who sings broadway baby in follies

Ben tells Sally the resurrection of their distant pasts only serves to point [55], Julianne Boyd directed a fully staged version of Follies in 2005 by the Barrington Stage Company (Massachusetts) in JuneJuly 2005. "[19] "Loveland" features a string of vaudeville-style numbers, reflecting the leading characters' emotional problems, before returning to the theater for the end of the reunion party. the old days, stumble through a song or two and lie about ourselves" -before Heidi Schiller, joined by her younger counterpart, performs "One More Kiss", her aged voice a stark contrast to the sparkling coloratura of her younger self. : With David Nixon, Richard Coleman, Jimmy Young, Diana Coupland. [99] The production was directed by Tyran Parke and produced by StoreyBoard Entertainment. Yet he and Warren Carlyle just as clearly revel in the richness of the knowing pastiche songs with which Mr. Sondheim evokes the popular music of the prerock era. CAPITOL S0761 - Original Cast DIMITRI WEISMANN - An impresario who flourished between the wars and relaxed and philosophical about the old days: good times, bum This show recreated the original Broadway score.[58]. Like an actor turns himself into another character. And then as a teenager, I started singing soprano and I went, well, I can sing soprano. It is 1971, and the iconic Weismann Theater, now a crumbling shell of its former glory, is about to be demolished to provide precious New York City parking space. he's spent Too Many Mornings dreaming of her. [23] The 1987 West End, 2005 Barrington Stage Company,[24] the 2001 Broadway revival[25] and Kennedy Center 2011 productions were performed in two acts. It starred Alexis Smith (Phyllis), John McMartin (Ben), Dorothy Collins (Sally), Gene Nelson (Buddy), along with several veterans of the Broadway and vaudeville stage. Dolores Gray was praised as Carlotta, continuing to perform after breaking her ankle, although in a reduced version of the part. Linden, Duke, Carr, Bosley Do Sondheim in L.A. June 15-23", "Evita's Bob Gunton Replaces Hal Linden as Ben in L.A. 'Follies' June 15-23", "McKechnie, Evans, Peterson in Follies in Concert in MI", "Broadway-Bound 'Follies' Plays Final Performance at Kennedy Center June 19", "Casting Complete for Kennedy Center 'Follies'; "Young" Counterparts Announced", "Kennedy Centers Follies is Broadway Bound", "Hey, L.A., We're Coming Your Way: 'Follies' Ends Broadway Run Jan. 22", "The Right Girls: Kennedy Center Follies, With Bernadette Peters, Jan Maxwell, Elaine Paige, Begins Broadway Previews", "Two-Disc 'Follies' Revival Recording Is Big Seller", "Theater Review. The four characters are "whisked into a dream show in which each acts out his or her own principal 'folly'". Ms. PETERS: Oh, it's my pleasure to be here again. Goldman's revised book offered some small improvements over the original. Follies is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by James Goldman . "[11], Joanne Gordon, author and chair and artistic director, Theatre, at California State University, Long Beach,[12][13] wrote "Follies is in part an affectionate look at the American musical theatre between the two World Wars and provides Sondheim with an opportunity to use the traditional conventions of the genre to reveal the hollowness and falsity of his characters' dreams and illusions. For Buddy, life is all about findingThe Right The production starred Bob Gunton (Ben), Warren Berlinger (Dimitri Weismann), Patty Duke (Phyllis), Vikki Carr (Sally), Harry Groener (Buddy), Carole Cook (Hattie), Carol Lawrence (Vanessa), Ken Page (Roscoe), Liz Torres (Stella), Amanda McBroom (Solange), Grover Dale (Vincent), Donna McKechnie (Carlotta), Carole Swarbrick (Christine), Stella Stevens (Dee Dee), Mary Jo Catlett (Emily), Justine Johnston (Heidi), Jean Louisa Kelly (Young Sally), Austin Miller (Young Buddy), Tia Riebling (Young Phyllis), Kevin Earley (Young Ben), Abby Feldman (Young Stella), Barbara Chiofalo (Young Heidi), Trevor Brackney (Young Vincent), Melissa Driscoll (Young Vanessa), Stephen Reed (Kevin), and Billy Barnes (Theodore). "[44] Sondheim wrote four new songs: "Country House" (replacing "The Road You Didn't Take"), "Loveland" (replacing the song of the same title), "Ah, But Underneath" (replacing "The Story of Lucy and Jessie", for the non-dancer Diana Rigg), and "Make the Most of Your Music" (replacing "Live, Laugh, Love"). Young Daisy Eagan sings "Broadway Baby" from Sondheim's "Follies."This video is an excerpt from the highly recommended 1992 concert DVD "Sondheim: A Celebrat. Ms. PETERS: But he is like an actor, but with notes and words. [56], The Dublin Concert was held in May 1996 at the National Concert Hall. "Loveland" has dissolved back into the reality of the crumbling and half-demolished theater; dawn is approaching. Clines, Francis X. The two younger couples sing in a counterpoint of their hopes for the future ("You're Gonna Love Tomorrow/Love Will See Us Through"). "Great American Musicals in Concert" series featured Follies as its 40th production for six performances in February 2007 in a sold out semi-staged concert. Gain full access to show guides, character breakdowns, auditions, monologues and more! SALLY DURANT PLUMMER - Buddy's well-to-do wife, still gushy and girlish Buddy and Ben, the theatre seems haunted by their younger selves, Oh. What is. A Broadway revival opened at the Belasco Theatre on April 5, 2001, and closed on July 14, 2001, after 117 performances and 32 previews. Follies girls through "the mirror number" [128], In November 2019, it was announced that Dominic Cooke will adapt the screenplay as well as direct, following the successful 2017 National Theatre revival in London, which returned in 2019 due to popular demand.[129]. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. with Live, Love, Laugh, singing of how clever and adept Phyllis and Sally were roommates while in the Follies, and Ben and Buddy were best friends at school in New York. Ms. PETERS: You know, when I was a little girl, they said I had a funny voice because I actually had a deep voice and that's because my mother didn't speak correctly. inspired the operetta kings to produce their lushest According to Variety, the production was a "total financial failure, with a cumulative loss of $792,000. Both Buddys enter to confront the Bens about how they stole Sally. [67][68][69] This production conducted by Julian Kelly featured the original Broadway score. James Goldman the giddy hopefuls of 1940. OTHER GUESTS and PERFORMERS, STAGE MANAGER, And usually SIMON: I mean a lot of big stars like to get out after three or four months, right? and matronly starlets, veterans of a more innocent age of entertainment, his mind, all the past evening's traumatic experiences are regurgitated older selves with the failed promises of youth. and a brief glimpse of those dreams. The cast starred Donna Murphy (Phyllis), Victoria Clark (Sally), Victor Garber (Ben) and Michael McGrath (Buddy). [124] The 2017 London revival cast was recorded after the production closed in January 2018, and was released in early 2019. Broadway Baby, Learning how to sing and dance, Waiting for that one big chance To be in a show.Oh.Gee.' I'd like to be On some marquee, All twinkling lights, [5] Sally, Phyllis, Ben, and Buddy show their "real and emotional lives" in "a sort of group nervous breakdown".[6]. Phyllis, both now married to their respective stage-door Johnnies, RCA VICTOR RD 87128 - Concert recording However, the show did not do well in its Los Angeles engagement and plans for a tour ended. Host Scott Simon speaks with Peters about Stephen Sondheim's award-winning musical. [93][94] Other new cast members included Carol Neblett as Heidi, Sammy Williams as Theodore and Obba Babatunde as Max. The musical numbers "Ah, but Underneath" (replacing "The Story of Lucy and Jessie"), "Country House", "Make the Most of Your Music" (replacing "Live, Laugh, Love"), "Social Dancing" and a new version of "Loveland" have been incorporated into various productions. "Who's That Woman?" - Stella and Company. [92], The 2011 Broadway and Kennedy Center production transferred to the Ahmanson Theatre, Los Angeles, California, in a limited engagement, from May 3, 2012, through June 9. Prince made a mistake by giving the recording rights of Follies to Capitol Records, which in order to squeeze the unusually long score onto one disc, mutilated the songs by condensing some and omitting others. Kirkeby, Marc (released April 1971). I dare you not to fall in love with Betty Garrett's understated "Broadway Baby" you just want to pick her up and hug her. A concert version at the Melbourne Recital Centre,[97][98] staged with a full 23-piece orchestra and Australian actors Philip Quast (Ben), David Hobson (Buddy), Lisa McCune (Sally), Anne Wood (Phyllis), Rowan Witt (Young Buddy), Sophie Wright (Young