"The Road You Didn't Take"
Jun. 21st, 2011 07:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ladyofthethreadI took a day trip to Washington last Wednesday to see Follies at the Kennedy Center. They had a display of 10 of Gregg Barnes’ costume designs for the show in the lobby so I took pictures. Unfortunately, I couldn’t really get a clear shot of some of the designs towards the top of the display; they were behind glass and it was just impossible to get an angle without some glare from the glass wall opposite. These are a couple of my favorites from what was on display. One of the “Loveland” showgirls and Phyllis' red dress for "The Story of Lucy and Jessie."
Took the 8:10 train to Washington and it was nice, much more comfortable than a bus. I actually prefer traveling by train but hadn’t taken Amtrak for about 10 years since it costs like twice as much as bus tickets. I splurged this time since I was planning to make the trip both ways in one day and definitely did not want to spend 8 hours on a bus within one day. Reread my copy of the Follies script on the way down and then switched to a mystery novel.
Got to Washington around 11:20, about 10 minutes early, but that was eaten by waiting for a cab (took about 20 minutes because of the long line) and traffic. Lots of traffic plus roadwork near the Washington Monument and it felt like we ran into almost every stop light along the way. -_- So, it took half an hour to get to the Kennedy Center. It’s a good thing I allowed 2 hours for getting to and from places before and after the show.
Picked up my ticket and walked around the Kennedy Center a bit. It seems that Wicked was getting ready to start a run in the Opera House that day. (The Kennedy Center houses several individual theatres.) There was a display of 4 costumes, including the one I’ve heard other people refer to as “the bubble dress,” in a glass case in the Opera House lobby but the area was roped off. I’ve never seen Wicked since I’m not really interested in the Wizard of Oz and I didn’t think of trying to zoom in for a picture at the time.
The huge Follies banner hanging outside the Kennedy Center
The Hall of States
The Hall of Nations
The Opera House where Wicked was playing
The Eisenhower Theatre where Follies was playing
Had lunch in the café. I got this fruit tart for desert but I think it might have looked better than it was. The crust had the consistency of a very hard and crisp cookie; I had trouble breaking through it at first and that was with a metal spoon! o_o;; Not sure if that’s supposed to be normal since I almost never have tarts other than egg tarts, which have flaky crust.
Then, it was time for the show. A lot of tickets had already sold by the time I bought mine so I was 3 rows from the back of the orchestra but only a couple of seats off from the center. The Eisenhower Theatre was smallish (around 1,100 seats and about half the size of the Opera House) so I still had a decent view. The premise of Follies is that it takes place in 1971 at a reunion of aging former Follies showgirls at their old theatre the night before it is to be torn down; also present are the ghosts of their younger selves, representing memories of the past. So, the sides and ceiling of the theatre itself were draped with dust cloths, the proscenium arch was designed to be battered looking with bits having crumbled away, and there were piles of rubble at the back of the stage.
This was the second production of “Follies” that I’d seen, the first being the revival that the Roundabout Theatre Company did on Broadway 10 years ago. I don’t remember that one that well so I can’t really say if I preferred one over the other. I’ve heard “Follies” described as “a flawed masterpiece” and I think it probably works better as a concert because of the nature of the script. I love the music but the snatches of conversation we hear at the party are disjointed because they’re always jumping between different groups of guests. And the two main couples aren’t very likeable; they’re in bad marriages that stem from the choices they made 30 years earlier when the wives were chorus girls and they cheat on each other.
I wasn’t familiar with most of the cast other than Bernadette Peters, who played Sally (one of the 4 main characters), and Elaine Paige who was Carlotta (featured character who sings “I’m Still Here”). I saw Elaine Paige in my first Broadway show when she played Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard so it was nice to see her in something again. And I had seen Bernadette Peters just several months ago in A Little Night Music. I found Bernadette much more believable as Sally than as Desiree; I remember my complaint about her performance in A Little Night Music was that too much of her own personality showed through and I saw her rather than the character but it wasn’t a problem here. Not sure if I liked the costume designer’s choice to put her in a red dress for the party though. Even if Sally used to be a Follies girl and she’s trying to get the attention of Ben, who she’s been pining after for 30 years, I’ve always thought of present day Sally as being a bit frumpy and she even says “I’ve got a tummy and my hair’s too dyed.”
They cut or changed some of the lines in the script compared to the version I had. Some didn’t make much of a difference. But I kind of disliked that instead of Carlotta talking to Weissman, they used the alternate version of her dialogue before “I’m Still Here” with her telling a bunch of party guests that she had a Follies number once but it was cut in Philadelphia. That bugs me a bit for continuity reasons because then it implies that “I’m Still Here” was the cut song. But that wouldn’t make sense because it was stated earlier in the show that the Weissman Follies were produced each year between the two World Wars and some of the references in the song would have been past that time period. I’ve always felt it made more sense as a song about Carlotta’s own life than an old Follies number.
