FOLLIES- National Theatre Live- Page 4

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 11/29/17 at 6:43pm

I think you mean Dee for Phyllis, not Bennett. She played Carlotta.

Yes!

[MadonnaMusical]

Posted: 12/1/17 at 9:50am

rattleNwoolypenguin said: "See, I have always felt that when Sally was played sweeter, her knee jerk expectation for Ben to marry her after "Too Many Mornings" didn't feel earned. Suddenly, this character is acting irrationally for the plot. Imelda's portrayal makes you feel like that moment is organic to her. It's manic and impulsive the way she has been all evening. Also, to portray her dealing with potentially borderline or manic depressive and have it going untreated adds realism to the time period of the show."

YEP. Agree. 

[MadonnaMusical]

Posted: 12/1/17 at 9:52am

Is there anywhere we can buy the video? Download? DVD? anything? lol

[Dancingthrulife2]

Posted: 12/1/17 at 10:11am

MadonnaMusical said: "Is there anywhere we can buy the video? Download? DVD? anything? lol"

https://www.reddit.com/r/ProshotMusicals/

 

[wewdie]

Posted: 12/1/17 at 12:54pm

Does anyone know the measurements of the National Theatre programmes?

[Dancingthrulife2]

Posted: 12/1/17 at 1:49pm

They come in different sizes for different shows. Not sure about the Follies one though.

[Musicaldudepeter]

Posted: 12/1/17 at 4:11pm

The Follies programme is 21cm x 27.5 cm 

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 12/1/17 at 8:34pm

Hoped we'd be able to see this at screenings in Los Angeles this month-- they're all sold out! Where the hell did they find all those FOLLIES fans out here that beat us to the tickets!?!?

[Valentina3]

Posted: 12/10/17 at 3:56pm

I saw the show today finally. What can I say which hasn't already been said? The very first scene where Sally walks on the stage exclaiming how excited she is broke my heart completely - because I knew how it was going to end for her. The choices made my characters made perfect sense because of strong actors and the brilliant direction. I cannot believe I finally got to see Follies after having been in love with the show for a better part of last 4 years. Now I hope they release a real DVD of this because it's a must have.

[Alessio2]

Posted: 12/10/17 at 4:42pm

Someone in a Tree2 said: "Hoped we'd be able to see this at screenings in Los Angeles this month-- they're all sold out!Where the hell did they find all those FOLLIES fans out here that beat us to the tickets!?!?"

I attended the screening at UCLA yesterday and it definitely wasn't sold out

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 12/10/17 at 7:42pm

MadonnaMusical said: "rattleNwoolypenguin said: "See, I have always felt that when Sally was played sweeter, her knee jerk expectation for Ben to marry her after "Too Many Mornings" didn't feel earned. Suddenly, this character is acting irrationally for the plot. Imelda's portrayal makes you feel like that moment is organic to her. It's manic and impulsive the way she has been all evening. Also, to portray her dealing with potentially borderline or manic depressive and have it going untreated adds realism to the time period of the show."

YEP. Agree."

I'll second that agreement. In the last American revival (which I didn't
see until it played LA with the amazing Victoria Clark), Sally's
declaration that Ben was going to marry her got a huge laugh.
Really, it's not supposed to be funny.

I just came from a screening of the NT production, where there was
nary a twitter when Staunton made the same announcement.

The difference isn't talent--both actresses are enormously talented.
The difference is how the entire show led up to that moment.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 12/10/17 at 7:47pm

Someone in a Tree2 said: "Hoped we'd be able to see this at screenings in Los Angeles this month-- they're all sold out!Where the hell did they find all those FOLLIES fans out here that beat us to the tickets!?!?"

The marketing has been a mess. Today's matinee in Palm Desert was
about 2/3's full, but fewer than half the seats were filled last Thursday
night.

To get tickets, I had to read about the screening here, then track down
a marketing person at the theater and befriend her via email so that
she alerted me as soon as tix went on sale a few weeks before the
showings.

With a little publicity, they could have easily sold out four or five
screenings even here in this valley. The shame of it is the NT
production is the closest in spirit to the original of the half-dozen
productions I've seen over the years.

[binau]

Posted: 12/10/17 at 7:52pm

The laughing was because the audience found it absurd/crazy that after everything that has happened on stage, she actually thought he was going to marry her. It was a nervous laughter at the absurdity of it (rather than a comedic laughter at a witty joke). I don’t see an issue?

