2,855 posts
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Follies
Jan 12, 2018 7:56:40 GMT
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Post by couldileaveyou on Jan 12, 2018 7:56:40 GMT
They weren't dressed as panto dames. And in the original production men played these roles so why was Sondheim bothered? They were played by men very shortly in the Boston try-out but Hal Prince didn't like it and replaced them with women before the show opened on Broadway. |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 12, 2018 10:04:11 GMT
When can we expect a CD release do you guys think? How long usually? End of this year?
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Post by Mr Snow on Jan 12, 2018 14:02:02 GMT
After seeing both WE productions, the Cinema relay of this one twice and two CD recordings, I’m full of admiration for Follies, but still don’t know quite what to make of it overall.
I don’t think this has been posited before but I’ve been wondering if Follies ultimately fails because of the final sequence? I find Loveland an ANTI climax. The God-Why-Don't-You-Love-Me Blues" , "The Story of Lucy and Jessie" and even "Live, Laugh, Love” are not nearly the strongest songs in the show. They do advance the story but fail to deliver the emotional punch that Musical Theatre can. You can argue these characters are ultimately failures but I thnk that’s a dead end. Because Losing My Mind is SO strong it transforms the way we feel about a rather foolish character and unbalances the whole sequence.
I’m left dazzled (wow), thinking (good) but slightly unsatisfied (bad) i.e. confused. Probably not an original feeling and maybe another production will show me the error of my thinking, but it’s what I’m left with.
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Post by karloscar on Jan 12, 2018 14:51:23 GMT
Maybe it's not so much that the songs are weak, but that nothing much has changed for the central characters by the end. Buddy will behave for a while, but soon go back to his old ways, Sally will find something else to fixate on, Ben and Phyllis will keep up appearances and visits to the shrink. "We're Gonna Be Alright" from Do I Hear a Waltz? seems to fit them well:
"Sometimes she drinks in bed,
Sometimes he's homosexual
But why be vicious
They keep it out of sight,
And so....they're gonna be alright."
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Post by anthony40 on Jan 12, 2018 15:55:24 GMT
When can we expect a CD release do you guys think? How long usually? End of this year? They started recording the CD last week. |
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Post by paulbrownsey on Jan 12, 2018 16:24:44 GMT
After seeing both WE productions, the Cinema relay of this one twice and two CD recordings, I’m full of admiration for Follies, but still don’t know quite what to make of it overall. I don’t think this has been posited before but I’ve been wondering if Follies ultimately fails because of the final sequence? I find Loveland an ANTI climax. The God-Why-Don't-You-Love-Me Blues" , "The Story of Lucy and Jessie" and even "Live, Laugh, Love” are not nearly the strongest songs in the show. They do advance the story but fail to deliver the emotional punch that Musical Theatre can. You can argue these characters are ultimately failures but I thnk that’s a dead end. Because Losing My Mind is SO strong it transforms the way we feel about a rather foolish character and unbalances the whole sequence. I’m left dazzled (wow), thinking (good) but slightly unsatisfied (bad) i.e. confused. Probably not an original feeling and maybe another production will show me the error of my thinking, but it’s what I’m left with. Maybe the way to watch the Loveland sequence is to think: now we know something about the reality that lies behind these songs that we enjoy in the theatre: people sing about living, laughing and loving when they're falling apart; Losing My Mind isn't a great romantic state of mind--it's messy and destructive; Buddy's Blues is witty and clever but it masks a hell of a situation; and so non. |
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Post by sf on Jan 12, 2018 17:16:57 GMT
They weren't dressed as panto dames. And in the original production men played these roles so why was Sondheim bothered? Then again is Popbitch really a reliable source ...? I can believe that he was OK with it in the Olivier, but didn't want it to be done that way for the NT Live screening, which would be seen around the world. The fact that the change was put in, I think, a week or so before it was filmed suggests that might have been his motivation - particularly since the NT Live screening wasn't confirmed when the show began previews. |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 12, 2018 22:07:18 GMT
When can we expect a CD release do you guys think? How long usually? End of this year? They started recording the CD last week. I know that. I am simply asking when would the release date normally be? In general, how many months after a cast album is recorded? |
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Post by sf on Jan 13, 2018 16:17:17 GMT
They started recording the CD last week. I know that. I am simply asking when would the release date normally be? In general, how many months after a cast album is recorded? How long is a piece of string? Sometimes these things appear within a matter of weeks. Sometimes they don't. There's a cast recording of the Southwark Playhouse's 'Working' coming out next month; I believe it was recorded in July, either during the run or right afterwards. The London production of 'Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown' recorded a cast album, I think right after it closed; it still hasn't been released. I wouldn't expect the National to sit on this the way ATG have sat on the 'Women on the Verge' album. My guess - and it's just a guess - is that it'll be out by the spring. How long it takes in general for such things to appear, though, is a difficult question to answer. |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 13, 2018 16:56:23 GMT
Re: Cast recording...how long the NT sits on it might depend on the rumoured return of Follies? If they've nearly got their 'ducks in a row' (not suggesting anyone involved is a duck natch) they might sit on it for a release closer to the time. If for whatever reason it falls through I'd imagine they'd whack it out whenever it's done.
