National Theatre: Follies- Page 5

[Valentina3]

Posted: 7/14/17 at 11:36am

Jarethan said: "ljay889 said: "Valentina3 said: "Why is she wearing green? She "wore green the last time"...


I was going to say the same thing.

I am probably all wet here, but wasn't that a reference to Sally?  'I should have worn green, I wore green the last time.' 

If it was, Phyllis wearing a dazzling green gown could mean that she is going to the reunion preparing for battle with Ben's memories of Sally from the outset.  Maybe Ben moped just a little too much or was just a little too excited about going to Phyllis's reunion, despite how uninterested he came across at the actual event.  That would make a lot of sense to me."
 

Either I'm misreading this, or you are thinking that Imelda is going to play Phyllis. She will be playing Sally, the character who feels she should have worn a green dress for Ben.

Musicaldudepeter - Victoria Clark was in a blue dress. You could call it aqua, but not green. :) There are bootleg videos all over the internets.

 

[SueBee06]

Posted: 7/14/17 at 11:47am

Feldzieg said: "Do any Londoners here have a hunch how the "on sale to members" thing is expected to turn out? Currently you can only buy tickets for the extension period if your are an NT member which costs at least 80 pounds a year. Do you think they might open it up to the general public later or is interest so high that it probably sells out with members only? I wanna get tickets in December. Would prefer to avoid to shell out the additional 80 for the membership...

 

While you don't get priority booking, you do get booking ahead of the general onsale if you sign up for an "advance membership" and that is much less expensive. I sprung for the 35 pound advance membership and was able to get tickets to Angels without a problem. https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/support-us/individuals/memberships-join-or-renew/advance-membership

 

[PepperedShepherd]

Posted: 7/14/17 at 12:27pm

broadwaybabywannabe2 said: "i am in LONDON the 3rd week of September and the show is sold out for the date i am open to going...but...i will go the theatre for same day tickets and hope!...i truly want to see this...as of right now i will be seeing DREAMGIRLS in London and hope to see AMBER RILEY in the lead!"

I'd keep checking the National Theatre website for tickets -- several times daily, if need be. I know that tickets for sold out dates for Angels in America have continued to pop up, and would expect the same for Follies.  Of course, they usually don't last long, but it's well worth a shot.

 

[JBC3]

Posted: 7/14/17 at 1:37pm

If you can post on ATC a few folks there are freaking out about the green dress so maybe you could help them chill by sharing what we have learned about it here.

[nasty_khakis]

Posted: 7/14/17 at 1:46pm

I'm not a member but was able to buy a ticket this morning. 

[AllThatJazz2]

Posted: 7/17/17 at 11:21pm

Got my tickets! So excited...really looking forward to this!

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 7/18/17 at 8:03am

If Sally is wearing green, might it perhaps go hand in hand with a different interpretation of "I should have worn green" to - instead of the usual line-reading with a subtext of "I may have gone with the wrong color" -  a twist on it with the subtext of "I have to believe I did right by wearing green as I once did?"

In essence, a confirmation by Sally of her choice rather than a regretting of it; a completely opposite but still at least arguably defensible subtext?

After all strictly speaking, "should" doesn't at all necessarily imply an alternative action one didn't take.  It often implies a validation of the action of what one did do.

Because if this is how the line is going to be interpreted, it wouldn't suggest that Sally is demented at all (i.e., is so removed from reality she has no idea what color her dress is).
Of course, given the rhythm and scansion of "Too Many Mornings" this interpretation ("I was right to have worn green" might suggest at best a neurotic and insecure validation.
But what kind of validation would be more appropriate for Sally than a neurotically insecure one?

Actually the more I think about this, the more sense this alternative line-reading seems to make.  We know that Sally gave very special attention to what color she would wear to the party: "How I planned what I'd wear tonight."
And then there is the fact that it is in "Too Many Mornings" that Sally actually begins to believe she is doing the right thing and that Ben might actually finally be hers.   It's a song of confirmation.

Just because we've always heard that line sung differently, doesn't mean that's the only way to make it work.

Updated On: 7/18/17 at 08:03 AM

[imeldasturn]

Posted: 7/18/17 at 8:23am

Again, it's not a costume 

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 7/18/17 at 9:03am

^thanks, wasn't sure if it was or not, but my imagination took off.

[Callum_brown1]

Posted: 7/18/17 at 11:19am

I've seen Staunton wearing that dress before - perhaps at an awards show. Must've just been what she had in the closet!

...

She'll have found Kevin Spacey in there too.

[jimmycurry01]

Posted: 7/18/17 at 12:51pm

You are all reading way too much into a publicity photo. It is likely not a costume used in the show at all.

[Gizmo6]

Posted: 7/19/17 at 5:18pm

Ticket booked for December at the National :)

[Scripps2]

Posted: 7/22/17 at 3:21pm

It would seem that the National are publishing their version of the Follies book shortly after previews begin:

https://shop.nationaltheatre.org.uk/follies.html

This presumably means they are using one of the rewrites rather than the already published 1971 original unless someone here knows more than I or can provide better informed speculation....?

