Sondheim Talks FOLLIES Movie Musical- Page 6

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 5/15/08 at 12:24pm

And your alternate choices are truly wonderful!

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/15/08 at 12:37pm

I once did Lucy and Jessie in Pig Latin, on a dare and (under the influence), but no video exists.

Ere's-hay a-hay ittle-lay ory-stay,
About-hay oo-tay unhappy-hay ames-day...

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 5/15/08 at 12:40pm

Remember this?

[LadyRosecoe]

Posted: 5/15/08 at 12:55pm

Classic

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 5/15/08 at 1:03pm

So who wold you prefer as Phyllis, Jewishboy? (maybe you mentioned it in the previous 5 pages but I'm too lazy to go back).

PJ, you look nothing like Geraldo now...and that's a compliment nowadays :)

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/15/08 at 1:32pm

Of course I remember it! I took a close-up:



(And thanks, Ray!)

[jewishboy]

Posted: 5/15/08 at 2:24pm

Annette Bening (my fav), Catherine Zeta-Jones or Mary Louise Parker. Even Meryl Streep, but that's a little too safe.

[thatgirl712]

Posted: 5/15/08 at 2:51pm

Yes, it could.

[jewishboy]

Posted: 5/15/08 at 3:02pm

You know, "Brothers & Sisters," co-stars Calista Flockhart and Rachel Griffiths would both make interesting Phyllis(s).

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/15/08 at 4:38pm

Hmmm... Rachel Griffiths is one of those can-do-anything actresses...

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 5/15/08 at 4:54pm

Flockhart comes off as too vulnerable to play Phyllis, IMO. I love her work in ALLY MCBEAL, BROTHERS & SISTERS, and THE BIRDCAGE, and in all of those she always has a vulnerable edge to her that I think would be too much for Phyllis.
Griffiths is one of my favorite actresses ever, but I see her more as Sally than as Phyllis. She sang karaoke in BROTHERS & SISTERS a few weeks ago, so who knows? Maybe she can sing? :)
I suggested Mary-Louise Parker as Phyllis in another thread, I think she would be marvelous in the role. I'll pass on Bening and Catherine Zeta Jones though.

[ljay889]

Posted: 5/15/08 at 4:56pm

The good thing about Phyllis is...she doesn't require a great singer. I'm sure any of these Hollywood actresses could get away with her songs. Of course with some vocal training.

NOW.. I feel bad forever is cast as Sally. I am going to hate to hear the songs transposed down a lot...which I think will happen.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 5/15/08 at 4:59pm

I know everyone is worried about that. There's a lot of people out there who were displeased with Helena Bonham Carter's vocals in SWEENEY, I just adored her in the role because I thought she did some tremendous acting. As long as I buy the acting, I'm willing to accept the movie is a completely different animal, and that I might not get to listen the glorious notes during "Too Many Mornings," and that's okay with me.
You're right about Phyllis, Ljay, pretty much anyone could sing the role, it's acting it and looking the part that is a bitch when it comes to casting for the role.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

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

So much can be fixed in a studio as well. If they've got a Sally who acts the hell out of it and sings it fairly decently, I'm sure it could sweetened up nicely. I just hope she wouldn't sound like Rosario Dawson in ReNt, where every other note sounded like a robot.

[jewishboy]

Posted: 5/15/08 at 8:43pm

Why don't you like Bening for Phyllis, Ray? And I think in the Encores! production, Donna Murphy had a vulnerable side to her that worked very well.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 5/15/08 at 9:09pm

I can't put my finger on it, but I don't like the thought of Bening in the role, either. I wish I had reasons I could articulate, but I don't.

Wouldn't "Beauty can't be hindered from taking its toll" be a great tag line?

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/15/08 at 10:38pm

I'd prefer the next line.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 5/15/08 at 11:21pm

"You may lose control"? or "faced with these loreleis what can moralize"?

I want to organize a a moment where all students of Folliology^TM all focus their energy at the same time on making this the movie it SHOULD be.

[BNN]

Posted: 5/15/08 at 11:32pm

If you want that to happen, I would recommned learning how to resurrect from the dead.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 5/15/08 at 11:35pm

Hell, I've been doing that since I was a kid!

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 5/16/08 at 12:28am

Jewishboy, Murphy did add some vulnerability to Phyllis, but not the kind of out there vulnerability that I always see in Calista Flockhart. If there is one thing similar between Ally McBeal and Kitty Walker is that while both are tough women, they both are just too vulnerable and confused and clumsy. I really enjoy Flockhart, but to me she doesn't have the confident on-screen persona that the actress who plays Phyllis needs.
I like Bening but I've never loved her, whereas I think there are a bunch of actresses mentioned for the role that I would prefer a dozen times over her. I'm with Phyllis on this one, there is just something I can't articulate about her. I just don't care for her as any of the principal roles, maybe she can play Carlotta.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/19/08 at 12:52am

I just uploaded Gene Nelson doing "The Right Girl." It's from the same silent footage dubbed with the soundboard that I extracted "Who's That Woman" from.

See? The role needs a dancer on the level of a Gene Kelly, a Donald O'Connor, or a Gene Nelson--someone who can dance his frustration in a tour de force athletic, acrobatic solo. The other characters sing--Buddy dances.

Someone like Michael Baresse, although he's still too young.

Watch and be thrilled.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFxygAHcNGM

[LadyRosecoe]

Posted: 5/19/08 at 1:04am

Thank you God/PJ. Prior to this, the only visual evidence came from the LA rehearsal which even then you could sense the build-up and bottled frustration and confusion coming through, but not like this. Athletic is a good way to describe the type of dance here, it's wonderful to finally see it complete and the audio was synced pretty well. I adore this song more than most others seem to, I love the dance arrangement and how the moment lends so much to what Buddy feels, this was perfect.

And those last 10 seconds of the number are phenomenal.

Posted: 5/19/08 at 6:02am

i got my own copy of EVERYTHING WAS POSSIBLE this weekend.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/19/08 at 9:43am

Those last 10 seconds are what made Gene Nelson the equal of the other principals in that astonishing cast.