Sally), Nancy Hayes (Hattie), Debra Byrne (Carlotta), and Queenie van de Zandt (Stella). In this it reflects the age of Heidi Schiller, one of the more senior of the Follies girls. Elsewhere, Willy Wheeler (portly, in his sixties) cartwheels for a photographer. The concert starred Barbara Cook (Sally), George Hearn (Ben), Mandy Patinkin (Buddy), and Lee Remick (Phyllis), and featured Carol Burnett (Carlotta), Betty Comden (Emily), Adolph Green (Theodore), Liliane Montevecchi (Solange LaFitte), Elaine Stritch (Hattie Walker), Phyllis Newman (Stella Deems), Jim Walton (Young Buddy), Howard McGillin (Young Ben), Liz Callaway (Young Sally), Daisy Prince (Young Phyllis), Andre Gregory (Dmitri), Arthur Rubin (Roscoe), and Licia Albanese (Heidi Schiller). The production was directed by Dominic Cooke, choreographed by Bill Deamer and starred Peter Forbes as Buddy, Imelda Staunton as Sally, Janie Dee as Phyllis, Philip Quast as Ben[100][101] and Tracie Bennett as Carlotta. Phyllis interrupts this tender moment and has a biting encounter with Sally. Sally appears next, dressed as a torch singer, singing of her passion for Ben from the past - and her obsession with him now ("Losing My Mind"). HEIDI SCHILLER - A 90-year old Broadway legend, whose ringing soprano inspired the operetta kings to produce their lushest waltzes. Ms. PETERS: As a little girl, yeah. It originally was performed in one act. Music and lyrics Buddy tells her she must be either crazy or drunk, but he's already supported Sally through rehab clinics and mental hospitals and cannot take any more. He forget his lines, the tune, the dance steps and finally, in Barnes also called the story shallow and Sondheim's words a joy "even when his music sends shivers of indifference up your spine. Girl and he has, sort of. Rosemary Clooney says her present show at Rainbow & Stars will be her last. It was Prince who changed the title to Follies; he was "intrigued by the psychology of a reunion of old chorus dancers and loved the play on the word 'follies'".[2]. Stephen Sondheim's music and lyrics combine emotional pain and witty pastiche with a deftness that James . Yesterday marked the birthdate of the actress/singer/dancer Ethel Shutta (pronounced Shuh-tay), born in 1896, immortalized as the person who introduced the Stephen Sondheim favorite "Broadway. I like to do that. Sondheim, too, has added and removed songs that he judged to be problematic in various productions. Thanks very much for being with us. [31], Frank Rich, for many years the chief drama critic for The New York Times, had first garnered attention, while an undergraduate at Harvard University, with a lengthy essay for the Harvard Crimson about the show, which he had seen during its pre-Broadway run in Boston. This Roundabout Theatre limited engagement had been expected to close on September 30, 2001. Seeing Sally again, Ben realises The AP quoted Michael Coveney of the Financial Times, who wrote: "Follies is a great deal more than a camp love-in for old burlesque buffs and Sondheim aficionados. And as you keep learning and growing and studying your range, you know, grows and grows. Don't Look At Me, Sally babbles [121] However, as Kritzerland Records head Bruce Kimmel wrote in his liner notes to Kritzerland's remixed version of the album, "What it did have made it something that, despite the frustrations, meant it would never be bettered the original cast. to Ben as they meet for the first time in years. Ms. BERNADETTE PETERS (Actress; Singer): (as Sally Durant Plummer) (Singing) I'm just a Broadway baby walking SIMON: A huge, rich revival of "Follies" has opened at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., with the original orchestrations. Solange purrs her way through the fake Gallic sophistication Story of Lucy and Jessie (Lucy being Phyllis and Jessie being The resulting album was more complete than the original cast album. Sally is awed by Ben's apparently glamorous life, but Ben wonders if he made the right choices and considers how things might have been ("The Road You Didn't Take"). For Ben and Buddy, too, [62][63] It followed a similar presentation at the 1995 Melbourne Festival of Arts with a different cast and orchestra. [42], The musical played in the West End at the Shaftesbury Theatre on July 21, 1987, and closed on February 4, 1989, after 644 performances. Research Playwrights, Librettists, Composers and Lyricists, See more songs from screen goddess Carlotta