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BarcodeComment: Play-seen-best-follies-next-1971-3392732519
My journey to discovering Follies happened largely by accident. Looking to see a show on Broadway with a friend we both decided on Follies. My previous knowledge of the play was minimal at best, knowing only of Stephen Sondheim and his reputation as a genius. Everything seemed to be going against us that day. Our train was late, we didn't buy tickets in advance, and on top of all that Hurricane Irene was preparing to hit us the next day! And yet everything went even better than planned. Thanks to our neighbor sitting next to us in the theater we got a background about the play. It was originally brought to the stage in 1971, included Yvonne De Carolo(of Munsters fame), and according to him was the best play he'd ever seen. To make a long story short I can't speak for the 1971 play since I've never seen it, but 2011 Follies was one of the best plays I'd ever seen. It's so unlike anything I'd seen on Broadway. It was a play for grown ups about aging, marriage, regrets, and...
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| Suffice to say, "Follies" is one of the most legendary musicals. This is for a number of reasons: its creation was one of exhaustion and trial-and-elimination. The Original Broadway Production was curiously received (obtaining either smashing or devastating or, even worse, ambiguously indifferent reviews), and was a box office disaster. Finally, the cast recording infamously cut or short-changed a large portion of the score. Despite the quality of the performers and the production, the recording itself has never felt more than adequate. It's since been revived, albeit infrequently, by notable companies over time. First, there was the recording with the New York Philharmonic in the 1980's, which featured the full, glorious score, as well as several noticeable stars, such as Lee Remick, Mandy Patinkin, George Hearn, Barbara Cook (despite what anyone ever says, I find both her Sally and delivery of "Losing My Mind" exceptionally underwhelming), and Carol Burnett. Then there's the London... | 28 | ||
| My journey to discovering Follies happened largely by accident. Looking to see a show on Broadway with a friend we both decided on Follies. My previous knowledge of the play was minimal at best, knowing only of Stephen Sondheim and his reputation as a genius. Everything seemed to be going against us that day. Our train was late, we didn't buy tickets in advance, and on top of all that Hurricane Irene was preparing to hit us the next day! And yet everything went even better than planned. Thanks to our neighbor sitting next to us in the theater we got a background about the play. It was originally brought to the stage in 1971, included Yvonne De Carolo(of Munsters fame), and according to him was the best play he'd ever seen. To make a long story short I can't speak for the 1971 play since I've never seen it, but 2011 Follies was one of the best plays I'd ever seen. It's so unlike anything I'd seen on Broadway. It was a play for grown ups about aging, marriage, regrets, and... | 30 | ||
| The CD of the 2011 Follies revival has been released! Short version of my review: buy this CD now. No, really. Buy it now.And now the longer version. Before seeing the 2011 revival, I was only dimly aware of "Follies"--mostly that while Sondheim fans loved it, it was a difficult show to pull off. And I had only a fleeting knowledge of the songs themselves. But this production blew me away, and now there are 5-6 songs I can't imagine living without. There's one of the best showbiz anthems, the very best survival song, the best divorce song, and so on. Magnificent score! But several other renditions of the Broadway score exist... do we need a new one?Yes.For those unfamiliar with it, "Follies" is a show about aging showgirls and their spouses who come together for a reunion in their former theater the night before it's torn down. The story is one of nostalgia, lost dreams, survival and roads not taken.One thing worth saying upfront is that... | 203 | ||
