by Stephen Sondheim (music and lyrics) and James Goodman (book)
seen at the National Theatre (Olivier) on 19 December 2017
Dominic Cooke directs Imelda Staunton, Janie Dee, Philip Quast, Peter Forbes and many others in this revival of Sondheim's bittersweet 1971 musical in which the demolition of an old Broadway theatre brings a group of 'Weismann girls' to a reunion during which memories are evoked and life stories hinted at and regretted.
Impresario Weismann produced an annual variety show of 'Follies' between the wars (1918 to 1941); In 1971, with the impending demolition of his theatre, he hosts a reunion with eleven 'girls' and one 'boy' from his troupe, plus two husbands and some other guests (or staff). The older, and possibly wiser, characters are shadowed by their younger selves in full 'Follies' costumes.
While there is opportunity for some cameo scenes revealing something of the character or post-Follies career of some of the girls, the principal focus is on Sally (Staunton) and Phyllis (Dee) and their husbands Buddy (Forbes) and Ben (Quast). The two young men were friends, and Buddy was already smitten with Sally when he proposed to Ben that he make up a foursome with Sally's friend Phyllis. Perhaps predictably the resulting marriages prove to be misalliances, with Sally still holding a candle for Ben even as Buddy is only waywardly loyal to his beloved wife Sally.
Nobody comes out of this tangle with great credit - while the youthful friendships and courtships are rather quickly staged as semi-flashbacks using the younger actors while the older set are still on stage, it is still easy to see the dangers ahead. The predicaments in 1971 show that the characters may well be older but they are hardly wiser - Sally living in a dream, Phyllis callously honest, Buddy somewhat boringly duplicitous and Ben still philandering; all in their own way very selfish. It's a bleak conclusion in a musical that marriages will be endured beyond the end of the play even though they are far from ideal. The last four scenes are flagged by Follies girls in full rig displaying signs reading "Sally's Folly", "Ben's Folly" and so forth, to underline the point about self-blindness.
The staging is clever, the theatre in dire condition matching perhaps the inner states of the four main characters, the orchestra accomplished, the cast fine in both acting and singing, but the mood is sombre and rueful. On a large stage such as the Olivier's there is always space to fill, and this is resolved by having many people in the background - either other reunion guests, or their shadowy younger selves. The appropriate younger figure is spotlit in Follies costume (which I have to confess I personally find faintly ludicrous) whenever an older character is speaking or singing, but the uniformity of costume tends to work against the idea that the older characters have real individuality. Luckily, the younger Sally and the younger Phyllis are always dressed in street clothes, since their backstories require them to be intense young people rather than part of a chorus line.
Sondheim often has a melancholy edge; here the view is ultimately bleak, and the hints of despair behind even the most show-stopping numbers make the now customary whooping applause for any display of theatrical emotion seem even more at odds with the substance of what is being shown than usual.
While there is opportunity for some cameo scenes revealing something of the character or post-Follies career of some of the girls, the principal focus is on Sally (Staunton) and Phyllis (Dee) and their husbands Buddy (Forbes) and Ben (Quast). The two young men were friends, and Buddy was already smitten with Sally when he proposed to Ben that he make up a foursome with Sally's friend Phyllis. Perhaps predictably the resulting marriages prove to be misalliances, with Sally still holding a candle for Ben even as Buddy is only waywardly loyal to his beloved wife Sally.
Nobody comes out of this tangle with great credit - while the youthful friendships and courtships are rather quickly staged as semi-flashbacks using the younger actors while the older set are still on stage, it is still easy to see the dangers ahead. The predicaments in 1971 show that the characters may well be older but they are hardly wiser - Sally living in a dream, Phyllis callously honest, Buddy somewhat boringly duplicitous and Ben still philandering; all in their own way very selfish. It's a bleak conclusion in a musical that marriages will be endured beyond the end of the play even though they are far from ideal. The last four scenes are flagged by Follies girls in full rig displaying signs reading "Sally's Folly", "Ben's Folly" and so forth, to underline the point about self-blindness.
The staging is clever, the theatre in dire condition matching perhaps the inner states of the four main characters, the orchestra accomplished, the cast fine in both acting and singing, but the mood is sombre and rueful. On a large stage such as the Olivier's there is always space to fill, and this is resolved by having many people in the background - either other reunion guests, or their shadowy younger selves. The appropriate younger figure is spotlit in Follies costume (which I have to confess I personally find faintly ludicrous) whenever an older character is speaking or singing, but the uniformity of costume tends to work against the idea that the older characters have real individuality. Luckily, the younger Sally and the younger Phyllis are always dressed in street clothes, since their backstories require them to be intense young people rather than part of a chorus line.
Sondheim often has a melancholy edge; here the view is ultimately bleak, and the hints of despair behind even the most show-stopping numbers make the now customary whooping applause for any display of theatrical emotion seem even more at odds with the substance of what is being shown than usual.
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