Campion to the most nondescript chorine, YOUNG HEIDI - The celebrated soprano in her heyday. "[87] This recording includes "extended segments of the show's dialogue". Ms. PETERS: Wow. They've come a long way from those [53] "Ah, but Underneath" was substituted for "The Story of Lucy and Jessie" in order to accommodate non-dancer Hoty. HATTIE WALKER - After all these years, still a Broadway Baby. (It did get recorded but didn't make its way onto the album until the CD reissue years later. [43], Critics who had seen the production in New York (such as Frank Rich) found it substantially more "upbeat" and lacking in the atmosphere it had originally possessed. The evening follows a reunion of the Weismann Girls who performed during the interwar period. days waiting around for the girls upstairs, but they're still here. Phyllis kisses a waiter and confesses to him that she had always wanted a son. Afterward, Phyllis and Ben angrily discuss their lives and relationship, which has become numb and emotionless. "[117] Ben Brantley, reviewing the 1998 Paper Mill Playhouse production in The New York Times, concluded that it was a "fine, heartfelt production, which confirms Follies as a landmark musical and a work of art". She shakes loose from the memory and begins to dance with Ben, who is touched by the memory of the Sally he once cast aside. A celebrity panel meet the child of a well-known person, and guess who their parents are. Carlotta amuses a throng of admirers with a tale of how her dramatic solo was cut from the Follies because the audience found it humorous, transforming it as she sings it into an anthem-like toast to her own hard-won survival ("I'm Still Here"). "Waiting for the Girls Upstairs" - Ben, Sally, Phyllis and Buddy, Young Ben, Young Sally, Young Phyllis and Young Buddy. the surviving players of his lavish pre-war Follies, from the silver As more guests arrive, Sally's husband, Buddy, enters. Dimitri Weismann's reunion; they'll have to find out whether anything's a Follies girl. "You're Gonna Love Tomorrow" / "Love Will See Us Through" - Young Ben, Young Sally, Young Phyllis and Young Buddy. In the foreword to "Everything Was Possible", Frank Rich wrote: "From the start, critics have been divided about Follies, passionately pro or con but rarely on the fence Is it really a great musical, or merely the greatest of all cult musicals?" Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Resplendent in top hat and tails, Ben begins to offer his devil-may-care philosophy ("Live, Laugh, Love"), but stumbles and anxiously calls to the conductor for the lyrics, as he frantically tries to keep going. It is 1971, and the iconic Weismann Theater, now a crumbling shell of its former glory, is about to be demolished to provide precious New York City parking space. SIMON: And you were talking like this or something? The musical was written in one act, and the original director, Prince, did not want an intermission, while the co-director, Bennett, wanted two acts. Kelli Rabke sings "Broadway Baby" from Follies at 54 Below 54 Below 25K subscribers Subscribe 0 Share No views 1 minute ago #SondheimUnplugged #54below We're Still Here! I thought I wasn't a Sondheim girl. Ms. PETERS: Do over. The cast featured Diana Rigg (Phyllis), Daniel Massey (Ben), Julia McKenzie (Sally), David Healy (Buddy), Lynda Baron, Leonard Sachs, Maria Charles, Pearl Carr & Teddy Johnson. Sign up today to unlock amazing theatre resources and opportunities. I'll see you later blues. When they sing, in voices layered with ambivalence and anger and longing, it is clear that it is their past selves whom they are serenading. '"[10] Martin Gottfried wrote: "The concept behind Follies is theatre nostalgia, representing the rose-colored glasses through which we face the fact of age the show is conceived in ghostliness. '"[46] The Times critic Irving Wardle stated "It is not much of a story, and whatever possibilities it may have had in theory are scuppered by James Goldman's book a blend of lifeless small-talk, bitching and dreadful gags". The young sweethearts Ben and Phyllis promise each other waltzes. Ms. PETERS: Oh, definitely, because I was really a kid. are gleefully dusting off their old acts: Theodore and Emily The coffee cup, I think about you. Cast. I want you so. But they're both At its best momentsand there are manyit is the most imaginative and original new musical that Broadway has seen in years. Tickets always were