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 12/10/17 at 8:04pm

Valentina3 said: "I saw the show today finally. What can I say which hasn't already been said? The very first scene where Sally walks on the stage exclaiming how excited she is broke my heart completely - because I knew how it was going to end for her. The choices made my characters made perfect sense because of strong actors and the brilliant direction. I cannot believe I finally got to see Follies after having been in love with the show for a better part of last 4 years. Now I hope they release a real DVD of this because it's a must have."

I hope so, too. I think the NT production is as close to the OBC as we
are ever apt to see. It's not that every choice is perfect: Phyllis is not
only forced into a mousy blue dress with a silly bow over her tw*t for
most of the evening (she looks great during "Lucy and Jessie", the
"Mirror Number" is a conceptual mess. The latter is quite amazing
clueless in a production that is otherwise strictly attuned to the text,
spoken and sung.

Most importantly, the central four characters AND their ghosts are
played with such specificity and intelligence, one never minds the
lack of a formal plot. One is too involved in the lives of these four
people. That has not been true of any production I have seen since
1971-72.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 12/10/17 at 8:13pm

qolbinau said: "The laughing was because the audience found it absurd/crazy that after everything that has happened on stage, she actually thought he was going to marry her. It was a nervous laughter at the absurdity of it (rather than a comedic laughter at a witty joke). I don’t see an issue?"

The issue is the distance at which we must remain to laugh AT (not
with) Sally in her most tragic moment. The issue is the empathy we
must feel to look on with silent horror at the same declaration.

Don't get me wrong. I paid full price twice to see the Ahmanson
production and there were very special thrills to be had from hearing the
score sung by voices like those of Ron Raines and Victoria Clark.
But in terms of understanding the unusual style of the show and
compelling our attention to the central quartet, the NT production is
far superior.

 

Updated On: 12/10/17 at 08:13 PM

[PepperedShepherd]

Posted: 12/11/17 at 1:34am

GavestonPS said: "Don't get me wrong. I paid full price twice to see the Ahmanson production and there were very special thrills to be had from hearing the score sung by voices like those of Ron Raines and Victoria Clark. But in terms of understanding the unusual style of the show and compelling our attention to the central quartet, the NT production is far superior."

I agree -- with one exception. I liked Ron Raines as Ben much more than I did Philip Quast.  I thought Quast had zero charisma, so it was hard to see how two different women would have such strong feelings for him.  Yes, Sally's feelings were delusional, but Phyllis came off as too strong a person to put up with such a lump.

That said, I thought the other 3 leads were terrific.  From the minute Imelda stepped on the stage, I thought, "Whoa, this is a different take on Sally." But it made perfect sense.  Although I agree with comments above that "Losing My Mind" was a misstep.  It wasn't even in keeping with her performance up to that point, coming across as far too obvious and self-aware.  Was this the director's or the actor's decision -- or some unholy confluence of the two?  (Maybe it played better in the theatre? The broadcast's close-ups were extremely unforgiving.)

I think we all have a "perfect" Follies in our head.  And that is something that will probably never be realized. For a production to get 80% of the way there, however, is something worth applauding.

 

 

 

[JBC3]

Posted: 12/11/17 at 3:04am

"Losing My Mind" played very well on stage where Quast also exuded ample charisma for the role. Updated On: 12/11/17 at 03:04 AM

[little_sally]

Posted: 12/11/17 at 10:02am

Saw this yesterday morning and loved every minute of it. A gorgeous production. And that score!

[Dollypop]

Posted: 12/11/17 at 7:14pm

Our little art cinema in Patchogue shows National Theater productions but a few months later than most. Last week we had the Imelda Staunton VIRGINIA WOOLF. Upcoming is Kevin Kline's CYRANO. I'm sure we'll get FOLLIES eventually and I'll post when. (For our patience, we get either wine and cheese or a bagel brunch during intermission!)

[Valentina3]

Posted: 12/11/17 at 8:38pm

Dollypop said: "For our patience, we get either wine and cheese or a bagel brunch during intermission!"

The show plays without an intermission, Dollypop. Make sure you get them to do something else for you haha :)

And I know what y'all mean about lack of promotion. I kept an eye out directly on NTLive's website on a semi-regular basis and had to travel over 200 miles on Sunday anyway to see it instead of my usual 15 for NTLive shows.

