The Official Kennedy Center FOLLIES Thread — Page 26

Also, if anyone is wondering, Danny, Terri, Regine, Susan, and Elaine signed after the matinee.

If they can shell out millions of dollars for pieces of crap like "Spider Man", "In My Life", and "Wonderbland", they can shell out millions of dollars for this show.

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Oh, my apologies. Was just trying to say that investors SHOULD be throwing millions of dollars at this show.

But please keep going.

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Mamie makes an excellent point.

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That's why it works better without an intermission, like PalJoey mentioned earlier. The entire show is barreling toward "Loveland" and an intermission screws with the momentum.

HOWEVER...

This would require some rewriting of the book, but I've always thought that, if there HAS to be an intermission, a perfect thematic place to put it would be as follows:

* Bring the first-act curtain down at the end of "Who's That Woman?" (And send the audience out cheering.)

* Open the second act with "I'm Still Here"--the last-minute song that perfectly sums up the entire musical, the way the last-minute songs Sondheim wrote for Sunday and Into the Woods sum them up.

I don't remember if they ever tried this. I'll have to check Chapin's book to see if they did.

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That's sounds a perfectly acceptable and equivalent alternative to what exists now, methinks, but still the most effective choice is no intermission at all.

AT ALL, GUYS.

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That's hot.

Also, P.J., it required a good deal of self-control to not snatch up a pillow. Your having one is enough for me. But they are fabulous, and I haven't been intrigued by merch since '98.

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I agree about the intermission. They need to rethink it, because getting back into the show before "The Right Girl" is just...all wrong. I'm still here might be a good opening, but then we'd have to start Act II with that dreary Bed/Phyllis, Buddy/Sally fight before it. Also not good.

Saw it Saturday. I loved it, particularly Jan Maxwell, Bernadette Peters, and especially Danny Burstein. I've never felt much for Buddy until this production. Maxwell was pitch perfect, and I enjoyed Bernadette maybe a smidgen less than I wanted to. I think she has a perfectly valid approach, though. A friend said she wished she had been a bit more bug-eyed crazy in Act 2, and that's valid.

The whole business about her red dress is silly, I think, since it's obvious that her dress is far, far less fancy than those on the women surrounding her.

The staging: eh, especially in the second act. The Roundabout production, for all its faults, staged the second act sequence before and after One More Kiss far more effectively, with all the parties onstage (or so I remember) and attention focusing back and forth between them, like a dream. At Kennedy Center, it was just: actors on, scene, actors off; repeat. Boring.

Who's That Woman was thrilling. I especially enjoyed the choreography, which I feared would disappoint. Elaine Page's conversational tone during I'm Still Here was bizarre. She belted the last note like I wished she had belted the whole song, and I wish she hadn't had a smile on her face for the whole second half.

Rain on the Roof/Ah, Paris/Broadway Baby just don't work without the montage ending, or an ending like they did in Follies in Concert. Why are they trotting out these folks to do three songs in a row? And the way its staged here makes it worse. There needs to be something tying it all together.

Buddy's Blues was phenomenal, Lucy and Jessie super fun (even though it was clear Jan Maxwell was less than confident). The Loveland transformation was way too abrupt. Did they even do the trumpet fanfare that usually comes after the drumroll? I didn't hear it.

And can someone explain why I've read here that the way "Too Many Mornings" is staged, Sally's "green dress" line makes no sense? I don't understand.

Updated On: 6/13/11 at 04:55 PM

"Story/plot" wise, I think the intermission is in the most effective spot. Sally and Ben get lost in the past. Sally finally gets her wish - being kissed by Ben in his arms. Buddy (and Young Buddy at Kennedy Center) walks in, and is betrayed by the past and present. It's the right moment, in my opinion.

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About 2.5 hours.