Follies

Got one! Second row dress!

Was going to see Follies on Friday night anyway, so a big bonus I managed to snag one of the last tickets for this, I am in the back of the dress circle also, but will be in the stalls for the main event.

What a mad dash was to get tickets! All the way through to the end, put tickets in basket then discovered I’d left my wallet at home. Sorted a way around it but not really what you want to happen is it!

But, surely, with Quast , the rest I can agree with

I thought this production (and score) really benefitted from a repeat viewing. There is so much to take in visually when looking at the stage as a whole. So many little details!

I loved Joanna Riding, thankfully. I'm a huge fan of Imelda and adored her Sally. Joanna's was very different, much more understated and just wonderful vocally. I still don't care for Tracie's I'm Still Here, but the audience lapped it up and I do like her performance generally. Mirror Mirror really clicked for me this time seeing it from further away and I really enjoyed the lead men much more this time without Janie AND Imelda chewing up all the scenery and stealing focus.

It's really quite a troublesome book. All the characters are largely unsympathetic and the structure is certainly unconventional. But, OH! The SCORE! Just wonderful. The costumers are nothing short of exquisite either. I definitely recommend sitting a bit further back than forward stalls where I first saw it. As much as it was wonderful to see it so intimately, I think it was more effective with a better overview of the stage.

I'm probably going again at the weekend as my boyfriend missed this due to sickness. Such is life! It really won't be much of a hardship...

So I went back to the show for a second time yesterday, having last seen it in September 2017.

There were several reasons I chose to return to the show. Firstly, because Tracie Bennett and Janie Dee continued on in the show. Also, because I was sat quite far back the first time, I wanted to be in the front for this time, which I was, second row. And also, because my favourite 42nd Street had a few cast members come over, including one of my favourite performers Alyn Hawke so I wanted to see them all in the show too.

I have to say, I enjoyed it alot more for several reasons. Last time I enjoyed it but as time went on it was just boring. But this time, I found it engaging throughout for the most part. Sitting in the front couple of rows, you are fully immersed in the world that they create. The set is stunning and the costumes are beautiful (though I still don't get the Olivier win, but there you go, bitter Betty over here). There were definitely some snooze moments, mainly when it was just the four leads on stage alone talking or singing what felt like many duets that never lifted, but the four gave great performances in their solos that I accepted that as a flaw in the piece itself, not on them.

The supporting cast is all fantastic and should be praised to the heavens! Especially shoutouts to Claire Moore and Tracie Bennett who really did bring the house down with their numbers. Janie Dee is stunning as she was the last time, and I still think she should have won that Olivier Award last year for her incredible performance.

I think, for me, the flaws I find are with the show itself than this specific production. There are some brilliant songs and production numbers (Beautiful Girls, Broadway Baby, Who's That Woman, I'm Still Here, Could I Leave You, Losing My Mind, The Story or Lucy and Jessie) but then there are some solos and duets that just go no where and I found so incredibly boring. You almost want to have more time with the individual women to see them.

The audience was about four fifths full, back of the stalls and circle were empty but it's a matinee so not unexpected to be truthful. The audience was very responsive and gave a standing ovation at the end from when the Ensemble came out, which was lovely to see.

It's a fabulous production and thee cast is amazing. I'm glad I went back and saw it as I enjoyed it so much more than I did the first time and I'd go back to see it again before it closes.

4*

Went to see this for the second time last night (the first being September 2017).

Was a bit closer this time in mid stalls and have to say I loved it. Am really not generally a big Sondheim fan but this is such a classy production in direction, design, lighting, orchestra and acting it really is a joy to behold.

Joanna Riding sings better than Imelda no doubt. And I have always had a soft spot for Alexander Hanson since I saw him topless in the Gale Edwards version of Aspects of Love at the Bristol Hippodrome in the early 90's. Claire Moore also wonderful (though EVERY time I see her on stage I just wish she'd suddenly belt out It's Her Or Me). And once again I found Tracey Bennett completely mesmerising (though she is TINY; it's a human marvel that that voice comes out of such a small body). Wildly off topic but was reminded of Mrs Henderson Presents which then made me think on the train home has there been an open ended run of a new British musical in a West End house since Mrs Henderson Presents and Made In Dagenham? Couldn't think of one which is slightly tragic.

Interestingly only 2/3 full if that (I thought everything at the NT sold out lol).

Another casual observation - I don't go to the NT much (in fact Follies once before and Here Lies Love twice are my only previous visits). But the audience behaviour was noticeably MUCH better than the general state of things in the West End currently. Is this normal for the National? As if it is I might try and go more. No talking, rustling, choking etc etc. And even most people's bladders held out for the infamous no interval event (on that btw, I would put one in. It's a nonsense that it interrupts the dramatic flow. I mean of course it does, but no more than any other show so it's just Sondheim snobbery pretending this is different from anything else).

Oh and one comment about the piece itself - I don't quite get the structure. It is ramping up into a gut wrenching tragedy of unhappy relationships and fundamentally broken characters. Then instead of letting that peak in an all out gut punch (which I found I wanted at this point) it descends into Vaudeville with the Follies themselves. Though I enjoyed them in an MT way, I really found it removed the drama and tension of the piece. Maybe that is the point as the audience can only take so much. But that's not a particularly Sondheim way of writing so doubt that is the reason. Dunno if anyone felt a similar thing!?

When watching for a second time, I did find myself thinking I wouldn't mind this one coming into a West End house for a limited run, especially with the amount of empty theatres popping up. I suppose it would be an issue of the right space and stuff, because the set is so massive. I'd be intirgued for sure to see if it would do well on Broadway in this version though?

I'd have thought that too, were it not for the fact that there were lots of empty seats last night. 

Everybody's Talking About Jamie!

Call me a snob, but the show simply works far better without an interval, IMO.
I've seen it in both forms and the interval just broke the flow of the piece.

The Loveland sequence IS the peak. It's four nervous breakdowns presented as pastiche Follies performances - Buddy as a vaudeville clown, Sally as a torch singer, Phyllis as dancer (or, in a production that uses 'Ah, But Underneath' instead of 'Lucy and Jessie', a stripper), and Ben as a song-and-dance man - and those performances are carefully designed to expose each character's individual folly.