Gavenston - I agree completely with you on Mirror, Mirror being a conceptual mess but I didn't mind Phyllis' dress as much. Could it have been sexier? Sure. But she reminded me of my aunt who's incredibly posh but always elegantly dressed in similarly baggy clothing. The contrast during her Folly-number made it even more fun for me.

Losing My Mind was perfect. Next to Dorothy Collins (and this weird gay ass dream I had with Kristin Chenoweth singing the song to me this one time), I think Imelda's acting was by far the best. I was impressed with some of her singing earlier in the show because of her past performances.

 

Good God I am angry with Hollywood for stealing us of that Debbie Reynolds as Sally movie someone posted earlier about.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 12/11/17 at 9:38pm

Valentina3, they even gave Phyllis a bra that made her tits look like
cottage cheese! (In fact, a lot of the women had ill-fitting bras. And
trust me, it has to be a really bad fit for this gay man to even notice
tits. But Phyllis most of all would know better.) I understand that
Alexis Smith's orange-red (fire-red?) pant suit is almost certainly too
much for today's eye (though it made perfect sense to my eye in
1971), the mousy blue was poor substitute, IMO. To the extent it
distracted me from her performance.

***
I had no problem with Staunton's "Losing My Mind" (well, I wasn't
crazy about her sitting while singing about standing in the middle
of the floor, but they fixed that in the second chorus) and I'm too
lazy to look up the complaints above. But FWIW she DOES sing
(not yell) the high notes at the end, she belts them surprisingly well,
actually.

***
I also wasn't saying the actors at the NT were each better than
their counterparts in the last American revival. (I keep typing
"American" rather than Broadway because I saw it in LA.) I agree
that Ron Raines was more polished. I'd argue that Jan Maxwell
was a better and more complex actor, and I posted at the time that
seeing and hearing Victoria Clark was one of the highlights of my
entire theatergoing life.

I was talking about direction above, not the acting of the four leads.
It's the entire production that compels our focus on and empathy
with the four at the NT. Had the Ahmanson cast appeared in the NT
production, I'm sure that same focus and empathy would have been
achieved.

***
As for the "perfect production" being only in our heads, that just isn't
true for some of us. I saw that perfect version at a Saturday matinee
in May of 1971. The matinee ladies around my group were practically
jumping in their seats with excitement; the woman next to me was
gushing to her friend about seeing Ethel Shutta in the actual Ziegfeld
Follies of 1925!

Once the show began, there were two rounds of entrance applause:
1) when each lady arrived at the party, and 2) when each woman
appeared in her sash during the parade of Weismann girls. (I know
some here hate entrance applause, but it only adds to the whole
"meta" aspect of FOLLIES.)

Then a show unfolded which taught me so many things that musical
theater can do that had never occurred to me. It was far beyond 
anything I could have imagined in my 17-year-old mind.

I saw the original production a second time a year later and the show
was still great, but the audience was rather younger (Saturday night
performance) and the mood wasn't the same.

 

[jetcmh]

Posted: 12/12/17 at 9:31am

I saw the show in Columbus last night and there were 35 or 40 people there. There was no promotion, in fact the only reason I knew about the showing was this website. I took two others who knew nothing about Follies and we all three loved it!

[PepperedShepherd]

Posted: 12/13/17 at 3:15am

GavestonPS said: "As for the "perfect production" being only in our heads, that just isn't
true for some of us. I saw that perfect version at a Saturday matinee in May of 1971. "

Sorry. I should have said that the "perfect production" is only in the heads of those of us who are younger than Methuselah and who never got a chance to see the OBC (which those of you who did can never stop lording over us.)    :)

 

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 12/13/17 at 3:53am

Touché, PepperedShepherd. As I was saying to Methuselah at lunch just the other day, "The small fry really need to stop blaming us because they were lazy and born too late."

[justoldbill]

Posted: 12/13/17 at 9:26am

I don't think any of us who saw and savored the original production are "lording it over" anyone.  We simply knew what we had when we had it, even through the years when the show was in eclipse.  And we're proud of our good fortune and faith in the show.  And to all you "younger than springtime, gayer than laughter" folk out there, I only hope your memories of, say, THE BAND'S VISIT or A BRONX TALE or CURTAINS remain as vivid, vital and loving forty or fifty years from now.  I myself am 66 years old, and, like Captain Brackett, by no means do I consider myself through.