Stephen Sondheim's Follies in Concert
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Actor: Andre Gregory, Arthur Rubin, Barbara Cook, George Hearn, Jim WaltonBrand: Image Entertainment
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 90 minutes
Published: 2001-07-01
DVD Release Date: 2001-07-24
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: IMAGE ENTERTAINMENT
DVD Reviews of Stephen Sondheim's Follies in Concert
DVD Review: "... in a great big Broadway show!"
Summary: 4 Stars
On Friday evening September 6, 1985, my then girlfriend and I attended American Ballet Theatre's performance of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center. The tickets were one of my birthday presents to her, but that was hardly the star attraction at Lincoln Center that evening. As we got out of our taxi in front of the Lincoln Center Plaza several individuals asking if we had tickets for "Follies in Concert" bombarded us. This was a sold out star-studded concert version of the 1971 Broadway musical "Follies" at the Avery Fisher Hall with the New York Philharmonic. As we strolled past the Avery Fisher Hall and the milling crowds there was a palpable electricity and excitement in the air, this was a BIG event! I gazed wistfully over, wishing we were attending that instead of "Romeo and Juliet", even though Juliet was being danced by Leslie Browne the lovely young ballerina from the film "The Turning Point".
In the spring of next year, this documentary was aired on PBS, and I saw it, and if one wasn't fortunate enough to attend either of the two performances, this was an excellent substitute. A couple of years ago my wife gave me the DVD as a Christmas present, and it was great to reacquaint myself. If you have any interest in musical theatre I highly recommend this. "Follies" when it opened in 1971 to mixed to rave reviews ran a year, but didn't recoup its cost, and over the years became a cult musical. The Stephen Sondheim score is extensive, and when recorded on the original cast album was truncated so it would fit on just one record when it really needed two. This "Follies in Concert" purpose was to get a complete recording of the score and to justify this a special occasion was needed. So, an impeccable cast was assembled under the guidance of Sondheim that besides singing the score would also enact a limited version of the book. There would be two performances, Friday September 6 and Saturday September 7, with recordings being done both evenings and compiling the best in the final release. I had already purchased the "Romeo and Juliet" tickets for Friday night, but even if wanted to attend the Saturday performance given the cast and the subject, tickets were sold out for both dates within a couple of hours the first day of sale.
Speaking of the cast, the premise of the show is a reunion of performers of the "Weisman (read Ziegfeld) Follies" in the theatre where they were performed that is set for demolition. The main characters are two unhappily married couples that used to best friends and have a complicated past together. They are played by Lee Remick and George Hearn as Phyllis and Ben Stone, and Barbara Cook and Mandy Patimkin as Sally and Buddy Plummer. The other characters are "Follies" alumni and include Carol Burnett, Elaine Stritch, Phyllis Newman, Betty Comden and Adolph Green.
Stephen Sondheim himself gives the introduction, and then we are taken into three grueling days of rehearsal. Dry Martini voiced Elaine Stritch sums it up bluntly right away "This is hysterical, we are doing a musical in THREE days!" We get a rare opportunity to see the creative process at work, as we see and hear the performers working through their characters and trying to master them. Insights and worries are shared, we witness their goofs and frustrations, and moments of satisfaction as it starts to come together and work. You see the performers reactions to their peer's songs in rehearsal. A serious setback occurs two days into rehearsal when director Herbert Ross is called back to Los Angeles on an emergency. Finally, opening night and we see all the performers backstage moments before the performance starts at their most naked and vulnerable. All in all, an invaluable if speeded up, abridged look at the preproduction of a major musical.
Now on to the musical numbers, most are uniformly excellent, my only quibble would be quite a few of the numbers are cut and not performed in their entirety, and several are not performed at all, which is a damned shame. That is the big drawback of this documentary, it's approximately ninety minutes, and it easily could have been extended by another half hour to capture more of the actual performances, a mystery as to why it wasn't. Still, let's be grateful to have some record of such a legendary gala occasion.
Now the highlights in my perception: Elaine Stritch returning to New York after twelve years performing in London knocking "Broadway Baby" out of the park with her wry, deadpan delivery finding both the humor and the heartbreak in the words. "In Buddy's Eyes" is haunting in Barbara Cook's delivery, Stephen Sondheim himself raved, saying she had brought an entirely different but totally valid interpretation, much more emotionally moving than what he originally intended. You can tell Phyllis Newman and her backup singers Lee Remick, Barbara Cook, Elaine Stritch, Betty Comden and Liliane Montevecchi are having a great time with "Who's That Woman?" and so judging by the tumultuous applause at the conclusion did the audience, as did I. There is a quiet, reflective quality as Carol Burnett begins "I'm Still Here", that builds in strength and color finishing on a note of defiant triumph. Retired opera singer Licia Albanese and at the time up and coming opera singer Erie Mills blend beautifully in the sentimental "One Last Kiss". The light, lilting waltz "Could I Leave You?" lyrics are laced with an elegant yet searing vitriol in Lee Remick's rendition that owes much to her being such a fine actress. Four talented youngsters, Howard McGillin, Daisy Prince, Jim Walton and Liz Callaway have an eager charm and optimism in "You're Gonna Love Tomorrow/Love Will See Us Through", that makes you regret this is one of the numbers that is very heavily edited, a pity when you hear their full version on the finished album.
In the "follies" section, it's the ladies who excel. Barbara Cook looking and sounding like a blonde angel in shimmering blue touches the heart in the torch song "Losing My Mind" while Lee Remick a very sexy lady in slinky red sequins and boa, is delicious in the tongue twisting "Story of Lucy and Jessie". While Mandy Patimkin has a very melodious tenor, he is aware of it, and tends to need a strong hand to calm him down, "Buddy's Blues" is a little too much on the showboat, "aren't I wonderful!" side, for my taste. George Hearn fares much better with "Live, Love, Laugh", which is similar to but nowhere near as good as "Rose's Turn" from "Gypsy", also penned by Sondheim, that being a nervous breakdown in song.
Afterwards, the curtain calls with Sondheim taking a bow, and post performance euphoria and relief. So in closing, yes it's half a loaf, but such a scrumptious, richly flavored one that if you're a theatre aficionado you want to sample it at least once!
Description of Stephen Sondheim's Follies in Concert
The incomparable stephen sondheim brought his sensational follies to the stage in 1971 where it was hailed as monumental theater/ 14 years later the magic was recreated by an unparalleled gathering of stage & screen luminaries performing for a wildly enthusiastic audience. Studio: Image Entertainment Release Date: 05/27/2008 Run time: 90 minutes Rating: NrBestsellers in DVD
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