The Official Kennedy Center FOLLIES Thread- Page 10

[DMsquared2]

Posted: 5/12/11 at 12:54pm

I have my ticket for June 16th! So excited!

[HSF235]

Posted: 5/12/11 at 2:17pm

Hi Everyone:

Here is what I posted yesterday following the matinee performance.

I just got back from seeing the Kennedy Center production of Follies. Just when I thought Bernadette Peters couldn't amaze me anymore, she's done it again. This show is a true testament to her many talents and insurmountable ability to command the stage. Not only is she a consummate performer but her dancing is incredible! I cannot wait to go back and see this show again. It is highly, highly recommended.

[KChenowethfan]

Posted: 5/12/11 at 2:44pm

Boltbus no longer drops off near Metro Center (they lost their drop-off/pick-up point). Now every bus drops off/picks up at Union Station. It's still a very convenient way to travel from NY to DC and vice versa and you can still take Metro to the Kennedy Center.

I'm going tomorrow. So excited.

[Tom's Cat]

Posted: 5/12/11 at 3:28pm

LOL, Jordan you must have been sitting right behind me! I was in Row C - just a wee bit closer to the center. Absolutely fabulous seats so don't be afraid of the balcony at the Eisenhower - I've sat there many times and never regretted it.

[Tom's Cat]

Posted: 5/12/11 at 3:32pm

... one other note - Vamoose bus stops in Rosslyn, VA, just across the street from the Rosslyn Metro station. From that station you're only one stop away from the Foggy Bottom/Kennedy Center stop.

[morosco]

Posted: 5/12/11 at 3:34pm

Some nice seats just opened up for this Saturday's matinee.

Posted: 5/12/11 at 11:07pm

PJ said:
"Bennett had a similar arrangement on Chorus Line and Dreamgirls, but he wasn't powerful enough to negotiate for that for Promises, Company or Follies. I think it was his work on Follies that gave him that clout. Hal Prince gave him co-director status and everyone knew those tall, gray slow-moving ghosts were Bennett's. "

And to be fair, Prince was better than some might expect at always giving Bennett fair credit--despite how often, even now, people seem to think the co-directing credit was a courtesy and happily write in reviews and even books that Prince directed and Bennett choreographed.

But that's a good point. How come then Dreamgirls has been allowed to mess with the choreography? I assumed Bennett didn't protect it as much--not because the majority wasn't done by him but done by Michael Peters, but just cuz it never happened.

As many Fosse biographers have mentioned, he could care less about the future of his work which is why he often even encouraged the archive not to film his shows (the copy of Big Deal they have is a copy of the bootleg everyone has). Which is too bad, I think a show like Sweet Charity depends on its choreography being kept even more than, say, Gypsy.

But it does get into fussy subjects... With West Side Story, or Fiddler, the shows simply wouldn't exist how they did without Robbins--Fiddler especially would have taken a very different appraoch and even half the songs wouldn't be there without Robbins' suggestion--I completely understand why he wanted as much (OK, more...) credit than the composers and writers even if I know some feel it's all director's ego. Of course this could be said for many of these shows--Chorus Line obviously, but Sweet Charity and Chicago too, etc...

[Mamie]

Posted: 5/13/11 at 6:24am

Well, I saw it Wednesday afternoon (from the same section of the balcony - we should have had a party!). I absolutely adored most of it and was a little disappointed with other bits and pieces.

Some thoughts: Bernadette seemed to have a little allergy cough (as does everybody else around here) but when she got to "Losing My Mind" she was sheer perfection. The red dress is there and seems perfect for her and for Sally. Jan Maxwell is incredible and Ron Raines is the perfect charming and shallow Ben. Danny Burstein is a revelation. He hits all the marks on Buddy but never goes overboard. Elaine Paige puts 100% effort into "I'm Still Here" and gets the audience reaction you expect, BUT - her efforts to belt out the song with an American accent (at least that's where I'm placing the blame) has resulted in a lot of what she's singing to be unintelligible. I'm not saying this for myself because I have the song memorized and know what's supposed to be coming from her mouth - but the people around me weren't that familiar with it and didn't understand her. I heard that from several people sitting around me who weren't as familiar with the song. Also, shouldn't someone with her professional background have learned the words to the song by now? It's not like she has so much else to do in the show! It was disappointing to hear the lines messed up a couple of times - particularly at the end of the song.

