Follies question

[mattrob]

Posted: 11/13/06 at 5:25pm

I have a great love for the score of Follies but, since I've never seen the show, I'm having a problem understanding the book. Is Buddy still having an affair Margie or is it over and in the past? I'm kind of confused. Please help

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 11/13/06 at 5:28pm

I think that affair is over, but it is a major point of why there Marriage is such a mess, and that is why it is Buddy's "FOLLEY"

[nobodyhome]

Posted: 11/13/06 at 5:34pm

Oh, I think the affair is still going on. That's what "The Right Girl" is about, and at the end of the song he believes that he's going to leave Sally for Margie.

Also, his whole speech to Sally about Margie is in the present tense. Not definitive, but indicative perhaps.

Of course, by the end of the show, it may be that he won't be seeing Margie again.
Updated On: 11/13/06 at 05:34 PM

[Kringas]

Posted: 11/13/06 at 5:37pm

That's what "The Right Girl" is about, and at the end of the song he believes that he's going to leave Sally for Margie.

I disagree about him deciding to leave her at the end of the song. At the end of the song he's accepted that, regardless of her flaws and what's she put him through, he still loves Sally, who is not "the right girl."

[virgil blessing2]

Posted: 11/13/06 at 5:40pm

Buddy is sleeping with Margie, who is in love with him.

Buddy, however, is in love with Sally, his wife, who does not love him.

[nobodyhome]

Posted: 11/13/06 at 6:33pm

I agree that he still loves her at the end of the song, Kringas, but remember his monologue after the song, in which he rehearses telling Sally that he's leaving her. It's possible that he'd never say it to her, but at that moment he believes he's going to.

Posted: 12/30/07 at 11:03am

"i float off sometimes....;Ben, its all i think about!!!!"

[me2]

Posted: 12/30/07 at 1:58pm

FYI, the published libretto from the revival is available.
Broadway Documentaries: Feature Film Bonus Feature Bonanzas

[broadwayhoney]

Posted: 12/30/07 at 3:43pm

I've done the show twice in regional theatre. I usually don't try to give my interpretations of shows to anyone because I truly believe that every story is interpreted differently by the observer and that's what makes it personal for each of us. So I'm just offering this as a reflection. It was actually fun to think about it a bit and figure out what I think is the subtext for Buddy. The way I see it, the problem with Buddy and Sally's marriage is that Sally is "not there." She's always thought she should be with Ben....and Buddy feels that,even though it's unspoken.
The song Buddy's Folly as I look at it is a reflection of Buddy's past and his search for the right girl. Margie is probably more than one girl (a name he uses for all of them) that he's met on his travels as a salesman. Each time he gets involved with a woman while away, he thinks that his life will change and he'll leave Sally....but he can't.....basically because he loves her even though she is lost in her own dreamworld of her past with Ben.