FOLLIES questions — Page 4

You mean to say like Loveland really found the 4 of them and they were actually present in that place, in that time? I just find it hard to be a realistic show that I don't want to see it as really happening because I know it can't happen. Then again, who gathers around to entertain a crowd and winds up taking center stage to announce that they are still here? I guess the more I think of it, the show is just as out there as any other musical and to accept Loveland as really happening.

I think it will remain up to the viewer on how to take it. Certainly odd, just as strange as Dorothy landing in Oz, except at the end we find out it was a dream right? Here we have no resolution of the truth or the reality of the events. Oh well, who can deny that whether it was meant to be understood or not, the point comes across in an oh so trippy wonderland.

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I've always thought the Loveland sequence was just a way in which the characters themselves projected their frustration, so I guess in a way I do agree that it all happens in their minds but I'm not sure I see it as a "mass hallucination" because except for the Folly of Youth, the four characters do not share a follies together (even when Buddy talks about Margie and Sally, we get some sort of fantasized images of both in the chorus girls).
I think in Loveland we get a projection of how time has ultimately made these characters very lonely. They start singing together in group in their youth, and then each of them has a solo that is very self-reflective and yet they're not able to voice this out to one another, only to the faceless audience (the audience is acknowledged throughout the follies, Buddy starts with "hello, folks" and Phyllis sings "I could tell you someone who could finally feel just fine).
It's hard for me to picture the Loveland as being real but the theatre is indeed haunted by ghosts, so why can't the ghosts take over and place the four characters into a plane where they can come to terms with what they've become and who they are?

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I like the last paragraphs Kringas and Ray have both written, particularly the last sentences. Brings a very mysterious touch to the party and how I think about the ghosts.

I think what makes the Loveland sequence so particularly unique in the show for me is that when the Ghosts are there to be seen, they occupy the same space and take part in the events, like dancing in Who's That Woman. Once the main 4 set themselves apart from the rest of the party though is when things become questionable. I never really thought of the theater being haunted, just that the audience is seeing the memories of the past taking shape alongside their older counterparts in present state. Allows us to touch base with the past. True I refer to them as Ghosts, but as much as I refer to them as Memories. I think that although we see them taking a physical presence, they really aren't there except for theatrical purposes for the audience. I don't find them meant to be anything more or as ghosts in the world of Follies

Once Loveland comes along, it really isn't about the past anymore but about the current state of these peoples affairs. I find Losing My Mind to be the simplest spotlight because it only involves Sally revealing a piece of her psyche to the audience, whether literally acted out or not. I think Phyllis and Ben have the hardest to explain because they feature a full ensemble. Are they there or not? Imagined or spectral? Physical halucinations or other? I really can't say except that if I had to explain how I see them, I take it as a mental representation presented in a special way to the audience to fill them in on a grand folly.

After all, what better way to connect the old time follies than to express their optical moments through an experience of a real life folly.

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Well I suppose I failed to address the Young 4. See, when Heidi performs her bit, I really don't see her as physically appearing in their world because of course, even in Who's That Woman, they barely get the acknowledgement or special treatment of the Young 4.

I guess I never really gave actual thought to it, but to me they are entirely different entities. They invoke and participate in the action, sometimes reflecting or re-enacting the past to help the audience. Although I take them as tools for the audience, I also consider them a realistic portion of the production, more than the other ghosts of the older figures. Since the big 4 are the main focus, I consider their younger counterparts to be heavily engaged in the story and manifest themselves somehow in the real life action. That I can't explain :-p haha, some things confuse me more than others! I can never get a fully explainable theory going on so I just don't concentrate on it and allow my mind to register it however!

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However, I luckily have more patience than to just deem it as crap because I can't say with confidence that I understand the whole 100% of it. I don't really know if it can be explained thoroughly enough that would satisfy every aspect with consistency and a plausible analysis. If anyone else is still reading and would care to share their personal viewpoint on the matter...

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Updated On: 3/22/07 at 12:45 PM

"One more kiss to melt the heart,
One more glimpse of the past.
One more souvenir of bliss,
Knowing well that this
One must be the last."

Happy birthday, FOLLIES!

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I miss C is for Company

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I miss him thrice. I have a feeling that he is listening to the Follies soundboard at this very moment, assured that Ben and all of you know the way he feels.

But let us please return to the splendor of Follies and my daddy Roscoe's legacy. Anybody have any questions they've thought of lately? If not, it's still good to revisit some of these great posts and see some familiar faces

This is one of the best threads I have ever read on BWW, so I am bumping it.

More Follies love/ thoughts?

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Cleo Laine - LOSING MY MIND

It happens fairly early in a realistic sense, about less than 5 minutes after they meet up so it must be something that would get that kind of priority in a conversation. Perhaps something she would know about Ben passed under a guise or curious innocence? The creators probably wanted a reason to get them offstage and it wasn't something important or something that there really is an answer to, but such an exchange, although forgotten by the audience as the next point of interest comes onstage, is definitely a subject that would be dwelled upon years later by rabid fans!

I like to think that she doesn't even have a clue about how he pulls himself away from her. Perhaps his not remembering her or discarding her rather quickly has something to do with a past incident when she was young. Maybe she was crazy then!