I'm Obsessed With This FOLLIES Poster On eBay

Triton is selling this poster of the show from a 1973 Summer Stock production and I don't know why, but I'm obsessed with it. I wish to God I could buy it but with Christmas so soon, I need to save m'pennies. But I hope this finds a good home because it's just so cool!




eBay Link

I just Googled around for a cast list and found this program, signed by all the principal players. Very cool!

I still want to know who played what. That's a great cast!


Signed program for sale

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You may also find some information about the tour at the link below. I believe Julie Wilson played Carlotta when the production was at the Mill Run Playhouse in Niles, Illinois.
Follies Stock Tour

We were excited to see it--to see Vivian Blaine (who was less than exciting) and Selma Diamond (ditto) and Jane Kean (who was certainly NO Dorothy Collins).

The Michael Bennett staging was re-done by Steven Boockvor and Jayne Turner, both of whom had danced for Michael in the original production, but it had none of the trappings and mystery of the original.

We left, profoundly depressed, because we knew that Follies WOULD NEVER, EVER, EVER BE GOOD AGAIN.

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Updated On: 10/30/13 at 06:53 PM

I never tire of Pal Joey FOLLIES stories!

Floating heads on posters- yuch. Selma Diamond was a chain smoker- did they let her smoke in this production?

Ah, the scent of herbal cigarettes wafting over the footlights...

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We walked in assuming the Follies magic would unfold all over again. It hadn't occurred to either one of us that there could even BE a Follies that would not enrapture us.

But we walked in and it was not the same set. And the atmosphere was not as eerie. And then the ghosts started to enter. And they weren't as tall, and there weren't as many, and the music sounded different.

And then Jane Kean ran out. Jane Kean from the Honeymooners! But she wasn't as warm and she wasn't as luscious as Dorothy Collins. And then Vivian Blaine entered with Robert Alda (they were both in Guys and Dolls!)...but she wasn't as sharp or as stunning as Alexis Smith and he was...well, boring.

And then the show unfolded, but it wasn't the same--and, ugh, that awful intermission! Arlene and I could barely look at each during the intermission. How could our Follies be so...mediocre?

And as we drove back to the city in Arlene's Volkswagen, we realized that what we had seen at the Winter Garden would never be re-created. Ever.

The ladies old enough to have performed in the Weisman Follies would soon be dead, producers would stop spending money on such lavish productions...

Any Follies ever mounted would be nothing more than a pale imitation of the Follies that we saw, the Follies we had loved, despite its faults, despite its excesses...because of its faults, because of its excesses.

It hadn't dawned on us, until we saw Follies at the Westchester County Payhouse, that the very idea of the show--that the past is at once gone forever and never gone--would actually be true about the show itself. It was gone forever but it would haunt us until the days we died.

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Updated On: 10/31/13 at 10:37 PM

I just love Follies - one of my favorites. I saw the original production in Boston prior to its Broadway run, so didn't get to see Yvonne deCarlo perform the showstopper "I'm Still Here" - she did a lesser number called "Could That Boy Fox Trot". But what a show - everyone excellent - especially loved Alexis, of course, but Dorothy Collins and Gene Nelson too but then enjoyed the whole cast so much it feels wrong to single out individuals.
I did see a production in Long Beach, Ca years ago that, while maybe not as stunning as the original, was still a good production. The cast included Juliet Prowse as Phyllis, Shani Wallis as Sally also Dorothy Lamour, Yma Sumac, Denice Darcel, Karen Morrow, Billy Barnes among others in the cast. The production went all out and looked beautiful.

First off, buy the damn poster. It is why God has given you a credit card. Don't postpone happiness.

Second, that production was ghastly. Don Liberto and Mary Small were the only ones in that list who came off well. Jayne (who I later knew) and Steve who danced the Bolero were wonderful, but the rest of the production just laid an egg. The audience thought they were going to see a revue and instead saw this serious disillusioned musical. Believe everything you read about this production. Awful.

This was also the only tour the show has done. It played almost a year doing one week stands from Westchester to Sacramento. I saw it at Valley Forge Music Fair in the round.

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The poster sold! I hope Jordan receives it as a Christmas present this year.

I recently purchased this photo on eBay. I think I might have some more items from this FOLLIES. Let me know if you want to see them.

Here's a photo of Vivian Blaine and Robert Alda in character (and costume) for FOLLIES.