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 7/22/17 at 3:24pm

It could be that they are using a different version and are publishing an edition to reflect that, or it could be as simple as they are publishing it in order to have a tie-in edition featuring their artwork and maybe some notes regarding their production. 

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 7/22/17 at 3:25pm

Amazon UK has it listed at 96 pages which is the exact same number of pages as the 2011 and 2001 Broadway tie-in versions. Just saying. 

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 7/22/17 at 7:39pm

Makes me think it will be a hybrid.

who says this means it won't be the 1971 version? It's not like that one is in print.

[choitoy]

Posted: 7/22/17 at 8:36pm

Valentina3 said: "Jarethan said: "ljay889 said: "Valentina3 said: "Why is she wearing green? She "wore green the last time"...


I was going to say the same thing.


Either I'm misreading this, or you are thinking that Imelda is going to play Phyllis. She will be playing Sally, the character who feels she should have worn a green dress for Ben.

Musicaldudepeter - Victoria Clark was in a blue dress. You could call it aqua, but not green. :) There are bootleg videos all over the internets.

 If I remember correctly, when the LA run first started, the dress was a lot more teal green colored, but by the end of the "preview" period, they changed the color to a more baby blueish version.  

I found pictures for proof
Here's a picture from the first release of press pictures:

And here's a picture of the curtain call from later in the run:



 

Updated On: 7/22/17 at 08:36 PM

[Scripps2]

Posted: 7/23/17 at 3:25pm

Thanks for your thoughts folks.

Do we know if the 2001 and 2011 Broadway productions used the same book as each other or has Follies (including the 1971 original and the 1987 rewrite) had four different versions of its book?

I'm so hoping they'll use the 1971 original but suspect we'll get a hybrid. 

 

[ljay889]

Posted: 7/23/17 at 3:56pm

2011 was closer to 1971 than 2001. Thankfully 2011 cut those God awful ensemble exit lines in the finale. Also, throughout the run Mrs. Goldman randomly added new lines here and there. I'd have to listen to an audio to remember what she added, and to remember if it was 1971 lines. 

[Jarethan]

Posted: 7/23/17 at 5:19pm

henrikegerman said: "If Sally is wearing green, might it perhaps go hand in hand with a different interpretation of "I should have worn green" to - instead of the usual line-reading with a subtext of "I may have gone with the wrong color" -  a twist on it with the subtext of "I have to believe I did right by wearing green as I once did?"

In essence, a confirmation by Sally of her choice rather than a regretting of it; a completely opposite but still at least arguably defensible subtext?

After all strictly speaking, "should" doesn't at all necessarily imply an alternative action one didn't take.  It often implies a validation of the action of what one did do.

Because if this is how the line is going to be interpreted, it wouldn't suggest that Sally is demented at all (i.e., is so removed from reality she has no idea what color her dress is).
Of course, given the rhythm and scansion of "Too Many Mornings" this interpretation ("I was right to have worn green" might suggest at best a neurotic and insecure validation.
But what kind of validation would be more appropriate for Sally than a neurotically insecure one?

Actually the more I think about this, the more sense this alternative line-reading seems to make.  We know that Sally gave very special attention to what color she would wear to the party: "How I planned what I'd wear tonight."
And then there is the fact that it is in "Too Many Mornings" that Sally actually begins to believe she is doing the right thing and that Ben might actually finally be hers.   It's a song of confirmation.

Just because we've always heard that line sung differently, doesn't mean that's the only way to make it work.

 

I think either scenario would make sense.  Sally wanting to recapture the moment at which she wore green the last time. Phyllis (less likely, thinking about it further) wanting to one-up the Ben's memory of last seeing Sally.  For it to be believable, we would have to believe that she'd actually remember that Sally wore green, and that it made a lasting impression on Ben.

On another note, the first time I saw reference to Follies, it said incorrectly that Imelda was playing Phyllis; while that didn't make a lot of sense to me -- I will always think of Phyllis as Patrician / glamorous / tall, words that I would never expect to use to describe Taunton.  Not a dig, just a fact.

 

[Wildcard]

Posted: 8/22/17 at 1:42pm

First previews tonight. Anyone seeing it?

[Valentina3]

Posted: 8/22/17 at 1:59pm

Also when do we expect the tickets for November cinecast to go on sale? Don't want to miss out on those babies

[Scripps2]

Posted: 8/22/17 at 5:45pm

A couple of photographs of the set have appeared on Instagram and can be seen on this thread at Theatreboard:

http://theatreboard.co.uk/thread/1654/follies?page=58

[jewishboy]

Posted: 8/22/17 at 6:58pm

I was there tonight. I'm still not done going over the production in my head, I don't ever want to forget a single moment, first night preview glitches and all. I'll post a full report soon, but basically Lincoln Center NEEDS to bring this production to NYC. Cancel My Fair Lady, or move it to a non Lincoln center Broadway house, this production would WOW the Beaumont audiences. BRAVA/O. Sondheim himself was there and Imelda Staunton led the standing cheering audience and company in three "Hip, Hip, Hooray"'s to the genius. Can't wait to share more. 

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 8/22/17 at 7:05pm

Was she wearing the damn green dress or not? That's all anyone here wants to know.