In terms of how long it takes to get done, with the will it can be turned around relatively quickly- as shows like X Factor etc demonstrate with their 'Artists' and recordings. But I'd imagine as well Mr S requires approval of the final product and various legal bits and bobs as well. So we're probably talking a few months all told?
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Post by Deleted on Jan 13, 2018 21:51:35 GMT
how long the NT sits on it might depend on the rumoured return of Follies Oh sweet lordy, you mean we have to go through the whole bunfight of trying to get tickets all over again?! No buns in the theatre though Imelda won’t stand for it... (But early Autumn is what I most recently heard in terms of return) |
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1,119 posts
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Follies
Jan 13, 2018 22:36:50 GMT
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Post by martin1965 on Jan 13, 2018 22:36:50 GMT
Oh sweet lordy, you mean we have to go through the whole bunfight of trying to get tickets all over again?! No buns in the theatre though Imelda won’t stand for it... (But early Autumn is what I most recently heard in terms of return) This year? Thought they were programmed through to the end of the year at least. Has something dropped out of the schedule? |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 13, 2018 22:43:13 GMT
This year? Thought they were programmed through to the end of the year at least. Has something dropped out of the schedule? No, the Olivier programme has been announced up to Antony and Cleopatra, opening in September. So, Follies could return in late September or early October to run in rep with A&C. |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 14, 2018 11:04:17 GMT
This year? Thought they were programmed through to the end of the year at least. Has something dropped out of the schedule? No, the Olivier programme has been announced up to Antony and Cleopatra, opening in September. So, Follies could return in late September or early October to run in rep with A&C. Indeed- and that was when I heard it was likely slated for. Cast etc dependent I imagine. |
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Post by andrew on Jan 14, 2018 13:20:01 GMT
Cast etc dependent I imagine. If Quast ain't in it, I ain't there. |
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Post by wickedgrin on Jan 14, 2018 14:58:17 GMT
I think I read somewhere that Philip Quast said it would be his last musical and that he was returning to Australia?
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Post by sf on Jan 14, 2018 15:01:03 GMT
I think I read somewhere that Philip Quast said it would be his last musical and that he was returning to Australia? Plenty of people have revisited their decision to stop performing. Barbra Streisand has done about 437 farewell tours. |
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1,119 posts
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Follies
Jan 14, 2018 15:40:31 GMT
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Post by martin1965 on Jan 14, 2018 15:40:31 GMT
The NT are due a new announcement in the next few weeks surely? That would take us to july/august with previews of what is to follow in the year.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 14, 2018 15:42:32 GMT
Don't mean to sound ignorant, but which one was Philip Quast again? It's been a while, I saw it in previews.  |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 14, 2018 16:48:02 GMT
Don't mean to sound ignorant, but which one was Philip Quast again? It's been a while, I saw it in previews.  He was this silver-haired-silver-voice-giant-of-a-man. And he played Ben in Follies  For you young 'uns he is the second best Javert ever to Javert (only beacause Roger Allam has Javert'd) He was also Peron in the 2006 Evita, and George in Sunday in the Park and...oh bugger it here's his Wikipedia! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Quast#Career |
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Follies
Jan 14, 2018 16:51:27 GMT
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Post by alece10 on Jan 14, 2018 16:51:27 GMT
Don't mean to sound ignorant, but which one was Philip Quast again? It's been a while, I saw it in previews. He was this silver-haired-silver-voice-giant-of-a-man. And he played Ben in Follies For you young 'uns he is the second best Javert ever to Javert (only beacause Roger Allam has Javert'd) He was also Peron in the 2006 Evita, and George in Sunday in the Park and...oh bugger it here's his Wikipedia! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Quast#CareerHe was also very fetching in A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum wearing a toga at the NT a few years ago. |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 14, 2018 16:55:03 GMT
He was this silver-haired-silver-voice-giant-of-a-man. And he played Ben in Follies For you young 'uns he is the second best Javert ever to Javert (only beacause Roger Allam has Javert'd) He was also Peron in the 2006 Evita, and George in Sunday in the Park and...oh bugger it here's his Wikipedia! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Quast#CareerHe was also very fetching in A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum wearing a toga at the NT a few years ago. *Fans self* how could I forget... |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 14, 2018 17:02:53 GMT
And let's also take a moment to remember La Cage in the West End, Quast as Georges and Roger Allam as Albin. Now THERE'S a cast that cried out for a recording (with apologies to Douglas Hodge who is marvellous but who is no Roger Allam)!
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Post by Deleted on Jan 14, 2018 17:06:12 GMT
And let's also take a moment to remember La Cage in the West End, Quast as Georges and Roger Allam as Albin. Now THERE'S a cast that cried out for a recording (with apologies to Douglas Hodge who is marvellous but who is no Roger Allam)! I praise the theatre Gods that I was blesed with this vision before me (and before Graham Norton got his hands on that frock, God loves a trier and all but, well.)  |
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Post by anthony40 on Jan 14, 2018 17:26:16 GMT
He was also very fetching in A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum wearing a toga at the NT a few years ago. *Fans self* how could I forget... I also saw him perform as Javert in Sydney. So formidable was he that he was chosen to perform the role on the International Cast Recording. In Sydney I also saw him perform as Cinderella's Prince in Into The Woods at the Opera House. |
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