Follies

Follies is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by James Goldman. Gathered in a crumbling Broadway Theatre the story tells of a reunion, arranged by Broadway impresario Dimitri Weismann, of showgirls who appeared in the ‘Weismann’s Follies’ that played in the theatre between the World Wars. It focuses mainly on two couples, Sally Durant Plummer and her husband Buddy Plummer and Phyllis Rogers Stone and her husband Ben Stone. Both couples are deeply unhappy with their marriages. Buddy, a traveling salesman, is having an affair, Sally is still as much in love with Ben as she was years ago and Ben is so self-absorbed that Phyllis feels emotionally abandoned. A tangled web indeed especially when added into the mix is the appearance of younger versions of themselves, then confusion, particularly if you don’t know or understand the ‘plot’, can become very much an issue as this is not clearly outlined in  the story. Many other characters too, had younger versions of themselves. The well-used set was comprised of two staircases at either end of a raised walkway adorned with ‘backstage equipment’ and the orchestra positioned on stage, beneath it. Hilary Leam epitomised the somewhat delusionary nature of Sally perfectly and her singing, especially in ‘Losing My Mind’, was just super. Steve Foster was great as her husband, Buddy. I loved his very natural demeanour and flair for acting. For me, Yvonne Taylor’s portrayal of Phyllis was exquisite. She was elegant, sophisticated, stylish, and her sarcastic and angry outpourings were sublime. Davron Hicks, as her husband Ben, had an extremely powerful presence apparent in both his singing and acting and his rendition of ‘Live, Laugh, Love’ when he reaches the depths of despair and awareness, was so movingly delivered. It would be most unfair of me to single out any of the other forty one named members of this huge cast as they all, without exception, were worthy of praise. They each and every one gave terrific support to the four main characters whether it be in solo singing and acting roles or in the big ensemble dance and singing routines. Immediately springing to mind when thinking of Follies are the lavish costumes associated with it and we were definitely not disappointed. The costumes for individuals and dancers were absolutely fabulous especially the extravagant and flamboyant outfits of the ‘show-girls’. All of the ‘big‘ numbers were excellently choreographed and splendidly sung and danced. The first-rate seventeen piece orchestra was well balanced with the voices but there were a few other sound problems that I’m sure would be sorted out for the remainder of the run. I feel that the society was brave in choosing Follies not just because it has such a huge cast but also because of the challenges of singing Sondheim’s extremely difficult musical score and of the staging of the complex, weak storyline. They rose to this formidable task and everyone involved should be proud of the role they played in this praiseworthy production.

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