Follies Entr'acte — Page 2

PalJoey, I am moved by your comments. I saw the Kennedy Center Follies ten times. Four times in NY and six times in LA. I simply adore it. But I brought people to it who didn't enjoy it, which seems CRAZY to me! How could you not love a show with THAT version of Who's That Woman in it??

But yes, I understand what you're saying. The show is filled with brilliant music, and the KC production had brilliant performers, but it doesn't quite hang together. There are great emotional moments, but the show as a whole did not have emotional resonance.

BTW the first night I saw Vicki Clark she was just ok. By the last time I saw her, she was brilliant and she made Ron Raines better too.

lovebwy, as wonderful as the Kennedy Center rendition of "Who's That Woman?" was, it couldn't hold a candle to Michael Bennett's original. Think all the brilliance of A CHORUS LINE crammed into a 5-minute number. (Alas, the You Tube clip doesn't do it justice.) FOLLIES in 1971 was like being transported to some new theatrical realm where the rules of theatrical imitation were entirely transcended.

Someone in a Tree has the right idea: the original production of FOLLIES had so many moments that left a viewer astonished with pleasure, it ultimately seemed greater than other shows with tighter constructions.

Updated On: 5/11/13 at 08:18 PM

lovebwy, I didn't mean to piss on the recent revival. I absolutely loved it and "Who's That Woman?" was a true show-stopper.

But the same number when I saw the original stopped the show several times! When the number ended (1), when Mary McCarty dropped her arms (2), when she turned around to face the audience (3) and, finally, when she spoke her first line after the number (4).

Of course the original had the advantage of surprise: none of us knew how far Bennett could or would take the "mirror" metaphor.

(I've lived in the greater LA area for 27 years and have heard all sorts of odd reactions from people who first saw FOLLIES in the abortive national tour. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because the Schubert Theater in LA (where the show played) was a barn of a theater. Or maybe seeing the show at the Winter Garden in NY was special because the theater itself dated from the time period of the show's "ghosts".

(I saw the show shortly after it opened and shortly before it closed (annual high school trips to NYC). In all honesty, I didn't think it was as spectacular the second time. I've heard that cuts were made to the ensemble, or many it's just that I wasn't surprised the second time. But I honestly don't know what the show was like by the time it reached LA; I DO know a lot of people didn't care for it there.)

Updated On: 5/11/13 at 10:07 PM