"Who's That Woman" was everything you hoped and wished and dreamed it would be. The audience reaction was so positive that I started thinking they would never stop applauding. (I started thinking - and hoping a bit - that they would do an encore!)

I missed the young versions of the various characters being on the stage during their solos. Especially the dancers. I loved seeing the young dancers performing all the full moves and extensions as the old couple did their routine - as best as they could - downstage, in past productions. The young couple wasn't on stage at all when I saw it. No "Broadway Baby" young Hattie either.

Various times I found myself wishing that they'd staged this over at the Opera House, on the big stage. I wanted to see all the partygoers in the background while the dramatic scenes played out front. They couldn't do it on this stage because it isn't big enough and I found myself wondering 'where did everybody else go?'. Then I'd remember how much better the views are from the various seats in the Eisenhower and I was glad it was done here.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/13/11 at 8:29am

The tradition of Carlotta flubbing the lyrics started with Yvonne and was repepated in many of the "old babes" who played the part or sang it in cabaret settings, the excuse always being that it was a "list song," and the verses were interchangeable.

But they're not. There is a definite progression to the song. So pay attention to PalJoey's coaching session, Old Babes, and you'll never flub the lyrics to "I'm Still Here" again:

===

When the song starts out, you're being clever and charming, superficially bragging about how you've survived all these years:

Good times and bum times,
I've seen them all and, my dear,
I'm still here.
Plush velvet sometimes,
Sometimes just pretzels and beer,
But I'm here.
I've stuffed the dailies
In my shoes.
Strummed ukuleles,
Sung the blues,
Seen all my dreams disappear,
But I'm here.

But the inadvertent mention of your dreams disappearing takes you to a hard place, when your life was actually tough and your dreams DID disappear and you had to do some humiliating things:

I've slept in shanties,
Guest of the W.P.A.,
But I'm here.
Danced in my scanties,
Three bucks a night was the pay,
But I'm here.
I've stood on bread lines
With the best,
Watched while the headlines
Did the rest.

But that's not you. You didn't let your problems defeat you. So make a little joke, a little wordplay, lighten the mood:

In the Depression was I depressed?
Nowhere near.

And you go back to charming and clever:

I met a big financier
And I'm here.

Show 'em your big, fat diamond ring, baby! You earned it!

Back on your game again, show off with some references to the crazy things everybody lived through back then, easy stuff, identifiable stuff:

I've been through Gandhi,
Windsor and Wally's affair,
And I'm here.
Amos 'n' Andy,
Mah-jongg and platinum hair,
And I'm here.
I got through Abie's
Irish Rose,
Five Dionne babies,
Major Bowes.

That's it! Camp it up a little, be silly, have fun:

Had heebie-jeebies
For Beebe's
Bathysphere.

And now make a joke they'll all get about the Paris Hilton of her day:

I lived through Brenda Frazier
And I'm here!

Sailing now, in your zone, use the names of two of the biggest drips ever, guys who were definitely not fun, as a big punchline, make then sound like brothers, like a comedy team:

I've gotten through Herbert and J. Edgar Hoover,
Gee, that was fun and a half.
When you've been through Herbert and J. Edgar Hoover,
Anything else is a laugh.

But the memory of the FBI and the investigations drags you do to places even lower than the Depression: divorce, addiction, unemployment, the Blacklist...all those friends whose lives were destroyed--why them and not you? A moment of quiet reflection for the deaths and the divorces and the suicides:

I've been through Reno.
I've been through Beverly Hills,
And I'm here.
Reefers and vino,
Rest cures, religion and pills,
And I'm here

Start to let yourself get angry:

Been called a pinko
Commie tool,
Got through it stinko
By my pool.

