Follies Broadway return for summer season ?

Acccording to a friend I have in the production, there are rumours that producers are being contacted to bring the show back to Broadway for a limited season from End of June to September. They are enthused that if they take home some Tomys and with Victoria Clark it could have an audience to fill up the theatres for a few months....

Updated On: 5/18/12 at 07:14 AM

I think it will win best revival and has a great shot at best actor for Danny Burstein. (Something tells me he has a better chance than the predictions indicate. He's a highly respected veteran turning in a brilliant performance.)

I would be very, very happy indeed if this were to return. (And think it could be feasible. There will be plenty of open theaters.)

I'd love the chance to see Clark do that role in a full production, so I'd be excited. However, I don't really see it being a box office bonanza, even if it wins the Best Revival Tony like I assume it will.

Updated On: 5/18/12 at 08:29 AM

That would be oh so lovely.

I'd love for this to happen if only for the possibility that they might do a "Brooke Shields" and substitute Clark's vocals for Peters'. An EP would be great and could be packaged with the full cast recording as a "special edition". They could have Clark do "Losing My Mind" on one of the talk shows to promote it. Or perhaps "Too Many Mornings" would be a more likely choice, considering Raines' TV name status.

Actually, were there any TV performances of Follies numbers for this production? I can only recall Bernadette Peters singing a snippet of "In Buddy's Eyes" on The View. Compare that to "Anything Goes", which had both of Reno's showstoppers featured on the talk shows. If the producers are up for a return engagement, they should do something similar (I vote for "Who's That Woman?").

If they announced this before the Tonys, would it help their chances?

Here we go again. OK, say it wins the Tony for Best Musical Revival and Danny Burstein wins for Best Actor in a Musical. They bring it back. Guess what? Follies' business was dropping off towards the end of its run in January and Danny Burstein doesn't have the kind of name recognition that attracts the tourist trade, fine performer though he may be. Once the Sondheim fanatics have had their fill, business will drop and a whole bunch of money will have been lost. I have nothing against Victoria Clark but, again, she's not a "name" and her presence would have little, if any, effect on box office receipts.

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They would really be missing the boat if they didn't bring in Ivy Lynn and Karen Cartwright to play young Phyllis and young Sally.

I can't even give this much thought. I'll get too excited.

Your all delusional.......

It would be great to see a Sally who can actually act and sing the role properly. No offense but Bernie totally butchered the role of Sally. To quote my mom, "I have never seen such a poor performance on Broadway". Would love to see Victoria's performance.

Updated On: 5/18/12 at 12:08 PM

They would be very smart to announce (or to have announced) this before the Tony voting, because voters do like to give awards to running shows to support running productions, boost sales, etc.

I think it still currently stands a great chance to win Revival; it's won the Outer Critics and Drama League already (for what they're worth...)

I think an announcement for a summer run would aid the actors; Burstein still seems in contention, but it looks like McDonald is pulling in front of Maxwell with each precursor.