"Follies in Concert" Comments

I LOVE "Follies" and one of my favorite songs is "Waiting for the Girls Upstairs".

However, in the recording Lee Remick, who is a good Phyllis, sings her opening line "Waiting around for the boys below, stalling as long as we DARE", do you just hate how she is flat on DARE??????
Everytime I listen to it, I think it will be different.

Also, don't you wish that Sondheim had given a "no go" to the solo version of "Buddy's Blues"?

And (on a side note) I had a "Follies" Dream last night and Jane Fonda was Phyllis.

I kinda like the solo Buddy's Blues--makes alot of sense and is a challenge for the actor.

Hey, he didn't pick Lee cause she can SANG. For me, it was more of the way she pronounces DARE. Like "day-er"

Phyllis Newman does it for me...

I really like the solo Buddy, personally.

I love Follies in concert, but I love the NJ cast recording the most, mostly because of its completeness.

It's not my favorite recording, although it was the very first Follies recording I ever bought.

Same here, Phyl!

At the end of the day.. I have to go with OBC cast recording. I know it is flawed.. but who else can touch Dorothy Collins and Alexis Smith?

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I wasn't thrilled with Carol Burnett's "I'm Still Here". It bugs me that she tried to do a comic bit with:

I've been through Herbert and J. Edgar Hoo-WOO-ver

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Thanks for all the replies!!!!!!
Here are some thoughts:
lildogs- I never thought of looking at "Buddy's Blues" that way. I kinda like that was of thinking!

Gothampc- I've also not been fond of the way Burnett sing Hoover! I also hate the way she sings "....vamp, then someone's mother, then you're KEAMP". I HATE IT!!!!!!

I hate how they truncated the Overture.

Mandy Patinkin's "Buddy's Blues" is just a vanity project, so misconceived and over the top. The best renditions of that song that I've listened to are by Gene Nelson and Larry Blyden who performed the song at a Sondheim concert accompanied by none other than Chita Rivera and Donna McKechnie. Michael McGrath was wonderful though, and his ladies were really funny actually.
Cook's Sally is beautifully sung and I of course love Stritch singing "Broadway Baby." I also really like the young ones (Liz Callaway, Daisy Prince, Jim Walton, and Howard McGillin--who I hope to see as Ben one day).
It does feature my favorite legally recorded version of "The Story of Lucy and Jessie" simply because of the way it ends with the "Lucy's a lassie" verse sung at a quicker tempo. Apparently this is the way Murphy wanted to sing it at Encores! but Sondheim would not allow it.
Patinkin said that Lee Remick couldn't sing and perhaps he is somewhat right, but I think she works as Phyllis.

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Updated On: 4/27/08 at 08:48 PM

It's on of my favorite DVDs, flaws and all. Gems like Comden & Green doing Rain on the Roof. Stritch still manages to steal the show from such a star studded cast. Phyllis Newman is great on Who's That Woman (the mirror song).

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Ray- I know you know this, but its not "Michael McGillin," but Howard McGillin :)

I really don't like this concert. While Comden and Green, Stritch, Newman, and the young couples are thrilling, the rest of the performers don't do it for me. Cook is the only lead that I can listen to.

I think I have logged more play on Rain on the Roof than any other track from that CD, if that means anything.

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I posted a piece of the original cast. Go now, before it's deleted.

The moment at 3:49 when the ghosts are revealed is the magic of Michael Bennett--and then at 5:04 when the ghosts break through! That's an orgasmic coup de theatre.

At 5:35, the audience starts to spontaneously applaud--from the sheer magic.

Who's That Woman

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Updated On: 4/27/08 at 10:34 PM