim and Co. Sondheim, for his part, repeated the story on both the liner notes for the Paper Mill Playhouse cast recording of Follies and in his collection of lyrics Finishing the Hat that Bennett insisted on the song change to start fresh."
Bless you for this. I lost my copy of Sondheim & Co...decades ago at this point. I'm putting my husband, the book nerd, on the case.
MezzA101
Broadway Star Joined: 3/29/23
#178FOLLIES at Carnegie Hall
Posted: 6/25/24 at 8:24pm
Broadway, Baby! Go Inside the All-Star Concert of Sondheim's Follies Made for the Super Fans | Playbill
https://playbill.com/article/broadway-baby-go-inside-the-all-star-concert-of-sondheims-follies-made-for-the-super-fans
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