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Follies | 
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Follies |
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This musical, with a book by James Goldman, takes place at a reunion of the Weisman
(pseudo-Ziegfeld) Follies girls, gathering at their old theatre on the eve of its
leveling to become a parking lot. When Sally tries to rekindle her old flame with
Ben (who married her best friend from the old days, Phyllis), chaos ensues until
Sally, Buddy (her husband), Ben, and Phyllis break down and acknowledge their follies
in a dream-Follies sequence, "Loveland."
The entire show is interspersed with ex-showgirls reprising their old big numbers, and
the atmosphere is heightened by the presence of the ghosts of everyone's former selves,
who sometimes sing along, sometimes reenact important events, and sometimes even interact
with the present. Follies contains two scores -- the Follies pastiche numbers and the book
numbers. The convergence of the two scores results in the Loveland sequence, where the
characters use traditional songs to comment on their current concerns. The final piece
(in the original script) is "Live Laugh, Love" where Ben attempts to present the suave,
man-about-town character, but is unable to continue the charade and breaks down as the
chorus continues, highlighting the dichotomy between forms.
In 1987, Follies was reworked for the West End stage. This new production featured a
completely new book and five new songs, replacing others which were cut.
Follies includes the songs "Too Many Mornings," "I'm Still Here," and "Losing My Mind."
| Opened | April 4, 1971 |
| Closed | July 1, 1972 |
| Ran | 522 Performances |
| Theatre | Winter Garden Theatre |
| Music | Stephen Sondheim |
| Lyrics | Stephen Sondheim |
| Book | James Goldman |
| Producers | Harold Prince, in association with Ruth Mitchell |
| Director | Harold Prince and Michael Bennett |
| Scene Designer | Boris Aronson |
| Costume Designer | Florence Klotz |
| Lighting Designe | Tharon Musser |
| Dance Music Arranger | John Berkman |
| Musical Direction | Harold Hastings and Paul Gemignani |
| Orchestrations | .Jonathan Tunick |
| BENJAMIN STONE | A big man on Wall Street, with a chic Manhattan wife, no children but everything else. |
| YOUNG BEN | Ben thirty years earlier, in 1940, when he was dating a Follies girl. |
| PHYLLIS ROGERS STONE | Ben's 50-year old society wife, smart, tart, vicious and sleek. |
| YOUNG PHYLLIS | A showgirl in the chorus of the final edition of the Weismann Follies. |
| BUDDY PLUMMER | Ben's pal, now a prosperous realtor in Arizona, with wife, kids - and a mistress. |
| YOUNG BUDDY | The eager young beau of a Follies chorine. |
| SALLY DURANT PLUMMER | Buddy's well-to-do wife, still gushy and girlish despite the routine of married life. |
| YOUNG SALLY | A Follies chorine, 20 years old in 1940, and caught between Buddy and his pal, Ben. |
| CARLOTTA CAMPION | A resilient motion picture star, once a vamp, then reduced to mother roIes, but still hanging in there. |
| STELLA DEEMS | Another veteran of the final Follies. |
| YOUNG STELLA | The singer and dancer as she was in 1940. |
| HEIDI SCHILLER | A 90-year old Broadway legend, whose ringing soprano inspired the operetta kings to produce their lushest waltzes. |
| YOUNG HEIDI | The celebrated soprano in her heyday. |
| HATTIE WALKER | After all these years, still a Broadway Baby. |
| EMILY WHITMAN | The female half of a cheerful song and dance team. |
| THEODORE WHITMAN | Emily's husband. |
| SOLANGE LAFITTE | A Broadway Parisienne. |
| ROSCOE | The Follies' famous tenor whose golden tones saluted Mr. Weismann's exquisite taste in feminine pulchritude. |
| DIMITRI WEISMANN | An impresario who flourished between the wars and whose name became a byword for style and opulence. |
| KEVIN | An easily-seduceable waiter. |
| OTHER GUESTS and PERFORMERS, STAGE MANAGER, WAITERS, WAITRESSES, PHOTOGRAPHERS, SHOWGIRLS, etc. | |
| 1. Prologue | Orchestra |
| 2. Beautiful Girls | Roscoe and Company |
| 3. Don't Look at Me | Sally and Ben |
| 4. Waiting for the Girls Upstairs | Buddy, Ben, Phyllis, Sally, Young Buddy, Young Ben, Young Phyllis, and Young Sally |
| 5. Listen to the Rain on the Roof | The Whitmans |
| 6. Ah, Paris! | Solange |
| 7. Broadway Baby | Hattie |
| 8. The Road You Didn't Take | Ben |
| 9. Bolero d'Amour | Danced by Stella and Vanessa |
| 10. In Buddy's Eyes | Sally |
| 11. Who's That Woman? | Stella and Company |
| 12. I'm Still Here | Carlotta |
| 13. Too Many Mornings | Ben and Sally |
| 14. The Right Girl | Buddy |
| 15. One More Kiss | Heidi and Young Heidi |
| 16. Could I Leave You? | Phyllis |
| Folly and Scene | Song | Performer(s) |
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Cut Songs:
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| Major-Domo | Dick Latessa |
| Sally Durant Plummer | Dorothy Collins |
| Young Sally | Marti Rolph |
| Christine Donovan | Ethel Barrymore Colt |
| Willy Wheeler | Fred Kelly |
| Stella Deems | Mary McCarty |
| Max Deems | John J. Martin |
| Heidi Schiller | Justine Johnston |
| Chauffeur | John Grigas |
| Meredith Lane | Sheila Smith |
| Roscoe | Michael Bartlett |
| Deedee West | Helon Blount |
| Hattie Walker | Ethel Shutta |
| Emily Whitman | Marcie Stringer |
| Theodore Whitman | Charles Welch |
| Vincent | Victor Griffin |
| Vanessa | Jayne Turner |
| Young Vincent | Michael Misita |
| Young Vanessa | Graciela Daniele |
| Solange LaFitte | Fifi D'Orsay |
| Carlotta Campion | Yvonne De Carlo |
| Phyllis Rogers Stone | Alexis Smith |
| Benjamin Stone | John McMartin |
| Young Phyllis | Virginia Sandifur |
| Young Ben | Kurt Peterson |
| Buddy Plummer | Gene Nelson |
| Young Buddy | Harvey Evans |
| Dimitri Weismann | Arnold Moss |
| Kevin | Ralph Nelson |
| Young Stella | Julie Pars |
| Young Heidi | Victoria Mallory |
| Party Musicians |
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| Show Girls |
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| Singers, Dancers |
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Secondary performance rights handled by Music Theatre International
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