Jayne Houdyshell & More Join FOLLIES Broadway Cast

[Rob]

Posted: 7/6/11 at 3:17pm

Click Here to Read Jayne Houdyshell & More Join FOLLIES Broadway Cast

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 7/6/11 at 3:29pm

Mary Beth Piel!!! I LOVE that Grams is coming back to Broadway!

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 7/6/11 at 3:29pm

Mary Beth Piel and Jayne seem odd choices. Jayne seems too young for Hattie. How well does she sing?

I love MBP, but she seems pretty operatic for Solange, no? I'm sure she'll be fine and certainly better than Regine!

[aasjb4ever]

Posted: 7/6/11 at 3:40pm

I'm still sad that Linda Lavin isn't doing this OR Other Desert Cities. Hmph.
But I love Mary Beth Peil and I'm so psyched to see her again in the show!

[broadwaybabytn]

Posted: 7/6/11 at 3:51pm

I know! I guess Lavin is more interested in being in something good once than being on Broadway and winning awards. As a 70 year old woman, she probably thinks The Lyons will be more artistically rewarding than recreating her previous performances in Follies or Other Desert Cities. But Houdyshell is acceptable and Peil is genius casting!

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 7/6/11 at 4:27pm

If Jayne can sing it she'll be terrific and Piel should be fun as Solange (is there a French connection I'm missing)?
Lavin will not be missed by the audience or company.
Why don't they just hire Harvey Evans as Whitman and be on with it!
Updated On: 7/7/11 at 04:27 PM

[perfectlymarvelous]

Posted: 7/6/11 at 4:34pm

I don't know if it was announced before this but YAY for Rosalind Elias staying with the production, "One More Kiss" was so haunting.

Also Mary Beth Peil is genius casting, and Houdyshell I'll take too.

[wickedfan]

Posted: 7/6/11 at 5:11pm

I LOVE the casting of Houdyshell. She's so spunky and perfect for that part. I can't wait to see what she does with her number.

[LoveDemBroadwayShows2]

Posted: 7/6/11 at 5:39pm

Curtainpuller... you are so right. Evans would be a perfect bit of casting, even if it hints at stunt casting. The man was in the original production, has done the adult role and it would be so perfect for him to do this. We know he has the dancing and singing chops for it.

I think Houdyshell is perfect physically for Hattie and hope she can sell the number. She was fine in 'The Importance of Being Earnest'. I would love to see MBP as Solange after the disaster that was Regine (she La-La-La'd through three complete lines of Ah, Paree in Washington but, having spent the money to go from Kansas City to Wash. DC just to see it at the KC, my budget is blown.
Updated On: 7/6/11 at 05:39 PM

[ljay889]

Posted: 7/6/11 at 6:31pm

The best part of this news is that we'll likely get the ending montage back, as Houdyshell isn't a name like Lavin.

Peil should be interesting. She doesn't seem like a natural for the role, but she's a very talented lady.

Looks like Peters and Paige will have to sell this transfer all by themselves!

[binau]

Posted: 7/6/11 at 6:35pm

Did they have the montage ending for the Encores! production?

[ljay889]

Posted: 7/6/11 at 6:40pm

Papermill and Encores! used it. Rounadabout and Kennedy Center did not.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 7/6/11 at 7:18pm

The montage ending is so good, I hope they bring it back but we'll see. Houdyshell seems like an odd choice to me, but not a bad one, just kind of unexpected and not my first choice, but it definitely works. Peil should be great, and it's nice to see her getting work in top-notch revivals (NINE, SUNDAY IN THE PARK, now this).

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 7/6/11 at 11:29pm

Houdyshell and Peil are both going to be fantastic.

The solo ending for "Broadway Baby" is almost definitely staying in. It was as much a stylistic choice by Eric Schaefer as it was a nod to Linda Lavin's star status.

[ljay889]

Posted: 7/6/11 at 11:33pm

Well that's a shame. The entire sequence needs to be restaged. The ghost counterparts need to be used. I really hope Schaeffer makes the appropriate changes throughout. Mainly act 1. There's lots of room for improvement. Updated On: 7/6/11 at 11:33 PM

[ABB2357]

Posted: 7/6/11 at 11:44pm

Good news all around. True, there's a good deal of room for improvement in this production, but Rosalind Elias doesn't fit into that category. Very glad to see she's continuing with it. Regine, however, is another story.