Now make a quick self-deprecating joke:

I should have gone to an acting school.
That seems clear,
Still, someone said, "She's sincere,"
So I'm here.

But the joke doesn't work. Your anger doesn't go away. There's been failure in your life, time after time after time. Success and happiness came and went. You survived each time but at such great cost. When does the hardness end? Ever?

Black sable one day.
Next day it goes into hock,
But I'm here.
Top billing Monday,
Tuesday you're touring in stock,
But I'm here.
First you're another
Sloe-eyed vamp,
Then someone's mother,
Then you're camp.

Which is pretty humiliating.

Then you career from career
To career.

And that's where you are now: in what seems like your 19th career. You're not even a performer any more. You sell yourself. You're a glorified salesgirl. You need to make another self-deprecating joke--and quick:

I'm almost through my memoirs.
And I'm here.

Good. No one can ask you now if you've finished your book yet! Which leads you to the ultimate self-deprecating joke an actress can make:

I've gotten through "Hey, lady, aren't you whoozis?
Wow! What a looker you were."
Or, better yet, "Sorry, I thought you were whoozis.
Whatever happened to her?"

But that hurts. That's the end. When someone asks an actress "Whatever happened to YOU?"--that means she's done, she's over, she's finished, she's through, she's a has-been, she's unemployable, she's irrelevant, she's TOO OLD...she's as good as dead.

So as you hold that note and the music modulates, what do you have to say to all the people who are telling you that you might as well be dead? Repeat the lyrics from the beginning of the song, but this time not clever and charming but fierce, defiant, determined, still alive, still that glorious word: HERE. You're still HERE:

Good times and bum times,
I've seen 'em all and, my dear,
I'm still here!
Flush velvet sometimes,
Sometimes just pretzels and beer,
But I'm here!
I've run the gamut.
A to Z.
Three cheers and dammit,
C'est la vie!
I got through
All of last year
And I'm here.

Getting through each year requires your greatest performance ever--and speaking of your greatest greatest performance, why not make this it? Do you have a final statement for us, Miss Vance?

Lord knows, at least I was there,
And I'm here!
Look who's here!
I'm still here!

Updated On: 5/13/11 at 08:29 AM

[SondheimFan5]

Posted: 5/13/11 at 8:39am

Mamie, has Regine improved at all?

WOW, PalJoey, THANK YOU!!! Very cool!

[goldenboy]

Posted: 5/13/11 at 11:06am

This Follies was very well done. I caught the Thurday night
performance at 7:30/

This is my fifth viewing of Follies. I caught the original Follies when I was 14 and remember saying afer this overly long intermissionless Follies. "What a waste of time-- watching a show
where people are discontented with their lives."

Now I am fifty and boy can I relate to missed chances, regrets,
and the road you didn't take almost too well. This musical was way ahead of its time.

There was no way I could appreciate this show at fifteen and the
intermissionless original made it quite tedious. Thank goodness from the London production on, they added an intermission.

Although this intermission was in a very odd place.

This production contained some of the best leads I have seen
Danny, Ron Raines, Bernadette and Jan Maxwell-- all very believable in their roles and in good voice unlike the Roundabout
production a few years back which had awful leads who could not sing.

It was a treat to have the formidable Linda Lavin and Terri White strutting their stuff. Love these two woman. It was moving to see perennial ingenue Susan Watson (Fantastikcs, Celebration, No No Nanette) starring in an aging ingenue role. Elaine Paige misses the boat a little in I'm Still Here.. just not her song, I'm afraid.

Oh and Bernadette really undersang and underplayed it but it worked. Her being ill explains a lot.

Colleen Fitzpatrik went on for Regine which according to this
blog... was a lucky shot. She was fine. Not great. Fine
I've seen the trio of , Rain on the Roof, Ah Paris, Broadway Baby and done better
but Linda Lavin saved the day on this one. Did they replace Regine or was this just a one time thing?

This Follies stands up on its own and really doesn't need comparison but I will compare anyway. What the hell!


The original Broadway version was long and tedious and over my 14 year old head.

