Wow - Encores is doing FOLLIES — Page 4

I read that the actors do not get paid for their performances for the Encore shows, is that true?

I must be forgetting; what signficant parts of the Kismet score were cut? I know that score well and I don't remember major cuts.

From the very beginning (or at least near the beginning) Encores hasn't always done compete versions of the scores. One Touch of Venus cut most of Weill's ballet music, cuts that were far more significant and objectionable than any cuts in Kismet. (That's not to defend the presentation of Kismet, which wasn't very good.) If you want to complain about Encores making cuts to the scores, that's fine and I'll complain with you, but Gemignani can't be blamed for instituting it as a new practice there.

As for Fisher conducting a show, wasn't it announced from the beginning that Fisher would be coming back from time to time? Gemignani conducted Do Re Mi. and nobody called for Fisher's resignation. Guest conductors are common with all orchestras and the return of Fisher to Encores is inevitable and even good.

I don't love Gemignani myself, but he has been doing some good things, like trying to come up with a better setup for the orchestra and less amplification.

None of this is to defend the choice of Follies when so many worthy shows are still waiting to be done. But it's the revue that seems far more questionable.

But I also question whether doing Follies was even his idea. I wouldn't be surprised at all if it was Viertel's idea.

Updated On: 7/4/06 at 01:48 PM

There's no amount of money I wouldn't pay to see Walken do Buddy's Blues--since he really can dance!

Donna would make an excellent Sally as well...

I like Dick and Mary doing Rain on the Roof as well--too bad we couldn't have Debbie Reynolds and Donald O'Connor--how about Debbie and Tommy Rall?

EDIT: Two other possibilities: Rita and George Chakiris or Jane Powell and Russ Tamblyn?

Updated On: 7/4/06 at 02:48 PM

Munk, I've linked his review of the 1998 Paper Mill production. Here are the first and last paragraphs. In the first, he admits to not appreciating the 1971 original production, and in the last, you'll find the quote you cited:

"I shamefacedly admit that, like some colleagues, I did not in 1971 recognize the greatness of Follies. I now see that Follies is the kind of show irresistible to anyone who has lived long enough to fathom the meaning of aging, lost youth, mortality, and the magnificent though Pyrrhic victory of not going gentle into that good night. The show potently accumulates meaning from all our losses, from all our gallant last-ditch stands. Never mind Flo Ziegfeld, and mourn for two incomparable stars whose luster the show now subsumes: Alexis Smith and Lee Remick. Were there ever two more maturely beautiful women on our stages, more ladylike and sexy, more aglitter yet accessible, more totally theatrical and not the least bit stagy? Where are you now, Alexis and Lee, you two marvelous Phyllises of the 1971 premiere and the 1985 concert revival? You are built into the accruing glory that is Follies, as surely as Daphne lives in the olive tree, as Andromeda lights up the sky."

...

"Which brings us back to Sondheim, whose supreme masterpiece this is -- a kind of King Lear of musical comedy. In a just and wiser world, it is not Les Miz, Phantom, and Cats that would be forever; instead, there would be one sold-out theater playing Follies always. Always."
New York Magazine - John Simon

---

Yes, that too. Cats, Phantom and Les Miz didn't exist yet.

---

Victoria Clark as Sally

Dick Van Dyke as Weiseman

Love Debbie and Donald doing RAIN ON THE ROOF.

The actors do get paid for rehearsals and performances but not a whole lot.

Isn't Donald O'Connor dead? How about Debbie Reynolds and Carleton Carpenter?

How about Carol Channing as Hattie? Can you imagine her singing "Broadway Baby"!

---

Honestly, Donald O'Connor,even dead, is a less crazy idea than some of the casting suggestions that have appeared on various theatre chat rooms and message groups.

