My Follies at Encores! Opening Night Review — Page 2

Surprisingly enough I disagree with my three FOLLIES pals :-p
I thought Garber was great even if his voice was weak indeed, it was much better at the matinee than during opening night though. Opening night you could almost see him struggling to get through the score, especially during "The Road You Didn't Take." I found him to be superb in his book scenes, Brantley said that he brought a great deal of vulnerability to Ben Stones and I agree. His scene with Baranski where he is asking her to meet him later was so pathetic, I truly felt for Ben and his "Live, Laugh, and Love" ended the show on a high note for me.
Baranski was a train-wreck...okay, maybe I'm being overdramatic but her "I'm Still Here" was so badly sung both times I saw it and she just didn't work the number for me. With DeCarlo you can tell the number was a true showstopper, with Baranski it just got in the way of the beginning of "Too Many Mornings."
And yes, I'm with Kringas, the good outweighted the bad.

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I have very little memory of the "Montage." I really don't know why. I do remember Yvonne Constant sounding like she was orgasming during AH, PARIS!

Oops, sorry Dr.C. I didn't realized I was being paged

I thought Yvonne Constant was great. I love "Ah,Paree!" and I really enjoyed her performance, she made me laugh. I used to love "Broadway Baby" until I heard every single musical theater performer singing it, but Mimi Hines' rendition was very different, I particularly love her little kick when she said the line "at my tiny flat there's just one cat" *kick* Very cute. However, the best part of the montage for me was the Whitmans, they were so adorable during "Rain on the Roof" and Fitchman's little dance break was sensational and earned some audience applause.

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Updated On: 7/20/07 at 02:29 AM

I gasped when the Whitmans switched partners during the Bolero, it was one of those moments that simply stressed the themes of the show so well and in such a subtle way. I loved that at the end they come back to each other in a way mirroring the two couples at the center of the show by the end of Act II. You could really feel the love between Emily and Theodore it was like they were a couple in real life. Fascinating.

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JoAnn Worley & Mimi Hines were the standouts for me, in a cast *full* of stand-outs!!!

everyone & everything exceeded my anything i'd imagined & i was just thrilled!!!

& i learned so much!!!!

...about the show, about life, about creativity, about the cast, about music, about dance, & the spirit of theater itself...

it is no exaggeration to say that the ENCORES! production of FOLLIES moved my life forward.