This is for my cousins.....

Follies opened in New Yawk. Great reviews, clouded by the memory of what was a gigantic sucess at the time forty years ago, with the gorgeous Alexis Smith, Yvonne De Carlo, Elaine Stritch, and so many incredible people, it boggles the mind, and I kick myself to this day for not having seen it in Bawston.


Except it wasn't a hit at the time and didn't run long. It was incredibly expensive, for one thing, and ahead of it's time. It's about a group of people who had been in a Ziegfeld sort of Follies, the theater they played in is about to be torn down to be made into a parking lot, and Weisman (Ziegfeld) gathers his troupers for a last reunion. So you have the reunion sort of thing, which everyone always dreads, whether it was just high school, or whatever. And a lot of reminiscing. And it is very dark. People still holding torches, people on the verge of nervous breakdowns, and to top it all off, they have a second cast of the people when they were young. There is a fantastic number where the women are looking in the mirror trying to remember who they were, and the younger versions 'mirror' them... innovative, and breathtaking, have seen clips. It's dark, funny, and near-perfect. And by the way, Follies wasn't meant to be the show, but a play on words... as in folie... french for delusion. One of the enduring hits was 'Losing My Mind'.


The music is pastiche, from vaudeville to more modern. Bernadette Peters (a godess if there ever was one) is headlining. And again... that music is classic.


So if you're planning to go to the City... I wouldn't miss it if I were you. And it can be acid as well. Here's a nice sample of what Elaine Stritch did with her signature number Broadway Baby. I love that song, so Jolson. She's 80 now, but killed them at 40.




Another of my favourites is 'Could I Leave You?'. It's so bitter, but we've all been there. I picked the one I liked best. It's quiet at the beginning, but Donna Murphy owned it by the end. I had a few moments like that with Peter.

It's always struck me that when Sondheim composes a waltz.... the text is invariably so negative it jars you. Think of the pie song in Sweeney Todd... it was a waltz. And believe me, every song in the show is stellar. And still sorry I missed it.



So if you have something to do there.... maybe plan a real night out, and have dinner at your favourite restaurant, and see something incredible. It took fourty years to put this together again, and it will be the best anyone will do in a long time.