Just saw the Will Rogers Follies...2 questions. — Page 3

I'm in the tour right now, although we're on a brief break while they rebuild our sets after a tragic truck crash. Cast: Larry Gatlin as Will Rogers, Michael Zaller as Will in smaller venues, Amy Decker as Betty Blake (she's amazing), Keleen Snowgren as Z's Favorite. I'm a Follies girl and the Betty 1st cover. It's an amazing cast and we are all so much closer now after this tragedy. The night of the accident we did a performance in Orange, TX without sets which was a very moving experience for the whole company and for the audience. hopefully we'll start up again next week.

WRF was a gorgeous show and its Tonys were well-deserved. Miss Saigon had beautiful music, but terrible lyrics. WRF's score was a tribute to the versatility and the genius of Cy Coleman. As usual, he managed to compose yet another score completely different from his previous scores and stylistically perfect for its setting. Listening to Charity, City of Angels, WRF, and I Love My Wife, it's virtually impossible to tell they are all composed by the same man. And WRF was a visual feast with the mammoth sets, brilliant choreography and hundreds of stunning costumes. The show piled one show-stopping spectacle after another and featured a parade of memorable tunes all featured in a pastische that many of us were not lucky enough to witness the first time around. I long for this show to come back in a production as lush and inventive as the original. I really liked the other three nominees (especially Island), but they just couldn't reach the heights WRF achieved in artistry. It was a brilliant, if mostly forgotten, masterpiece (as is City of Angels).

I saw Carradine and Hoty on tour and they were stunning. On Broadway, I saw Maples (woefully miscast) and Mac Davis, who was surprisingly good (he did descend on the rope the night I saw the show). The only moment missing from the tour was the "Living Tableau" of Custer's Last Stand. The curtain rose and there was what appeared to be a GIGANTIC framed painting depicting Custer's Last Stand featuring nearly the entire cast. The poses and costumes and backdrop were exquisite, making it look like an oil painting depicting a scene of action. The moment it was revealed, I will never forget the huge audible gasp from the audience and the spontaneous applause. Then a member of the cast sneezes in the painting and the way it was done, the moment is hilarious. The whole scene lasts about 20 seconds, yet must have costs thousands to stage.

Regarding Susan Anton, I remember the incident very well. Her entire foot was wedged in a gap in the staircase and she could not remove her foot nor her shoe. She was quite literally stuck in place and was in a precarious location in a tightly choreographed and staged number. The show did indeed stop and stagehands had to move the set in order to get her out. It had nothing to do with her inexperience or her attitude. It had to do with a set malfunction. Susan Anton had stage experience before WRF with Vegas acts, a national tour of They're Playing Our Song and A Couple of White Chicks Sitting Around Talking, as well as her Broadway debut in Hurlyburly, replacing Candice Bergen.

EDIT: Hurlyburly reference

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Updated On: 9/14/05 at 04:14 PM

justme - When I saw the tour with Carradine and Hoty, there was no tableau. I asked Carradine about it and he said they had to cut it for financial reasons. WRF is one of my fondest musical theatre memories as well. It was really an amazing show that deserves its place in history. I remember the big stink about the Native American dancing on the drum in the opening and thinking how ridiculous it was. A biography of Will Rogers has to reference his Cherokee lineage and it wasn't as if the character was in a yarn wig with a single feather raising an arm saying, "How". He was in an authentically representative costume (I know one of the costumers from the show) doing a traditional dance. I couldn't figure out what was supposed to be so outrageously offensive. It was actually pretty cool.

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AND...that was Jerry Mitchell dancing on that drum. And those gorgeous indian headdresses the chorus girls were wearing? I remember the drama around the show being "sexist" because of the six single sisters and their treatment. Ridiculous.

I wonder if the tableau was just for the opening night? I saw opening night in SF and opening night in LA, and the third performance I honestly can't remember if I saw the tableau. But I distinctly remember the tableau in SF and the audience reaction to it.

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*sigh*

I love this thread. It brings back so many good memories. About once a year, I like to break out my old Tonys video and watch Willamania and Our Favorite Son. Maybe someday I'll get a chance to watch the video of the entire show at the Lincoln Center library.

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I'm glad everyone is enjoying remembering the show...my love has grown for it as I have been reading this thread.

I'm so sorry to hear about the accident, Loli78.
I saw you perform in Austin, TX. a few weeks ago and you were all FANTASTIC! I was sad that Austin did not advertise for the show better...I bought tickets the night of and had great seats. People really missed out!

There are taped performances? I'd love to get a hold of that!