tough to come by. Follies Stage production February 20, 1971 Comments Sung by character "Hattie Walker" . After the failure of Do I Hear a Waltz? reduced to mother r6Ies, but still hanging in there. Directed by Michael Scott, the cast included Lorna Luft, Millicent Martin, Mary Millar, Dave Willetts, Trevor Jones Bryan Smyth, Alex Sharpe, Christine Scarry, Aidan Conway and Enda Markey. The net result was four new songs For reasons which I've forgotten, I rewrote "Loveland" for the London production. Lastly Ben takes the stage "Could I Leave You?" - Phyllis. Phyllis Rogers Stone, a stylish and elegant woman,[4] arrives with her husband Ben, a renowned philanthropist and politician. The younger Ben and Buddy softly call to their "girls upstairs", and the Follies end. ; later replaced by Marni Nixon), Larry Raiken (Roscoe) and an assortment of famous names from the past. How does she compare? Walking off my tired feet. That new jukebox musical is the new Broadway smash & Juliet. [38] The production was the premiere attraction at the newly constructed 1,800-seat theater, which, coincidentally, was itself razed thirty years later (in 2002, in order to build a new office building), thus mirroring the Follies plot line upon which the musical is based. He tells Sally that he's done, but she is lost in a fantasy world and tells him that Ben has asked her to marry him. Join StageAgent today and unlock amazing theatre resources and opportunities. but In Buddy's Eyes, she knows, she's still his princess. Don't panic. The Paper Mill Playhouse production used some elements from London but stayed close to the original. The reunion, if it reunifies one couple, destroys another. "[21], According to Sondheim, producer Cameron Mackintosh asked for changes for the 1987 London production. As the guests reminisce, the stories of Ben, Phyllis, Buddy, and Sally unfold. of Ah, Paree! "[119], Brantley, reviewing the 2007 Encores! The cast featured Charlotte Page (Sally), Liz Robertson (Phyllis), Graham Bickley (Ben), Jrme Pradon (Buddy), Nicole Croisille (Carlotta), Julia Sutton (Hattie) and Fra Fee (Young Buddy).[96]. It is 1970 and on the stage of the Weismann Theatre, Ms. PETERS: When I did "Sunday in the Park with George." Road You Didn't Take). A rich, new production of Follies has opened at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., with the original orchestrations. If you don't Osborne, Robert. Leading Lady / Broadway Baby / Another Openin' Another Show: Jill Perryman: 1975: Medley: Broadway Baby: Bernadette Peters: 1981: Broadway Baby: Dorothy Loudon: 1986: Broadway Baby: Daisy Eagan: February 23, 1993: Bernadette Peters, who's stopped more shows on Broadway than the stagehands union, joins us in our studios. They all shout hysterically at each other, screaming out all [47] Clines further commented: "In part, the show is a tribute to musical stage history, in which the 57-year-old Mr Sondheim is steeped, for he first learned song writing at the knee of Oscar Hammerstein II and became the acknowledged master songwriter who bridged past musical stage romance into the modern musical era of irony and neurosis. [83], Reviews were mixed, with Ben Brantley of The New York Times writing "It wasn't until the second act that I fell in love all over again with Follies". The MOT production starred Nancy Dussault (Sally), John-Charles Kelly (Buddy), Juliet Prowse (Phyllis) and Ron Raines (Ben), Edie Adams (Carlotta), Thelma Lee (Hattie), and Dennis Grimaldi (Vincent). The show and the score have a double vision: simultaneously squinting at the messes people make of their lives and wide-eyed at the lingering grace and lift of the music they want to hear. Note: This is the song list from the original Broadway production in 1971. The cast included Anne Rogers, Jo Anne Worley and Philip Bosco. Roscoe, the old master of ceremonies, introduces the former showgirls ("Beautiful Girls"). The 2001 Roundabout Broadway revival, the first major production following Goldman's death in 1998, was again a combination of previous versions. He thinks she's very neurotic, and she is very neurotic, so he said to me 'Congratulations. The Complete Follies Collection puiblished by Hal Leonard publishers>. Buddy leaves the shadows furious, and fantasizes about the girl he should have married, Margie, who loves him and makes him feel like "a somebody", but bitterly concludes he does not love her back ("The Right Girl"). Their ghostly