They also cut the instrumental “Bolero d’Amour” and the accompanying dance. I suspect one of the reasons Follies is rarely staged, aside from the expense of doing the costumes and the fact that the original didn’t do well financially despite critical acclaim, is that most of the important characters are supposed to be in their 50s to 80s. I imagine that is difficult to cast since some of them are supposed to be in dance numbers and Broadway shows tend to have 8 performances a week.
I didn't completely like how the ghostly showgirls just hung around for much of the show. I know they're meant to drift in and out of scenes but much of the time they just stood around, not moving much, and it was probably more distracting than if they had just made little appearances once in a while.
My favorite part of the show was the Follies numbers towards the end of the second act. The transformation from a crumbling theatre to a Follies spectacle was nice and, of course, the most lavish costumes were in this part. This part would be the main reason I'd consider seeing it again.
More of Gregg Barnes’ costume designs that were on display in the lobby. Another of my favorites was Young Heidi’s gown for “One More Kiss”
A showgirl costume
One of the “Loveland” showgirl costumes
A chorus boy costume from “Live, Laugh, Love.” When I saw it before the show, I figured it would be Ben’s costume for that number since it was drawn on an older man but his costume turned out to be a much less glitzy version with only sparkles on the vest buttons and hatband.
Sally’s dress for “Losing My Mind”
Another showgirl costume
The chorus costumes for “Loveland”
There was a limited selection of merchandise and no souvenir program (probably since it was only running several weeks) so I got a mousepad with the poster artwork. The one I’ve been using is over 10 years old so I figured it was about time for a new one. ^_^;
The trip back to the train station didn’t take as long although it was hard getting a taxi in the first place. Even though the Kennedy Center had what was supposed to be a taxi stand with a guy to flag down cabs, there just weren’t any stopping there that afternoon. There were a few other people in line and it took like 10 minutes for even 1 cab to stop! Fortunately, the guy in front of me and another person were also going to the train station so we shared a cab and traffic going back wasn’t nearly as bad. Had time to order a sandwich and get coffee before boarding the train. Spent most of the time reading my mystery novel and arrived back in NY around 9:40, about 10 minutes behind schedule but not too bad.
And it seems like this production of Follies will be transferring to Broadway after all. The Kennedy Center run just ended on Sunday and it didn’t get announced until the day I went to see it last week. (Would have been nice if this was announced a few weeks earlier so I wouldn’t have had to make a trip to Washington to see it. ^_^;;) Supposedly, it will play a limited engagement at the Marquis Theatre starting sometime in the summer but dates and casting haven’t been announced yet. Not sure yet if I will go see it again when it’s in NY. It would be nice to have a chance to see it closer up and this would only be the second fully staged revival in NY since the original in 1971. But it might depend somewhat on casting and whether there are any discounts since I already spent a lot to see it in Washington.
Took the 8:10 train to Washington and it was nice, much more comfortable than a bus. I actually prefer traveling by train but hadn’t taken Amtrak for about 10 years since it costs like twice as much as bus tickets. I splurged this time since I was planning to make the trip both ways in one day and definitely did not want to spend 8 hours on a bus within one day. Reread my copy of the Follies script on the way down and then switched to a mystery novel.
Got to Washington around 11:20, about 10 minutes early, but that was eaten by waiting for a cab (took about 20 minutes because of the long line) and traffic. Lots of traffic plus roadwork near the Washington Monument and it felt like we ran into almost every stop light along the way. -_- So, it took half an hour to get to the Kennedy Center. It’s a good thing I allowed 2 hours for getting to and from places before and after the show.
Picked up my ticket and walked around the Kennedy Center a bit. It seems that Wicked was getting ready to start a run in the Opera House that day. (The Kennedy Center houses several individual theatres.) There was a display of 4 costumes, including the one I’ve heard other people refer to as “the bubble dress,” in a glass case in the Opera House lobby but the area was roped off. I’ve never seen Wicked since I’m not really interested in the Wizard of Oz and I didn’t think of trying to zoom in for a picture at the time.
The huge Follies banner hanging outside the Kennedy Center
The Hall of States
The Hall of Nations
The Opera House where Wicked was playing
The Eisenhower Theatre where Follies was playing
Had lunch in the café. I got this fruit tart for desert but I think it might have looked better than it was. The crust had the consistency of a very hard and crisp cookie; I had trouble breaking through it at first and that was with a metal spoon! o_o;; Not sure if that’s supposed to be normal since I almost never have tarts other than egg tarts, which have flaky crust.
Then, it was time for the show. A lot of tickets had already sold by the time I bought mine so I was 3 rows from the back of the orchestra but only a couple of seats off from the center. The Eisenhower Theatre was smallish (around 1,100 seats and about half the size of the Opera House) so I still had a decent view. The premise of Follies is that it takes place in 1971 at a reunion of aging former Follies showgirls at their old theatre the night before it is to be torn down; also present are the ghosts of their younger selves, representing memories of the past. So, the sides and ceiling of the theatre itself were draped with dust cloths, the proscenium arch was designed to be battered looking with bits having crumbled away, and there were piles of rubble at the back of the stage.
