The Official Kennedy Center FOLLIES Thread- Page 9

[round2]

Posted: 5/11/11 at 11:27pm

Excited to be going 5/22! Anyone from NY have recommendations for travel? Amtrak is shockingly expensive. Considering bus or rental car at this point...

[Katurian2]

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

Bolt Bus is a great option- always reliable with good dropoff points & free wifi. I use it all the time traveling back and forth, and if you book early enough you can get a seat for around $20.

Fantastic review, Finch! So exciting to see it get its first stamp of approval from someone who saw the original.

Updated On: 5/11/11 at 11:32 PM

[CockeyedOptimist2]

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

Take the Bolt Bus down to DC. 4 and a half hours, $25 each way at the most, but less if you book early. Can take it from 33rd and 7th in NYC to Union Station or Metro Center in DC. The bus has wifi and better legroom than any of the other DC-NY buses that I've taken. I highly recommend it and will be doing the same thing when I go down to see Follies.

[Finch]

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

Vamoose Bus -- it departs at 7th and 31st [one block past the Garden] or
Bolt or
Greyhound or
Tripper

Usually between $1 to $30 each way [depends on when reservations are made] -- about 4 hours

JPF

[Katurian2]

Posted: 5/11/11 at 11:43pm

From my own personal experience, I would say avoid Greyhound. The seats are completely cramped, and I've had them cancel without warning on my twice now. Even if its the cheapest option, I always avoid it. And if you are going straight to the show from the bus, taking one to Metro Center is best, as that is the metro station that is serviced by the lines that are closest to the Kennedy Center (Foggy Bottom/GWU on the orange/blue line).

[jacobp]

Posted: 5/11/11 at 11:55pm

Ok here goes.

Took Bolt bus (15 dollars) at 730 am....got us in at 12. Pretty smooth sailing. Went to the Kennedy Center about a 5-10 minute cab ride.

The Show-1:30pm Matinee

Wow. I read Everything Was Possible by Ted Chapin last year and it changed my life, so naturally I was so ready to see a full production of Follies in all its glory. The set took OVER the theater. It was so stunning and beautiful. Then the Prologue began and the ghosts began coming in and I just started to cry...it was beautiful.

Bernadette was sick, but she was still on top of it. She was a great Sally. The casting on a whole was great. They really hit the mark on so many levels and there were a lot of moments that overwhelmed me to tears when I didn't expect it to....namely the moment where the drop...drops and reveals Loveland.....took my breath away.

My MINOR issues. Regine sang Ah Paris! and I didn't know a single damn word of what she said.....a single word. Also, I LOVE Dee Hoty's Could I leave You ...its bitter, strong, impassioned and in your face....Jan Maxwell's was different...not necessarily BAD at ALL...just different...breathier, more hurting...I think we see the hurt lover in Sally and we need a strong female moment with Phyllis. Danny Burstein was GREAT in this straight-man role....but he came off as a bit younger than the other 3.

I loved this production so much. If I can I'll make the trip back. It was well worth it and I think its only going to get better....let me know if you have any questions.

[ljay889]

Posted: 5/11/11 at 11:59pm

Jeeze, Bernadette's vocals really seem to depend on the day.

[Finch]

Posted: 5/12/11 at 12:13am

Somehow I feel that I am a curse to BP's health durning a performance. When we saw Annie Get Your Gun in DC tryout, she had one hell of a cold--yet she went on; at Gypsy, it was the height of NY allergy season--she went on and was great[not as reats as Merman or Lupone or Landsbury, but better than Daly -- yes, I'vwe seen all 5 (plus the Middler TV version, and the elementary schoiol . . Russell movie)-- and Today, she had a runny nose--she went on. Hey, but cold or no cold -- We're both still here!

JPF

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 5/12/11 at 12:23am

I didn't know Bernadette was sick but I suppose that explains why it felt like she was really holding back today. Other than that, I adored the production. From the second the overture started (and I do consider this to be the greatest and most emotional overture ever composed for the musical theater) until the curtain call, I was just amazed. Everything I want to say about it has been said numerous times in this thread. I'm sure I can come up with much more articulate things to say after I sleep. I did spend 9 hours on a bus today so I'm a bit exhausted. But I do need to go back and see this again before it closes.

