Why didn't the 2001 FOLLIES get recorded?

[ljay889]

Posted: 11/15/08 at 9:25pm

Was it ever planned? It's really the only major Sondheim Broadway production that wasn't recorded.


Was it because the complete Papermill recording was released only a couple years before that?

Anyone?
Updated On: 11/15/08 at 09:25 PM

[Ed_Mottershead]

Posted: 11/15/08 at 9:31pm

The Roundabout production just wasn't all that good, particularly with the Paper Mill having been done recently and being fresh in people's minds. Mind you, I'm not saying the Paper Mill was perfect (it wasn't), but it was light years ahead of the Roundabout production. I truly believe that Follies cries out for a lavish production and Roundabout's version was anything but lavish. And there's just too many Follies out there (OBR, London, Paper Mill, '85 concert) that are better performed. IMO.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 11/15/08 at 10:26pm

2 words: IT SUCKED!

[nobodyhome]

Posted: 11/15/08 at 10:34pm

It was said at the time that Sondheim had signed an agreement with the company that recorded the Paper Mill production stipulating that there wouldn't be another recording of the score for a certain number of years. I have no idea if that's true.

Had the Roundabout production been a success, it might have caused a problem.

[LadyRosecoe]

Posted: 11/15/08 at 11:07pm

That staircase was such an abomination. It looks like something that stagehands would use off-stage to make repairs in the wings or so, rather than a staircase to display a number of women on.

[madlibrarian]

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

Ditto to what nobodyhome said. Plus (rumor says) that Paper Mill production was intended to move on to Broadway, which would have made that Paper Mill recording the de facto OBC. So perhaps the contract forbade any other Broadway cast album of Follies for a period of time.
Updated On: 11/15/08 at 11:15 PM

[ljay889]

Posted: 11/15/08 at 11:51pm

Interesting. Judith Ivey's LOSING MY MIND deserved to be recorded.

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 11/16/08 at 8:31am

BrodyFosse123, I don't understand your post.

You say "IT SUCKED!" and you proceed to post a bunch of photos? Huh?

It seems like posting photos is all you're capable of doing on this board.

Do you have an opinion on the production? Did you see it?

[PalJoey]

Posted: 11/16/08 at 10:41am

Threads about this horrendous experience just give me Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 11/16/08 at 11:33am

I always like to post photos simply to enhance the topic being discussed. I feel that by doing this it helps give some visual scope of what is being discussed, especially to those reading the comments who are unfamiliar with the show or who have never seen anything regarding the discussed show, etc.

I didn't like the 2001 revival of many reasons, the large one being the production itself. It looked and felt 'empty'. The minimalistic approach to the revival just didn't cut it -- you wanted more. Even the musical numbers just laid there. No magic whatsoever.

Walking into the banged-up interior of the Belasco gave you some false hope. You assumed if they carried the tone of the musical's essence out into the house this was going to be one big whopper of a show. Then the musical starts and its a dark stage literally the entire show. Aside from seeing Betty Garrett, Polly Bergen and a few others... you just lost any interest in what was going on. Gregory Harrison and Treat Williams looked like Blythe Danner and Judith Ivey's older sons, which didn't help at all... and that Weisman staircase. Did they expect us to be wowed by that?

It was simply a revival that never should have happened. If you're going to do FOLLIES, do it right. Paper Mill Playhouse did and the fact that people are still talking about it speaks for itself.

[jv92]

Posted: 11/16/08 at 2:01pm

I'll second Brody. It did indeed suck. The leads were miscast. The production was ugly. And it had an intermission! Can we just stop putting an intermission in the middle of Follies?! It doesn't need an intermission!
Updated On: 11/16/08 at 02:01 PM

[madbrian]

Posted: 11/16/08 at 4:08pm

I am a huge fan of Follies, and I dragged my wife to this revival. She hasn't forgiven me yet.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 11/16/08 at 4:28pm

MUST we continue to discuss it? PLEASE! I beg of you all.

DON'T MAKE ME REMEMBER THIS REVIVAL!

PLEAAAAAAAAASE!

