Mention of Suicide in "Follies"

[EvanstonDad]

Posted: 4/11/25 at 10:40am

I've never seen "Follies" staged. I was listening to the 2011 revival cast recording this morning, and though I've listened to it several times, for some reason I just now noticed at the end when Ben is singing his final number he says something like "she told me she was going to kill herself, I didn't know she was serious." Is the she he's referring to Sally, and is this a reference to a suicide attempt that's mentioned somewhere else in the show? I know "Follies" has undergone changes in its various incarnations, so was there a previous version where Sally did kill herself, or where it was at least left ambiguous whether she did or not?

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 4/11/25 at 11:04am

Sally said "I should have died the first time" at the end of the show in the original version and, I believe, in the 2017 National Theatre production. That line was excised from most other revivals. The line, of course, implying that she's had suicide attempts in the past.

Updated On: 4/11/25 at 11:04 AM

[EvanstonDad]

Posted: 4/11/25 at 11:14am

Now that you mention it, I believe Sally says something like that on the 2011 recording as well. I don't know why I'm just now hearing it. I guess because there's so much going on during those scenes.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 4/11/25 at 11:54am

EvanstonDad said: "Now that you mention it, I believe Sally says something like that on the 2011 recording as well. I don't know why I'm just now hearing it. I guess because there's so much going on during those scenes."

Memory might be failing me but I believe that line happened only on the 2011 recording, not in the revival, and there was much chatter on these boards about it back then. But there are bootlegs where you could verify.

[ChairinMain]

Posted: 4/11/25 at 1:13pm

Just checked the recording, two editions of the script and a bootleg on youtube. The line in question is in the original script from 1971, but not in the published version from 2001 and I can state almost definitely the line was in the 2011 production. Because this line happens at a point where there is an absolute cacophony onstage and we are meant to have our attention pulled in a million places at once, the line isn't super clear (the original stage direction is - "everything we've seen and heard all evening is going on at once, as if the night's experience were being vomited.") The recording keeps his vocals prominent so we can hear what he's saying (I suspect this was done to make it clear to a listener that it's Ben who is experiencing this) but in the bootleg we can't really hear what he's saying. He's clearly talking the whole time, and the timing on the recording and the bootleg matches near exactly.... so even if we can't hear it, he's saying the line, and it implies that Sally (or, even more worryingly, someone else) attempted suicide. It's there if you can catch it, but i don't think we're "supposed" to hear it.