[ljay889]

Posted: 5/12/11 at 12:26am

Jordan, where is that view from?

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 5/12/11 at 12:27am

The last row of the balcony.

[ljay889]

Posted: 5/12/11 at 12:28am

Whoa! Looks like an amazing view for the balcony.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 5/12/11 at 12:28am

The balcony is only 7 rows so it's pretty fantastic.

[jacobp]

Posted: 5/12/11 at 12:38am

i tried to get a picture but i couldnt you got one! I was second row balcony its a great view!

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 5/12/11 at 12:39am

I'm just that amazing. :)

Posted: 5/12/11 at 1:32am

" Crap. Thanks PJ.

This will be my first time seeing a physical production of Follies and I'm very excited, even without Bennett's choreography.

any reason as to why the choreo is not tied to this production as it is "A Chorus Line" and other Bennett shows?"

I have to say, even though I'm one of those obnoxious people who think the original choreography should nearly always be used, particularly when it's Bennett, the clips of choreography and the description of Who's That Woman make it sound like they did a good job. As I think PJ said, Who's That Woman has never been the great number it should be in any other production I've seen (Kathleen Marshall's version particularly comes to mind which misses the point completely) but...

As PJ said Avian when he choreographed the London production used some of Bennett's work, most notably Who's That Woman which was *almost* complete. The Papermill production was I believe choreographed by Mitchell, but it did use the *full* (ie slightly more complete than the London) Who's That Woman, though I've no idea who did the reconstruction--if it was Jerry, Avian, or? You can see both versions on "that site" I think.

As to your later question--I always try to get specifics on that. Robbins is one of the few choreographers who does have his work protected, at least for his last three major shows, WSS, Gypsy and Fiddler... Which I think is great, though I admit it gets silly when people try to do a different take on any of these musicals, like some recent Fiddlers, and still have to shoe horn in his choreography, which really most suits the original direction. I don't believe this is required with any of his earlier shows (many of which like On the Town have had their choreography lost anyway), although most times they do try to use his Uncle Tom's ballet for King and I.

Otherwise Chorus Line seems to be the only other show that has this rule. Bob Fosse never really cared (just like he didn't even much care about having film records of his choreography--that aspect of the legacy just didn't seem to matter to him), although I wish the last Sweet Charity had been forced to use his choreography considering what we got... Lots of people use Agnes DeMille's work for Oklahoma but it's not required, and her other work is barely used at all... Same for most of the big names, Kidd, etc...

As for Bennett--again I wish that Promises Promises had had to use his choreography--check out the new Turkey Lurkey to see how lacking it was--not to mention what was done to Dreamgirls in the last production even though most of Dreamgirls' original choreography was actually by Michael Peters, and I'd love to have his Side By Side, Drive a Person Crazy and especially Tick Tock in every Company, but Chorus Line seems to be the only one held to that rule...

And yes that was an exceptionally long ramble that's pretty off topic, so sorry--back to the topic.

And for the record, I agree that a non dancing Buddy, while not essential, does diminish his role. The Right Girl isn't a full on book song and isn't meant to be literal or realistic (just as many moments before Loveland goes all out, aren't meant to be)--so the dancing doesn't seem out of place as some suggest at all IMHO (to say so would be to say so does I'm Still Here, or even many of the ghost/memory moments). Updated On: 5/12/11 at 01:32 AM

[fashionguru_23]

Posted: 5/12/11 at 1:45am

My thought about the choreography debate is when show's dance is a KEY, driven factor of the show, use it (ie. A Chorus Line, West Side Story). If it is a show that doesn't have dance at the forefront (ie. Gypsy, Promises Promises, or Fiddler), let a new choreographer come in and create their own language of dance for the show. How boring would some shows be if after seeing 3 different incarnations, you could do the choreography with the dancers? Let something new grow.

