The Follies of My Ghost

Every week I walk past the White House.  It’s not on purpose, just usually en route to some event.  However, every time I walk by, I’m poised to stop and think.  I worked at the White House for the final 18 months of the Bush administration.  It was, and remains, my dream job. Yet, whenever I stop to look I swear I can almost see the ghost of a junior staffer from Pittsburgh, coasting through the halls in his Macy’s suit, Van Heusen shirt, and black DKNY tie, wide-eyed with wonder and amazement.

Our memories of the past are ever present and in a slightly cynical way dictate our future.  Perhaps there is no greater illustration of this than in the Kennedy Center’s hauntingly beautiful, Broadway bound, revival of the Stephen Sondheim and James Goldman musical Follies.  The show is both an homage to a long gone era in American theater and a cautionary tale about the effects of not making peace with one’s past.

Follies is about a group of Ziegfeld-esq showgirls who reunite at their old theater on the eve of its demolition.  It focuses on two former follies girls, Sally and Phyllis, their husbands, Buddy and Ben, and each couple’s crumbling marriage.  At the reunion they are joined by former costars, old stagehands and ghosts symbolizing the memories of their youth.  For many characters, their return to the theater is an attempt to rectify, relive or revisit the past.

What makes this production of Follies so powerful is the overwhelming reminder that ghosts, or the memories of our past, are ever present.  From the first note of Sondheim’s epic overture, the ghosts, dressed in the costumes of yester-year, aimlessly wonder the stage.  In the Act I showstopper, “Who’s that Woman?” the women reenact an old follies number.  As they dance, their every move is mimicked, literally, as if in a mirror, by the ghosts of themselves from 30 years ago.  The scene is an unbelievable expression of just how deep each character’s memory is embodied in their soul.

Ben(Ron Raines) and Sally(Bernadette Peters) dancing with the memory of lost love. Remembering an affair 30 years in the past.

In the second act, the two couples confront their ghosts and are almost startled when they fail to receive a response.  It serves as another reminder that memories, however alive in our minds, are just that, only alive in our minds. The emotional toll memory can take on one’s self, is underscored in the character of Sally, wonderfully portrayed by Bernadette Peters.  Sally attends the reunion hoping to find happiness by rekindling an old love affair.  Her second act solo, “Losing My Mind”, sears the audience’s soul in watching Sally’s attempt to bring herself closure to an event that occurred in the past.

Follies is a tough show to stage for numerous reasons and any revival becomes a major theatrical “Event.”  The show often sells out in advance, and fans of the show will follow it anywhere.  The irony of it all is that for a show about memory, many critics, and fans alike, say that no production will ever top the grandeur of the glorious 1971 original Broadway company.  It’s an unthinkable statement considering how Follies is about moving beyond the past.

What makes Follies compelling is its honesty in showing how crippling the past can be in our attempt to live in the present.  Everyone is guilty of living in the past.  We lament over lost lovers, ambitions, dreams, and hopes, and that is the common link shared between the characters on-stage and the audience.   It is also that connection which makes live theater so powerful, and allows Follies to take its place in the pantheon of great American dramatic works.  The Kennedy Center should be commended not only for producing a fantastic revival of a Sondheim classic, but for also not get bogged down in trying to replicate previous productions of Follies.

Watching Follies I empathized with the characters who view the reunion as one last chance to relive their dream.  Anyone who has ever lost their dream, understands the feeling of pain associated with it.  Walking past the White House, there was time when I was bitter that my dream only last 18 short months.  Every time I walked by the White House, I was haunted by that ghost.

However, the great lesson of Follies is not about loss, but of survival.  One of  Follies signature anthems, “I’m Still Here,” embodies this message.  It’s sung by the character of Carlotta, portrayed in the Kennedy Center’s revival by Elaine Paige.  Carlotta is a movie star who has bounced from theater, radio, burlesque, film and television.  All while having been poor, rich, in love and out of love.  And yet, she doesn’t resent anything or anyone.  For her, life is about surviving and living to dream another day.

I’d like to think that out of all the characters in Follies I’m the most like Carlotta: a survivor, someone who will continue to both dream and accomplish.  Our memories, our ghosts, will be ever present and assert their presence at certain moments in life.  Whether it’s at a reunion of follies girls or walking by the White House, the ghost of that junior staffer will always be apart of me.

Curtain up, light the lights!

Groucho Marx once said, “Behind every great man is a woman, and behind her is his wife.”  I have neither a mistress, nor a wife; however I’ve always found great relevance in this quote when describing my two passions: politics and theater.

While many would argue the two don’t mix, the most astute cultural observes would find otherwise.  The best politicians are those who combine showmanship with policy.  Since moving to DC seven years ago, my friends have asked me, “Why don’t you do something that mixes the two?”  Until now, I haven’t had a good answer.  That changes today with the launch of my new blog: Marquee Politics.

 Marquee Politics is a blog that is part commentary, memoir, review and observations on the state of politics and the arts in the United States.  I invite you the reader to join in on the conversation.  Please feel free to leave comments, subscribe to my weekly postings by clicking on “subscribe by email!” link on the right-hand side of the page and to also forward postings to your friends.  The blog is in its rough form and will, with the passage of time, develop and grow.

And now as Mama Rose says in Gypsy, “Curtain up, light the lights!”  I present to you Marquee Politics.