Sondheim Talks FOLLIES Movie Musical- Page 3

[sondheimgeek]

Posted: 5/7/08 at 8:59pm

"Imagine the young four in a translucent black and white until Loveland where they pop in technicolor."

What an idea! You have to get connected somehow to the film. From what I've read in the thread your ideas are not something to pass up.

I would hate it if 'One More Kiss' was cut, but I could definitely see why it would be. It does really add depth to the show though, and it's just an enchanting song.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 5/7/08 at 9:06pm

Just the other night I thought to myself, "Why didn't I freakin' go to film school so I could be the one directing the Follies movie?" Or at the least write the screenplay. Jeesh!

Thanks for the kind words. I got a zillion ideas about this movie.

I think since all the book songs are contained (unlike a show like Dreamgirls, which is heavy on recitative) that most of them SHOULD be able to survive.

As I said before, it's a musical! Let them sing. If the film has to be stylized (a la Sweeney) to "justify" the book songs, so be it. I don't want realism. I want grandeur and splendor.

[me2]

Posted: 5/7/08 at 9:42pm

A number of years ago, Spielberg said that a musical was the only genre he hadn't done yet. Perhaps he is seriously looking at WEST SIDE STORY.
Broadway Mouth: The Phantom of the Marketing: A Second Look at the New Phantom Logo

[sondheimgeek]

Posted: 5/7/08 at 9:43pm

I agree!

Oddly enough, I've thought about several ideas for a film of Company, and it's actually pretty easy to make the material work. It just requires some thinking. :)

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 5/7/08 at 10:15pm

Oh, I have a Company movie in my head, too.

I really think very few musicals are unfilmable.

[logan0215]

Posted: 5/7/08 at 10:21pm

If they did put Phyllis/Sally in their 50s-60s I'd love to see Bette Midler in either role. I feel like she has the aura about her acting in order to play both roles, either the soft and insecure or the jazzy vamp.

Catherine O'Hara I saw mentioned and she would be an AMAZING Sally.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/7/08 at 10:50pm

Or maybe Steve and Eydie?

That sounds like a Sondheim lyric...

Another chance for Cherry Jones?
An older Ally Sheedy?
A long parade of Phyllis Stones...
Or maybe Steve and Eydie?
I'll drink to that!
(And one for Eydie...)

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 5/7/08 at 10:53pm

Oh, PalJoey, that was wonderful.

It just throws the piece off if they're pushing 60. I believe Phyllis has yet to go through menopause.

[logan0215]

Posted: 5/7/08 at 11:05pm

From what I've read Sally is supposed to be an "energetic 49 year old" which I think Bette could certainly pull off.

Many of the other "Follies" girls are 65+ as well...

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 5/7/08 at 11:09pm

I think Bette Midler would be a great Stella, hell, even Hattie. I just don't see her as Sally or Phyllis.

[ljay889]

Posted: 5/7/08 at 11:35pm

Bette is all wrong for Sally, vocally. Though I'm not sure if that matters for a movie.

Sally and Phyllis NEED to be 49. The oldest, mid 50's.

Bette is right for Stella.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/7/08 at 11:37pm

Bette Midler is too hard for Sally and lacks the necessary elegance for Phyllis.

She'd be an awful Stella, the same way Baranski was awful: Stella needs to have hit one or more "hard bottoms," as they say in 12 Step, whether from drinking, from spending all her money, from bad love affairs, from whoring around, or just from depression.

Midler never bottomed out--she always survived, so her reading of the "I'm Still Here" lyric would be jokey, as Baranski's was.

The best singers of that song make it a cri de couer.Watch this one--not for casting the movie, but to see the kind of lifestory a singer must put into "I'm Still Here":
Julie Wilson: "I'm Still Here"

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 5/7/08 at 11:45pm

You're confusing Stella with Carlotta, love.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 5/7/08 at 11:48pm

And if Madonna could be directed to have more personality than a block of wood, I'd love her as Carlotta.

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 5/7/08 at 11:50pm

I would love to see Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke do Rain on the Roof, as was suggested. That would be amazing.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/8/08 at 12:09am

You're confusing Stella with Carlotta, love.

Am I'm getting THAT old?

[etoile]

Posted: 5/8/08 at 12:10am

PalJoey, you're overlooking the most quintessential "art imitating life" Carlotta.

Liza.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/8/08 at 12:12am

Etoile--I'm a HUGE fan of all things Liza and a HUGER fan of all things Sondheim...

But...I don't think she's very good at his songs.

[etoile]

Posted: 5/8/08 at 12:18am

Haven't we all heard less than stellar vocal performances of this song? This isn't a song you sing, it's a song you've lived.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/8/08 at 12:30am

You're absolutely right.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 5/8/08 at 1:01am

I tend to want my Carlotta like I want my Phyllis, late 40s/early 50sish, but I would make an exception for Liza.

Plus, she'd be singing it in a studio. They could tweak her to the hilt.

[xxdrewboy85xx]

Posted: 5/8/08 at 1:52am

Cant wait for this if it really happens! I think i want this more than I want to see the revival of merrily we roll along! Sam mendez is one of my favorite directors but i think rob marshal would be the best director.

[logan0215]

Posted: 5/8/08 at 6:38am

The following makes me feel that she wouldn't be too "hard" for the role. Also her rendition of "Hello In There" is another good example of her softer side.
Bette on Johnny Carson's final show (with Marc Shaiman on piano!)

[madbrian]

Posted: 5/8/08 at 7:02am

I'm a fan of Bette's, and can see her doing The Mirror Song, but I don't see her as Phyllis or Sally.

[madbrian]

Posted: 5/8/08 at 8:49am

For those of us (myself included) who have trouble keeping the characters straight, here is a partial list of the songs to help with casting opinions:

Rain on the Roof Emily Whitman and Theodore Whitman
Ah, Paris! Solange LaFitte
Broadway Baby Hattie Walker
In Buddy's Eyes Sally Durant Plummer
Who's That Woman? Stella Deems
I'm Still Here Carlotta Campion
Too Many Mornings Benjamin Stone and Sally Durant Plummer
One More Kiss Heidi Schiller and Young Heidi
Could I Leave You? Phyllis Rogers Stone
The God-Why-Don't-You-Love-Me Blues Buddy Plummer
Losing My Mind Sally Durant Plummer
The Story of Lucy and Jessie Phyllis Rogers Stone
Live, Laugh, Love Benjamin Stone and Ensemble