The London Version was almost a different show. I remember
Eartha Kitt singing I'm Still here; being blown away by Evan Pappas as young Buddy. Julia McKenzie was lovely and Diana Rigg's undertudy went on. Wonderful joyful prodution. I think I enjoyed this one the most.

Saw it in Los Angeles with Patti Duke, Vikki Carr, and a host of other stars including Donna McKechnie doing an very impressive I'm Still Here. Patti Duke couldn't remember her "Lucy" Lines
but the chorus filled in and in all I enjoyed her performance as it had so many Hollywood Stars.


The least said about the last Broadwy Roundabout Revial the better-- Leads who could not sing and were totally unbelievable and miscast. It did have a few high spots such as Polly Bergen's
I'm Still Here which was thrilling.

Ok. This may be last Follies. I apparently need a life.

[Mamie]

Posted: 5/13/11 at 11:33am

Thanks PJ - that was a great description of a great song!

(I apologize if this shows up multiple times but I'm having all kinds of trouble getting this to post properly.)

I honestly can't put any blame on Regine because (here it comes - the unpardonable act of criticizing the master) I think "Ah, Paris" stinks. I hated it in the original production and I've hated it every time I've heard it since. I love the idea of having a former Follies Bergere showgirl in these Follies, but PLEASE Steve - give her something decent to sing! Give her a past. Make her interesting. Tell us why she left Paris despite loving it so much. Make her an Eartha Kitt. I don't know - do something. I just think this one song brings the whole show down and I always feel sorry for the actress who has to sing it.

More thoughts -

Loveland is wonderful but I couldn't help thinking how really fabulous it would have been on that larger stage. Those girls came out in those fabulous costumes and quickly crowded that smaller stage. I hope that when this moves to Broadway (as it must), that it's restaged for a larger (ie wider) stage.

I loved the younger versions of the 4 leads. They were wonderful singers, dancers and actors who really portrayed their older versions well.

I loved having the 'ghosts' remain wandering on the stage during the intermission. That darn place really did look haunted!

I'm really looking forward to my next performance in about a week and a half. I'll be sitting in a completely different location and I'm curious to see if I missed anything in the upper stage left. I got the feeling during some of the bits that there was something going on there (younger ghosts?) that I couldn't see from my location.

I'm also looking forward to sitting in a slightly better crowd. The people around me had no idea what the show was about and a couple decided they hated it after the first 15 minutes. I also found myself weeping as the first notes of music started and the first of the ghosts appeared. The guy sitting next to me couldn't understand it and asked me about it during the intermission. I had a hard time explaining it myself! I think I must have done some good though because he and his companion said they got a lot more out of it after the
second act. I can only hope.

[Katurian2]

Posted: 5/13/11 at 11:45am

haha, Mamie that's funny what you write about the audience! When I saw it the 1st evening, it seemed like everyone around me was a Certified Follies Expert- or at least projected that way. People were already debating how Loveland would go during intermission and how 'Bernadette usually does THIS different on THIS song...' it was quite funny.

I loved the intermission ghosts too! They were incredibly fierce and creepy- it was a nice touch.

[jewishboy]

Posted: 5/13/11 at 12:33pm

Pal Joey, thanks for that breakdown. I absolutely agree. I don't remember your thoughts on Christine Baranski's Carlotta, but I think she's come the closest since Yvonne DeCarlo at playing those actions/feelings you described. Not taking into account how she couldn't hit the last few notes of the song, I think she provided the audience with that information that needs to be understood in your interpretation. I'm excited to see what Elaine Paige does with it.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/13/11 at 1:51pm

People keep PM'ing me about the 1971 video footage, which they can't find in this thread, so I'm making a separate thread for it.

[choitoy]

Posted: 5/13/11 at 2:17pm

I think the main issue with "Ah, Paree!" is usually with the woman who is singing it.

I think it's a great and appropriate sounding pastiche number (and I love the little bits of humor in it "Athens with that lovely debris"). But if they get an actual older French lady to do the song, it's a really tricky song to sing (remembering all the words, pronouncing all of them right) when fighting against your own accent (Lilane Montevecchi had a bunch of trouble with this song in the concert, and the Papermill recording has the tempos slowed way down that takes all the fun out of the song, though Lilane was able to sing it beter on that recording).