[jv92]

Posted: 11/16/08 at 4:35pm

Alright Pal Joey. Onto a happy topic-
How fabulous was Alexis back in 1971?

[madbrian]

Posted: 11/16/08 at 4:39pm

Quick, PJ, put on your DVD of the 1980s concert with Cook, Stritch, Burnett, Remick, Newman, Comden & Green, Hearn, Patinkin, etc. It'll help.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 11/16/08 at 4:40pm

THIS good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TxLGIdv85I

(Thank you, jv.)

[nobodyhome]

Posted: 11/16/08 at 4:57pm

"Quick, PJ, put on your DVD of the 1980s concert with Cook, Stritch, Burnett, Remick, Newman, Comden & Green, Hearn, Patinkin, etc. It'll help."

Sorry, but that was awful. I sat there thinking, "Why is everyone going wild? This isn't the show, this is a bunch of songs being performed by a bunch of talented people, most of whom are miscast and almost all of whom are underrehearsed. It's not the show, and it's not even a good performance of what it is. And I can live without Patinkin and Hearn generally, even though I can see that they're talented."

[jv92]

Posted: 11/16/08 at 5:00pm

Hearn and Patinkin were very badly miscast. Cook and Remick? Absolutely not. Had Follies run longer in its original run, Lee could have replaced Alexis Smith when she went off to LA. She was perfect for Phyllis.

[nobodyhome]

Posted: 11/16/08 at 5:46pm

I do think that Remick and Cook were both well-cast. In fact, shortly before the concert was announced, the Collector's Sondheim came out. One night I was listening to Remick's "There Won't Be Trumpets" (that was the first time it had been issued) with some friends and I said, "Hey, she'd be ideal casting for Phyllis in Follies if there's ever a revival." But I think both Remick and Cook weren't as good as they could have been and would have been with more time and more book. I love Cook, but especially her "Losing My Mind" was like a cabaret performance of the song, not like Sally singing it.

Remick would have been too young to play Phyllis in the original production unless it ran 10 years or more.

Perhaps it's overstating to say that most of the performers were miscast. But some certainly were and it was just a very disappointing evening, at least it was for me.

[jv92]

Posted: 11/16/08 at 5:48pm

Oh, that's true. She would have been too young. I don't think Comden and Green were miscast though. Stritch, though I love her to bits, really took all the joy out of "Broadway Baby." Did she really have to take the tempo that slowly?

[BNN]

Posted: 11/16/08 at 5:56pm

After discovering the other recordings of Follies, the concert one doesn't really hold up. I really don't like a single person's performance outside of Comden & Green, Cook, and Remick. One More Kiss is also probably one of the only other listenable songs for me as well, as Licia Albanese has that faded-glory soprano sound that I've always associated with Heidi. Elaine Stritch's Broadway Baby is nice, but as it was stated before, the tempo is so sluggish but I can't recall if that was her idea.

THE ENDING! Ah, the book is ridiculous.

Example:
Buddy: Sally, you alright?
Sally: I don't know, I guess so. Will you take me home?

ARE. YOU. KIDDING ME.

In summary, I find the concert recording a bit dissapointing but I do like that we are talking about Follies again! I have the Entertainment Weekly review of the 2001 Follies on my wall and they gave it a B+, I didn't see it but it sounds like alot of you disagree.

Updated On: 11/16/08 at 05:56 PM

[jv92]

Posted: 11/16/08 at 6:17pm

The ending is Herb Ross' fault. He thought the original ending was "too downbeat." DUH! What did you expect to happen after a two hour long musical comedy nervous breakdown? A happy ending? Sondheim and Goldman could have easily nixed him on that, but Goldman was starting to second guess his brilliant original book and Sondheim probably didn't want any arguments.

[morosco]

Posted: 11/16/08 at 6:45pm

Who's That Woman from the misguided 2001 FOLLIES

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 11/16/08 at 6:48pm

I saw the original & Mrs R did not

This was her introduction to the show. It was better than nothing.

[Mosca]

Posted: 11/16/08 at 6:56pm

I did enjoy this production, but no where near the original! We will never see that again!