Follies

Beautiful evening in London, very warm for February. But inside the Olivier the audience is chilled at least until Mirror and quite a large section never get into it

It does seem to be a slow start and the orchestra is mixed down. At least A dozen walkouts from our section of the Circle

Riding works for me but Hanson much less so

Right now I’m not sure I’ll bother to see this production again.

Being Alive Can you please tell us in a spoiler tag how's the ending of Losing My Mind? And is Joanna singing the score in the original key?

Staunton was miscast In this.. very excited to see Riding play the role. For me Imelda unbalanced the whole thing as much as I adore her.

Joanna Riding is just superb in this, the standout performance of the show for me!

I enjoyed this again, they are previews so they are still working on the production. The actors work very hard to please an audience and want everyone to go home happy after a great evening. Its unkind to criticise any of them, they are all talented.

Overall this is still a fabulous production on its revival. If you have not seen it before - go.

However, at a preview performance last week I found I did not enjoy it quite as much as the original. Clearly it was a preview - some of the dialogue was slow, stepping on and off the revolve is clearly a challenge - not as easy as it looks I suspect, Janie Dee's dress got caught in her heel during "The Story of Lucy and Jessie" although she barely missed a step. All this will be sorted of course.

If you saw the original it is impossible not to compare and contrast. Alexander Hanson - not as good as Philip Quast - I thought he struggled with some of the score although he did get better as the evening progressed.

Joanna Riding gives a totally different performance to Imelda Staunton - her take on "Losing My Mind" is (how shall we say) "different". The end of the song does not work, however, and should be cut. Vocally she is fabulous and although I believed she was once a Follies Girl, she did not move me to tears as Imelda did.

Felicity Lott is wonderful but again not as effecting as Josephine Barstow (who takes on the role of Heidi from 6th May).

Tracie Bennett is even more mannered in her performance (if that were possible), her rendition of "I'm Still Here" almost a parody. I did not believe one word of the lyrics.

Billy Boyle and Myra Sands struggled with "Rain On The Roof".

I still have a few reservations about the staging - the crumbling theatre exterior on the revolve is pushed back half way through the show and the actors end up acting on a bare stage, in a void, which does not help them and I do feel the Loveland sequence - given the resources of the National could be more lavish.

However, there are still some stunning moments - the opening sequence with the "Beautiful Girls" coming down the staircase mirrored by there younger selves is fabulous.

"Ah Paree" sang by Geraldine Fitzgerald is a masterclass in knocking it out of the park.

The staging and choreography of the Mirror number is wonderful and stops the show. In fact it is THE highlight of the show!

The numbers - " In Buddy's Eyes", "One More Kiss", "Too Many Mornings" all highlights.

The undoubted star of the show though is Janie Dee who is absolutely superb. Her dialogue is crisp, funny, her put downs devastating. Her performance in "Lucy and Jessie" proves she can dance as well as sing. But her rendition of "Could I leave You" is better than I remember it - absolutely superb!

The orchestra are wonderful.

4 Stars.

In my experience people that criticise others in the acting world are just failed luvies that never got the roles they thought they should.......sad

For me this whole production still doesn’t land. The never ending revolve is so distracting and annoying and the whole show is just too busy.

Loveland looks like a sad mess still. Obviously the budget ran out at that point.

Alexander Hanson doesn’t deliver- his voice too effortful.

Tracie Bennett is now officially on another planet. Her ‘I’m Still Here’ noticeably not landing as it used to with the audience.

Has Who’s That Girl really been restaged? It didn’t look like it to me at all. It still underwhelms. Also- aren’t they supposed to MIRROR with their younger selves?

Joanna Riding did her usual strutting musical theatre walk and seemed very ill at ease in the role. Her voice not particularly pleasant to listen to. However, slowly she improves and her Losing My Mind is a major highlight. I for one loved the new ending. I can’t help but wish I was seeing Claire Moore play it again though (as she did brilliantly years ago). They just can’t seem to cast this role correctly. Imelda was wrong and fundamentally so is Riding.

I didn’t realise before quite how good Peter Forbes is.. it’s a hard role but he commits fully and his voice is a pleasure to listen to after the straining and forced effort of Riding and Hanson

The show is stolen (again) by Janie Dee who is class personified. Just when you think she can’t get any better she dances up a storm in her Follies number. How she doesn’t have a mantle piece of awards for this performance is beyond me!

Perter Forbes was one of the highlights for me last year. He brought layers of complexity to that role that I had not seen done as well in previous productions. And Quast. That voice!

On a side note - does anyone know when the understudy run is for this?

alece10, yes Ms Bennett got good applause so I can’t understand some of the comments on here. Come opening night the whole cast will be fabulous too

I'm very conflicted over whether to go again!

I'd love to see it again. As performers I love the new additions so it would seem a no brainer, but them I'm listening to the negativity here and seriously wondering.

I am a fan of Imelda but never thought she suited the role.