Posted: 5/12/11 at 1:57am

I get that point, and while I find these choreographers' work as important and exciting as the scores and books for these shows, and arguably as important, I think there's room for both approaches. But where do you draw the line? Certainly I think choreography IS the key to Sweet Charity--if you track down a recording of the 80s Fosse revival which was mainly a reconstruction of the original, you see that every single scene change, and over 3/4 of the show is choreographed by him. But Fosse didn't seem to care about his legacy (Reinking's Chicago choreographydone in his style uses some of his original--and the Hot Honey Rag is a complete reconstruction as a tribute, but otherwise it's just using his vocabulary--)/

With Follies the dance numbers were often, as described in Everything was Possible written to accomodate choreographic ideas (Lucy and Jesse being a keyexample).

Michael Bennett (the poster here, not the choreographer )raised a great point that the productions that are known to keep their original choreography in every major production were all massive hits (though that doesn't explain why Dreamgirls doesn't--but Bennett estate only seems to care about Chorus Line).

I don't agree personally though that you couldn't reuse elements of Bennett's production in future productions cuz of smaller casts--Who's That Woman is almost always done with the same number of older and ghost women, for example and most of his other major dance pieces are either intimate (The Right Girl, Bolero D'Amour) or could be done easily with a few less dancers as they're mainly unison numbers (Lucy and Jesse, Love Live Laugh).

Jordan C I look forward to hearing more of your thoughts--but that photo alone makes me really wish I could see this! Updated On: 5/12/11 at 01:57 AM

[SondheimFan5]

Posted: 5/12/11 at 8:38am

Wow, according to Ron Raines's facebook, Placido Domingo was there last night!!

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 5/12/11 at 9:03am

So the most important question this week obviously is Peters still wearing the slinky red dress?

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 5/12/11 at 9:30am

Yep. And she looks gorgeous in it.

The more I listen to, I mean THINK about her performance it seems more like distinct character choices she's made in how she sings and acts instead of her being under the weather. It's very interesting.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/12/11 at 9:54am

I too want the answer about Bernadette's party dress!

The answer to why some choreography is tied to the productions is contractual. Jerry Robbins (actually, his lawyer, Floria Lasky) was able to negotiate a percentage of the writers' revenue and copyright on West Side/Gypsy/Fiddler. That's why the "Jerry Robbins box" that says "Entire Production Conceived, Directed and Choreographed by Jerome Robbins" rankled Arthur (and other writers) so much. It was seen by Arthur as an incursion onto the writer's creative space, an insult in terms of billing as well as in terms of money.

Sometimes I think that Arthur hated Jerry more for taking writing credit than for naming names at the House Un-American Activities Commission hearings. But calling Robbins a snitch got Arthur more support than complaining that Jerry didn't deserve credit.

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.

Updated On: 5/12/11 at 09:54 AM

[Katurian2]

Posted: 5/12/11 at 11:25am

From what little footage of the original I've seen, I did notice some similarities between the two, so it's not as if the sense of the original has been completely lost. The Blues video that was posted earlier for example has Buddy starting at the top of the curtain and then zipping down & stepping out- the same is done in this production (only clown-car less). In the footage of 'Who's That Woman,' it appeared that the 'young' versions and the current characters joined side by side together in a circle dancing together at one point- the same is done w/Kennedy Center's, only the major effect is in a line that amazingly switches back & forth in 'reflections' of itself- REALLY cool (I actually like it better than the circle, but like many, I'm a sucker for a dance line). I think the production sits exactly where I would like it to on the spectrum of keeping some of the spirit of the original, while not copying the choreography so much as to be slavishly bound down.

Updated On: 5/12/11 at 11:25 AM

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 5/12/11 at 11:58am

Great choreography discussion youse guys.
Don't get me started on Gower Champion...

[bwayfan7000]

Posted: 5/12/11 at 12:22pm

I'm on the verge of giving in and indulging myself with a ticket to this, even though seating is very limited for what's left. What number seat did you have, Jordan? On a lot of the performances I'm looking at, the last row of the balcony about halfway through the side rows are available, and, looking at the picture you posted, might not be bad seats...