Glenn Close

I loved Glenn Close in A DELICATE BALANCE. It was a different color on her that I found mesmerizing.

What's next for her? She'd be sensational in the FOLLIES movie. Either Phyllis or Sally.

The video clips I have seen of SUNSET BOULEVARD with Close are riveting!

"She'd be sensational in the FOLLIES movie. Either Phyllis or Sally."

I don't think she has the innocence to play Sally. That was one of her problems when she did South Pacific. She doesn't "read" as naive or innocent. Her "Losing My Mind" would be too calculated.

I guess I'm the only non-fan. Her performances of late have two speeds: sedate and manic. I would rather see Harvey Fierstein play Mary Tyrone than Glenn Close.

At 68, she's really neither a Sally nor a Phyllis. I'm usually loathe to use a real age against any performer, but in this case, Close's patrician grande dame-ness wouldn't serve the material. (Vanessa Williams is still an untapped Phyllis in my book.) You really have to be able to cut loose in "Lucy and Jesse," and sensibilities as much as age would make Close an unlikely candidate. To me, she was effortlessly a silent screen star, but just doesn't suggest a former show girl. Others may disagree. I never understand why actors in the their late 60s are so readily considered for the FOLLIES women or Desiree in NIGHT MUSIC. It's encouraging to think that many consider the boundaries of middle age to have broadened; yet these roles are for women who can play 45-55, no? It's harder to make the case with someone a decade older, even a charismatic star who can pass for 60. There is one wonderful exception, Bernadette Peters, who managed to play Sally. But she is the exception. And if we had a show of hands here, about half would voice disappointment with that performance. Actors are ageless. But only to a point.

Auggie, you know how often I agree with you, but I would find an African-American Phyllis perplexing, even if played by a lady as glamorous as Vanessa Williams.

There are numerous references to the idea that Ben married Phyllis because she was better suited to his social climbing than Sally. Even Young Phyllis acknowledges as much: "Oh, I know I'm not much now, Ben..." but I can learn, even if it means walking every museum in town until my feet bleed. Etc. and so forth.

It's hard for me to understand how marrying a black woman in the 1940s (an act that would have been illegal in many, if not most states) would have aided Ben in his determination to rise socially.

Of course, by the end we learn that Ben probably married Phyllis because she was the one he really loved (Sally is merely the one with whom he feels most comfortable), but that doesn't change the lie he has been telling himself for 30 years. That lie doesn't make much sense if he does something "radical" like marry outside his race.

In all other aspects, I agree that Williams could make a sensational Phyllis. But this is one of those cases where race matters. Of course one might also cast a black Ben. I'd have to think about that one, but it would certainly make Ben very sympathetic!

Gaveston: Our discussion about the Williams Phyllis fascinates me, because you bring up many era-specific points about what the libretto references that I haven't considered. One could also argue: would the Weissman Follies have had an African-American showgirl? Black specialty acts, yes (one revival used Jane White as Solange, unless my memory is gone). Look how long it took for Radio City to cast Rockettes with women of color. So I take your point. I think for it to work, it would have to be played the way the S. Epatha Merkerson Lola was played in SHEBA, almost with a complete color-blind understanding. (I loved Merkerson, but one could argue that Doc and Lola wouldn't have gone to the same high school in the midwest in 1950, let alone dated and married, even if it was a pregnancy-related marriage; yet the production worked anyway, quite beautifully.) Jane White played the Queen in ONCE UPON A MATTRESS, her race not a factor. To a bigger point perhaps: I think it's always bothered me that people of color don't turn up in principle roles in FOLLIES, and maybe because Williams is such a temperamentally ideal Phyllis (and did one of her numbers in the Sondheim show), she keeps coming up in my mind.

(I can't believe I forgot about Terri White as Stella; I saw that production 3 times, once in DC, twice on B'way. And as I did recall and see,: yes, White as Solange in 2001. The quartet of protagonists have not been people of color, no?)