FOLLIES to return next season to RNT; cast recording in the works

I still can't forgive them for lowering the keys for Staunton.

BroadwayConcierge said: "Broadway's nextFolliesrevival shouldn't be until Laura Benanti and Kelli O'Hara are old enough."

Thank you.

BroadwayConcierge said: "Broadway's nextFolliesrevival shouldn't be until Laura Benanti and Kelli O'Hara are old enough."

Kelli is a requirement. She might be the only person alive who can do the role true justice.

I’ll take Laura or Sutton for Phyllis.

I'd rather have a LCT Broadway revival directed by Bartlett Sher with choreography by Christopher Wheeldon; plus either Kelli O'Hara or Kristin Chenoweth can play Sally while Laura Benanti could be the perfect Phyllis.

BrodyFosse123 said: "Laura and Kelli could play these roles now.

Sally is 49 in FOLLIES.

Benantiis 39 and O'Hara is 42."

Yes, I know how old the women are. And by suggesting that they are not too young to play the parts now, I am not meaning to demean them for being the age they are. Many women have very successfully played those roles, including Dorothy Colilns is in the original production who were younger than the characters’ actual ages.

One certainly would not have to wait 10 more years for them to pull it off believably. O’Hara and Benanti are both already looking back on twenty year careers in show business.

If anything, I would argue that these roles, including in the national theater production are usually cast by women a decade or more too old to play the characters’script ages.

Updated On: 1/31/18 at 08:21 AM

49 has always meant 'in the shade of 1/2 a century old.' In other words, too late for most people to succeed at a failed dream. That's all that matters in FOLLIES. The women are twenty something years away from being chorus cuties and in a place where its doubtful that life is going to change for the better. Casting a 60 year old Sally doesn't, in my opinion, give the story or character more validity to a current audience.

Updated On: 1/31/18 at 12:59 PM

I agree re Ivey, I thought she did a perfectly fine job with the vocals in the 2001 revival, much better than Staunton. Don't know why she (Ivey) gets such a bad rap as Sally - she did everything in the original keys, and she has quite a lovely voice. Surprisingly lovely for such a 'straight' actress - I've seen bootlegs of the show and I really love her performance in the role.