Sally: Meryl Streep
Phyllis: Sigourney Weaver
Ben: Kevin Kline
Buddy: Christopher Walken
Carlotta: Angela Lansbury (sentimental) or Sharon Stone (appropriate).
Hattie: Carol Channing
Solonge: Leslie Caron
Stella: Liza Minnelli
Heidi: Jane Powell
The Whtimans: Mitzi Gaynor and Russ Tamblyn

or, more realistically:

Sally: Christine Ebersole
Phyllis: Donna Murphy
Ben: James Naughton
Buddy: Harry Groener
Carlotta: Diahann Carroll
Hattie: Jane Connell
Stella: Judy Kaye
Heidi: Rita Gardner
Solonge: Ann Reinking
The Whitmans: Lee Roy Reems and Bonnie Franklin

Updated On: 7/4/06 at 08:05 PM

MB, you REALLY think Sharon Stone is more appropriate for "I'm Still Here"? SHE would certainly think she's nowhere near old enough to be in this show--and she isn't--and she has hardly been through anything--a couple of so-so movies and no stage experience at all?

Would sell tix in a Melanie Griffith-train wreck kinda way, but no real theatre person would want to see Sharon Stone do anything, much less sing Sondheim.

I do like Lee Roy Reams and Bonnie btw...good call...and Mitzi and Russ--I just love him--had a huge crush on him all through my formative years--such a cutie!

How about Twiggy and Tommy as the Whitmans?

Lil dogs - You should compare Stone's career to Yvonne DeCarlo who the song was written for and largely about. People mistakenly think that Carlotta is an old grande dame, who is reflecting on her life. That isn't true. She is a contemporary of Phyllis and Sally who is enduring the day to day glorious and absurdities of being a rather B list celebrity. It's not a song of reflection but of survival.

I can think of no other Hollywood actress who fits that kind of description. Stone has gone from being the "it" girl to "washed up" to "camp icon" in the course of her career.

I can't resist the delight in what Lansbury would do with "I'm Still Here," but if you go by the actual script: absolutely, I think Stone is more right for the role, and at 49 years old, she's actually the exact age given for the character in the description.

And yes, Stone does sing. She's been working on an album of original songs.

POSTCRIPT: Yes, some of those choices are a "little" young; though I think they are the same "relative" ages of the leads in the Philharmonic production. I actually think if Patti LuPone wants to be in this - Stella is her role. She's really not a Carlotta, Phyllis or Sally.

French actress, Zizi Jeanmaire was talked about for the Roundabout production - she'd make a fine Salonge. I'd also love to see Elizabeth Seal. Or if they want real authenticity: French musical comedy queen, Annie Cordy.

Updated On: 7/4/06 at 10:03 PM

I get what you're saying, MB, but Lansbury was actually alive to remember Brenda Frazier. And I agree, Stone is an old-school movie star, best remembered for flashing her goodies in 1992. That was only 14 years ago--hardly a lifetime of ups and downs....yes, Sharon has done alot of good works in her life and should be lauded for it, and yes, I know she had a cameo in Stardust Memories, but she hasn't careered from career to career. You gotta make it through more than one decade to win me over. And Sharon still wants to play the sexpot, as the BI sequel proves--more like Joan Crawford than Yvonne DeCarlo.

To me, Follies is a musical about the form itself and it's misleading promises--a nightmare in which we see ourselves age and weaken, even the most beautiful and agile falter and fall. There is no such thing as happily ever after (a recurring Sondheim theme) and as such, using true Broadway or film legends who have both blossomed and aged in the public eye has a poignancy (is that a word like striven?) that can't be matched. Like casting Betty Garrett in the revival--sure, there were/are better actresses for the role, but Betty brings an authenticity to a role like Hattie that can't be matched--it's that special little something that can't be replicated by even the most peerless of performers.

And though Sharon is 48, she certainly doesn't look it, doesn't present herself like it, and probably doesn't want people to think of her when they think of, shall we say "mature" actresses.

That being said, she'd probably be just fine--but no way would I prefer her to Angela, or any other of the suggestions that have been posted on the board. It's not that it's a bad idea, it just seems to go against what the show (not the character) is about. And I always thought that Phyllis should be the one who most closely resembles her young self, which is why Lucy and Jesse or Ah! But Underneath works...she isn't the glamour gal she pretends and appears to be.