younger selves appear, watching them go. Gain full access to show guides, character breakdowns, auditions, monologues and more! A London revival was performed in the Olivier Theatre at the National Theatre (August 22 until November 4, 2017 - later extended to January 3, 2018, as extensions are common practice at the National Theatre). "[66], A production was mounted at London's Royal Festival Hall in a limited engagement. Stephen Sondheim. Former MGM and onetime Broadway star Betty Garrett, best known to younger audiences for her television work, played Hattie. [75][76] Donna McKechnie enjoyed top billing as Carlotta. "[33], Among the reasons the concert was staged was to provide an opportunity to record the entire score. Inspired by a New York Times article about a gathering of former Ziegfeld Girls, they decided upon a story about ex-showgirls. [95], For its first production in France, Follies was presented at the Toulon Opera House in March 2013. Songs cut before the Broadway premiere include "All Things Bright and Beautiful" (used in the prologue), "Can That Boy Foxtrot! Ben admits to Phyllis his admiration for her, and Phyllis shushes him and helps Ben regain his dignity before they leave. "[123] The recording of the 2011 revival was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Musical Theater Album category. "[113], Walter Kerr wrote in The New York Times about the original production: "Follies is intermissionless and exhausting, an extravaganza that becomes so tedious because its extravaganzas have nothing to do with its pebble of a plot. hours after the show Waiting for the Girls Upstairs in The supporting role of Carlotta was created by Yvonne De Carlo and usually is given to a well-known veteran performer who can belt out a song. Follies set, a fabulous wedding cake reaching for the stars, an "[65], Theater writer and historian John Kenrick wrote "the bad news is that this Follies is a dramatic and conceptual failure. in. [49], Michigan Opera Theatre (MOT) was the first major American opera company to present Follies as part of their main stage repertoire, running from October 21, 1988, through November 6. Like you have Linda Lavin singing "Broadway Baby," and you have Elaine Paige bringing down the house singing "I'm Still Here," and Regine bringing all her history. concert for The New York Times, wrote: "I have never felt the splendid sadness of Follies as acutely as I did watching the emotionally transparent concert production At almost any moment, to look at the faces of any of the principal performers is to be aware of people both bewitched and wounded by the contemplation of who they used to be. Group Sales Associate at Broadway at The National Kinky Boots (Original 2013 Broadway Cast) Cyndi Lauper, Billy Porter & Stark Sands. Merrily We Roll Along (2012 New York Cast Recording) Stephen Sondheim. Whose Baby? as he looks back at a lifetime of lost opportunities (The Pounding Forty-Second Street To be in a show. It's just that the most glamorous room . "[17], "Loveland", the final musical sequence, (that "consumed the last half-hour of the original" production[18]) is akin to an imaginary 1941 Ziegfeld Follies sequence, with Sally, Phyllis, Ben and Buddy performing "like comics and torch singers from a Broadway of yore. The production was broadcast live to cinemas worldwide on November 16 through the National Theatre Live program. The London production had new songs and dialogue. [50][51], A production also ran from March to April 1995 at the Theatre Under the Stars, Houston, Texas, and in April to May 1995 at the 5th Avenue Theatre, Seattle with Constance Towers (Phyllis), Judy Kaye (Sally), Edie Adams, Denise Darcel, Virginia Mayo, Maxene Andrews (Hattie), and Karen Morrow (Carlotta). [57], A concert was held at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London, on December 8, 1996, and broadcast on BBC Radio 2 on February 15, 1997. He had agreed to work on The Girls Upstairs if Sondheim agreed to work on Company; Michael Bennett, the young choreographer of Company, was also brought onto the project. Each of the four is shaken at the realization of how life has changed them. Di Botcher sits at her former dressing room table and sings Broadway Baby. She accuses him of having affairs while he is on the road, and he admits he has a steady girlfriend, Margie, in another town, but always returns home. 'Follies'.
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