[bwayfan7000]

Posted: 7/7/11 at 12:31am

I'm glad I got to see Lavin do the role (I thought her Broadway Baby was great) but I'm sure Jayne will be great as well. I'm happy for a Solange competent enough to get through Ah, Paree with all the lyrics intact, and Peil is a nice surprise.

Meanwhile, I don't think Paige is going to be selling many tickets.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 7/7/11 at 12:46am

It's a shame they will be making very few changes from the Kennedy. The Rain/Paree/Baby montage sets up the flavour of the show by confusing melodies and memories, Mood is so important to this show. And having ghosts of ALL of the performers also adds layers that were missing in DC.
Still keeping fingers crossed for a new LUCY AND JESSIE staging but I have little faith that this choreographer can fix it.

The more I think about Jayne the more perfect she becomes, she has the character to make Hattie memorable, with a new Whitman and a more able Solange the show could get off to a much better start and that can make a great difference to the production.

[aasjb4ever]

Posted: 7/7/11 at 12:49am

^I just hope they nix Lucy and Jessie and replace it with Ah, But Underneath because it's just a better song, and Jan can milk the comedy out of it. IMO.

[ljay889]

Posted: 7/7/11 at 12:54am

Yeah, Jan really needs "Ah, But Underneath."

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 7/7/11 at 1:48am

Jan would do an incredible AH, BUT UNDERNEATH, but I think it's the wrong song for that moment in the show, LUCY... is much more a FOLLIES number, AH... is more clever and knowing.
It's all in staging and casting, if you don't have a Phyliss whose talent was her beauty, body and legs, you have to figure out how to make her the center of that number.
It's the payoff of her character.
It will be interesting to see what Barnes comes up with for Jayne and Peil.

[AC126748]

Posted: 7/7/11 at 9:35am

Not that it matters, but Mary Beth does speak French fluently--one of the many benefits of training as an opera singer. She'll be a wonderful Solange.

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 7/7/11 at 10:41am

"Jan would do an incredible AH, BUT UNDERNEATH, but I think it's the wrong song for that moment in the show, LUCY"

Generally, I agree with this statement. But there's something that Maxwell mined in the role that makes Ah, But Underneath seem like the logical choice. I'm not talking about her dancing ability. I'm talking about her interpretation of the character.

Though, frankly, I'd rather see both songs tossed in favor of Uptown/Downtown...one of my all-time favorite Sondheim songs.

[choitoy]

Posted: 7/7/11 at 8:14pm

I don't know, but I feel like "Lucy" was a better choice than "Ah, But Underneath" for Jan (and I'm not just saying this as a fan who likes "Lucy" more).

I feel like "Lucy" gets more at the duality of the character more, how she struggled with herself to go from "plain Jane" Phyllis to sophisticated and smart Phyllis better.

I always felt that, although "Ah, But Underneath" is a fun song, the final message of the song is that Phyllis spent all these years building up walls and facades to her life, but when you strip everything away, there is nothing left. And to anyone who saw the Kennedy Center production, there is a lot left to Jan's protrayal of Phyllis, and she is actually the strongest and most self assured of the four leads in the end (her "Lucy and Jessie" combined).

I never got around to writing my review of the show on the main "Follies in DC" thread, but I thought that Jan actually didn't do to bad in the dancing for "Lucy and Jessie". I thought that Ron's choreography was actually worse and more distracting during "Live, Laugh, Love".

Anyway, congrats to Jayne and Mary Beth for joining the cast. I'm also hoping for a return to the montage ending (and the ghosts) for their number! And a recording of any sort (cast album or a PBS/DVD release).

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 7/8/11 at 12:44pm

Just out of curiosity (because I'm not sure), but were the ghosts featured in the Montage in the original production? I didn't think they were. Can someone confirm?

I agree with choitoy, that "Ah But Underneath" speaks of a Phyllis that seems at odds with the actual character. But "Lucy and Jessie" WAS problematic in DC. The choreography was uninspired, and Maxwell never looked comfortable at all. I'm not sure what the real solution is.

And I also agree with Robbie that "Uptown, Downtown" is a fabulous song, and the best of the three that were written as her follies number.