And if you don't get an actual French actress/singer for the song, it doesn't seem to ring true to the song, which creates other problems. They have yet to find the right woman to get this song across well, and it's sad that people think it's a bad song because of this.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/13/11 at 2:47pm

I sort of agree with Mamie. "Ah, Paree" is a pastiche song with no double or deeper meaning. Every other major pastiche number Sondheim wrote for the show operates on two or three levels simultaneously, reflecting on the show's overall theme of survival and regret.

So "Who's That Woman" is not just the song they did back then. It also reflects (sorry!) on the way they are looking back now and wondering who they were back then.

"Broadway Baby" is a song about a cute young kid sung by a hardened old broad. (And many of those young kids back then sang as if they were hardened old broads, like Baby Rose Marie or Baby Jane Pickens.)

"One More Kiss" sung by an aging woman has a whole added poignancy. Even "Beautiful Girls" has an automatic double meaning when the processional is not the young beautiful girls of the Follies but older women.

So the only pastiche songs that don't reflect on the theme are "Ah, Paree" and "Rain on the Roof," which is in a less-important position in the show so it doesn't grate.

I happened to have loved Fifi D'Orsay and the song back then, but I agree with Mamie that Sondheim should have given her a better number.

Updated On: 5/13/11 at 02:47 PM

[Fred Casely]

Posted: 5/13/11 at 3:45pm

I have heard that any "Ah, Paree" performer is best described as "one of those people who are long on enthusiasm but short on talent". I have seen three performances of Follies, and none of the "Ah, Paris" ladies has been at all memorable. Regine completely is overshadowed but displayed no enthusiasm for the song at all. Even her hand gestures reeked of "the director told me to put my hand here, so I am".

[round2]

Posted: 5/13/11 at 5:05pm

This is my belated thank you to all who posted info and advice for transportation. Sounds like it's either Bolt or Vamoose bus for me. Much appreciated!

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/13/11 at 5:49pm

We're trying the DC2NY.com bus next week to see how it compares to Bolt.

[aasjb4ever]

Posted: 5/13/11 at 11:47pm

3 Pictures posted...not sure how to interpret them, it's a much different look then I thought they would be going for...I'll report back tomorrow night/Sunday morning and give some thoughts...

[JMVR]

Posted: 5/14/11 at 12:00am

Just saw the show. I don't want to repeat what has been said already; but overall incredible, and I agree with other posters who say Regine was subpar. I actually wonder if she was sober because she seemed to have no intention of selling the song or putting any sort of thought or feeling into it. And it's not exactly Rose's Turn, so how hard can it be to muster some enthusiasm for this short and silly number?

Elaine Paige was great but messed up the lyrics. Instead of "I've run the gamut A to Z .." she repeated "been called a pinko commie tool . . ." but she sold the song anyway.

Terri White and the "Who's that woman" number got a very long ovation, probably a minute and a half. Well-deserved, too.

Linda Lavin turned out to be a much better singer than I thought and it made wonder if she really was that terrible in Gypsy all those years ago.

Bernadette was great and seems to be getting over her allergies. Pollen count is very high in DC this week and I heard that she has been really struggling with this. It's supposed to rain all weekend and that will probably help her voice. Still, she was great tonight.

Everybody but Elaine Paige came out the stage door and signed and took pictures with the fans.

For those of you asking about buses, Megabus is a good option as well, they have wifi and drop you off near Union Station.

[SondheimFan5]

Posted: 5/14/11 at 12:07am

Not sure how I like the photos.....I think I like them?

Bernadette's hair: WIG or REAL? Can't tell in the photo (which I assume is Too Many Mornings)

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/14/11 at 12:29am

Linda Lavin was NOT terrible in Gypsy.

[aasjb4ever]

Posted: 5/14/11 at 12:41am

JMVR, was the stage door mobbed or dead? I want to gauge how quickly I should rush down from the balcony after tonight's performance.