I Should Not Be Here

I kept thinking, “I should not be here,” as the escalator ascended towards the Marquis Theater.  This was the show that no one ever thought would be revived and yet here I am.  40 years after its Broadway opening, featuring the most talented ensemble I’ve ever seen on one-stage, Follies was finally getting a production and its due as one of the greatest musicals ever written.

If you read this blog regularly, or follow me on Twitter, it’s obvious: I’ve been obsessed with this show.   From its summer tryout at the Kennedy Center to its Broadway opening, following Follies journey has been incredible to watch.  For me, it was particularly thrilling to watch firsthand as the show changed and evolved.  Even more exhilarating was to see the naysayers proven wrong and to say that yes, Follies could be successfully revived.

Sondheim fans, theater geeks and Follies groupies, oh yes they exist, had a plethora of reasons as to why this show could never work on Broadway again.  The plot was too complex, no revival could ever top the opulence of the original Broadway production, the cast/orchestra size required guaranteed that the show wouldn’t be profitable and the reasons go on and on.  Basically, in today’s cost conscious climate, the consensus was that no theater producer would take a chance on such a risky property.

And yet, last May the Kennedy Center opened a new production of Follies to warm reviews.  The revival had its flaws, but it didn’t matter.  In a theatrical world of prefabricated jukebox/movie inspired musicals, Follies was refreshingly different.  It featured genuine theater stars commanding the stage, a non-synthesized orchestra playing Sondheim’s most brilliant score and intelligently written characters who wrestle with the universal theme of the past.  Follies is what great musicals once were, and hopefully, can be again.

Even though several roles were miscast, the choreography was amateurish, and the first act progressed slowly, I was thrilled when Follies announced its Broadway transfer.  Now was the time for the show to prove itself and answer the questions being asked?  “Could the Follies creative team fix these problems,” and, “How the Broadway community would react to a show long defined by its past rather than by its future.”  Having last seen the show in mid-May at the Kennedy Center, I was anxiously awaiting to see what changes had been made.

Overall, the cast seemed more cohesive, the leads had further developed their roles, the new cast members were all brilliant additions and the choreography showed more thought.  Follies takes place at a reunion of showgirls and so it was terrific watching the actors purposely “forget” the choreography in several numbers.  This showed that great attention had been paid to the plot and that it would only be natural for the characters to forget some of their old moves.   It was just one detail of many that makes this production soar.

Even if you’re not a theater aficionado, go see Follies because this production is really something special.  It is the equivalent of seeing a great athlete in their prime or traveling to that hidden gem just before it becomes the next big thing.  The changes made during the Kennedy Center to Broadway transfer reflect a creative team that was honest with themselves about the challenges of staging Follies, while also refusing to be beholden to the past.  In her first solo, the character of Sally sings, “I’m SO glad I came,” and yes I thought, SO am I.

For more information on Follies please check out:

Follies 2011 Broadway Revival Website: http://folliesbroadway.com/

The Follies of My Ghost by MarqueePolitics

Everything Was Posssible: The Birth of the Musical Follies by Ted Chapin.  Available on line at Amazon.com

The 8:05 Trenton Local

I hate getting up early.  If I didn’t work full-time, I doubt I would be up before 10 a.m.  Yet, when I’m excited about the day ahead, it’s a different story.  That was true on Sunday September 25^th, when even only after sleeping for 6 hours I awoke a 6:29 a.m.  On that Sunday I was one train ride away from New York City where I was about to attend the theater geek’s version of ComicCon, the Broadway Flea Market and to see a musical I never thought would be revived.  Anxious, excited, flustered, you choose the adjective.  I was just excited about the day that was to unfold .

Standing on the NJ Transit Hamilton Station platform at 7:50 a.m. made me realize how eccentric I really am.   What other 25 year old, Republican, kid from Pittsburgh, would be standing around mouthing the lyrics to “I’m Still Here” from Follies, while waiting for a train in central New Jersey?  Beat’s me, but who cares.  The 8:05 Trenton Local to New York pulled into the station and grabbing my window seat, it became real.  New York City was only 75 minutes away.

I’m often asked whether I consider myself a tourist when in New York City.  The answer is a resounding NO!  Aside from having lived in New York for one summer and visiting several times a year, I’m pretty familiar with the city I now consider my second home.  I can use the subway without referring to the guide map, don’t get scared by the street people in midtown and above all else: I hate the commercialization of Times Square.  If that doesn’t say New Yorker, I don’t know what does.

Ironically though, I rarely stay in New York overnight.  The sole reason is cost. Unless I’m visiting with friends, it’s just not affordable.  So when traveling solo, I usually stay with family in the suburbs of Philadelphia, and then catch the commuter train into New York City.  It’s the best of both worlds: Philadelphia cheese steaks and the Broadway theater.

The 8:05 pulled into New York ahead of schedule.  After exiting the train, I made my way through the maze that is Penn Station and onto the street, rapidly making my way uptown.  One thing I love about walking up 7^th Avenue towards Times Square is seeing the Broadway theaters’ marquees.  It makes me realize that yes, the American theater is alive and well.  And there’s no greater symbol of that currently then of the marquee for the Marquis Theater which says, Follies: Direct from the Kennedy Center.

But before I revisit an old classic, I turn down 44^th Street.  Usually a busy thoroughfare, but not today.  The sign ahead of me says it all, 25^th Annual Broadway Flea Market.  And with that, my day in New York Officially begun…….

Part 2:  The Phantom from My Past

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.