This was the second production of “Follies” that I’d seen, the first being the revival that the Roundabout Theatre Company did on Broadway 10 years ago. I don’t remember that one that well so I can’t really say if I preferred one over the other. I’ve heard “Follies” described as “a flawed masterpiece” and I think it probably works better as a concert because of the nature of the script. I love the music but the snatches of conversation we hear at the party are disjointed because they’re always jumping between different groups of guests. And the two main couples aren’t very likeable; they’re in bad marriages that stem from the choices they made 30 years earlier when the wives were chorus girls and they cheat on each other.
I wasn’t familiar with most of the cast other than Bernadette Peters, who played Sally (one of the 4 main characters), and Elaine Paige who was Carlotta (featured character who sings “I’m Still Here”). I saw Elaine Paige in my first Broadway show when she played Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard so it was nice to see her in something again. And I had seen Bernadette Peters just several months ago in A Little Night Music. I found Bernadette much more believable as Sally than as Desiree; I remember my complaint about her performance in A Little Night Music was that too much of her own personality showed through and I saw her rather than the character but it wasn’t a problem here. Not sure if I liked the costume designer’s choice to put her in a red dress for the party though. Even if Sally used to be a Follies girl and she’s trying to get the attention of Ben, who she’s been pining after for 30 years, I’ve always thought of present day Sally as being a bit frumpy and she even says “I’ve got a tummy and my hair’s too dyed.”
They cut or changed some of the lines in the script compared to the version I had. Some didn’t make much of a difference. But I kind of disliked that instead of Carlotta talking to Weissman, they used the alternate version of her dialogue before “I’m Still Here” with her telling a bunch of party guests that she had a Follies number once but it was cut in Philadelphia. That bugs me a bit for continuity reasons because then it implies that “I’m Still Here” was the cut song. But that wouldn’t make sense because it was stated earlier in the show that the Weissman Follies were produced each year between the two World Wars and some of the references in the song would have been past that time period. I’ve always felt it made more sense as a song about Carlotta’s own life than an old Follies number.
They also cut the instrumental “Bolero d’Amour” and the accompanying dance. I suspect one of the reasons Follies is rarely staged, aside from the expense of doing the costumes and the fact that the original didn’t do well financially despite critical acclaim, is that most of the important characters are supposed to be in their 50s to 80s. I imagine that is difficult to cast since some of them are supposed to be in dance numbers and Broadway shows tend to have 8 performances a week.
I didn't completely like how the ghostly showgirls just hung around for much of the show. I know they're meant to drift in and out of scenes but much of the time they just stood around, not moving much, and it was probably more distracting than if they had just made little appearances once in a while.
My favorite part of the show was the Follies numbers towards the end of the second act. The transformation from a crumbling theatre to a Follies spectacle was nice and, of course, the most lavish costumes were in this part. This part would be the main reason I'd consider seeing it again.
More of Gregg Barnes’ costume designs that were on display in the lobby. Another of my favorites was Young Heidi’s gown for “One More Kiss”
A showgirl costume
One of the “Loveland” showgirl costumes
A chorus boy costume from “Live, Laugh, Love.” When I saw it before the show, I figured it would be Ben’s costume for that number since it was drawn on an older man but his costume turned out to be a much less glitzy version with only sparkles on the vest buttons and hatband.
Sally’s dress for “Losing My Mind”
Another showgirl costume
The chorus costumes for “Loveland”
There was a limited selection of merchandise and no souvenir program (probably since it was only running several weeks) so I got a mousepad with the poster artwork. The one I’ve been using is over 10 years old so I figured it was about time for a new one. ^_^;
The trip back to the train station didn’t take as long although it was hard getting a taxi in the first place. Even though the Kennedy Center had what was supposed to be a taxi stand with a guy to flag down cabs, there just weren’t any stopping there that afternoon. There were a few other people in line and it took like 10 minutes for even 1 cab to stop! Fortunately, the guy in front of me and another person were also going to the train station so we shared a cab and traffic going back wasn’t nearly as bad. Had time to order a sandwich and get coffee before boarding the train. Spent most of the time reading my mystery novel and arrived back in NY around 9:40, about 10 minutes behind schedule but not too bad.
And it seems like this production of Follies will be transferring to Broadway after all. The Kennedy Center run just ended on Sunday and it didn’t get announced until the day I went to see it last week. (Would have been nice if this was announced a few weeks earlier so I wouldn’t have had to make a trip to Washington to see it. ^_^;;) Supposedly, it will play a limited engagement at the Marquis Theatre starting sometime in the summer but dates and casting haven’t been announced yet. Not sure yet if I will go see it again when it’s in NY. It would be nice to have a chance to see it closer up and this would only be the second fully staged revival in NY since the original in 1971. But it might depend somewhat on casting and whether there are any discounts since I already spent a lot to see it in Washington.
