Advertisement

STAGE REVIEW : AMBITIOUS MINI-VERSION OF ‘FOLLIES’ TAKES OFF

Share
Times Theater Critic

Some musicals are revived too often, others not often enough. Even a wobbly rendition of “Follies” has interest.

It’s been a dozen years since Harold Prince’s original production closed at the Shubert, not having found any more ready a market there than it had on Broadway. One tends to remember it as a problem show. Under Gene Nelson’s direction at the Melrose Theatre it comes off--wobbles and all--as something like a classic.

The wobbles remind us that we’re in a small Hollywood theater watching performers who, in some cases, haven’t done a show for years. Rather than an orchestra, there’s an offstage ensemble led by pianist Don Sheffey. The costumes and set are make-do. This is “Follies” on a shoestring.

Advertisement

But in one way it works better than it did at the Shubert, where it was easy to lose sight of the stories of Sally and Buddy and Phyllis and Ben in all those darkly gleaming production numbers. Here it’s their story all the way, with the rest of the show seen over their shoulders.

“Follies,” you’ll recall, brings together the alumni of a Ziegfeld-like revue on the rubble-strewn stage of their old theater, which is coming down in the morning. Tonight they’ll eat, drink, run through some of the old numbers and lie a little about what they’ve been doing since 1941.

But in running through the old numbers--which gives composer Stephen Sondheim a superb chance to salute Berlin, Porter, Gershwin et al. in parody--they literally stir up the ghosts of the kids they were when they first did those numbers. They start to feel like ghosts themselves. Who’s that old lady in the mirror? Oh Lord, it’s me.

Rich, juicy, theatrical stuff, even on a shoe box stage. At the center of the story are two couples who used to pal around together in the old days and who still have some unfinished business. Sally (Jomarie Ward) married Buddy (Dick Clair), but wishes she had married Ben (Paul Kent), who seems terminally bored with Phyllis (Sandy Freeman). Is there a chance?

Well, no. In a brilliant cluster of fantasy numbers, our friends confront themselves in the fun house mirror and come to realize that “Loveland” (although not necessarily love) is a delusion. Time to get back to their real lives.

The ending remains a problem that should be addressed if there’s ever a major revival of “Follies.” (The recent New York recording session suggests that that’s a possibility.) It’s reasonable to believe that Sally and Buddy would decide to stay together as the dawn comes up, but Ben and Phyllis have absolutely no reason to reunite. Their salvation would be to go their separate ways, and audiences would have less trouble with this today than in 1971.

Advertisement

Other than that, James Goldman’s book plays very well. Perhaps because we’re so close to the characters physically, it’s easier to care about them than at the Shubert. Paul Kent as Ben, for instance, seems less congenitally sardonic than did John McMartin: There’s a hint of a heart there.

Musically, the show is up and down. Ward’s “Losing My Mind” is strained and dry. Joyce Jameson as the Follies gal who struck it big on the Coast is sly, but too timid, in “I’m Still Here.” Some of the other specialty numbers are even more timid than that.

Dick Clair is terrific, though, in Buddy’s “God-Why-Don’t-You-Love-Me-Oh-You-Do-I’ll-See-Ya-Later Blues,” with the little toy beep-beep car. And Sandy Freeman’s schizophrenic “The Story of Lucy and Jessie” is elegant. These two could be working on Broadway tomorrow, and perhaps it should be considered.

A good word, too, for those young ghosts--Kate Ward, Charles Bloom, Jane Finstrom, Bryan Miller. Nicely, they don’t idealize Young Sally, Young Buddy, etc. They had their troubles and treacheries too.

In short, I wish the Melrose were doing a better job with “Follies,” but I’m glad it’s doing it at all. If we had a repertory theater devoted to the American musical, this would be a permanent title. If Broadway doesn’t plan a major revival, how about Civic Light Opera?

‘FOLLIES’ A musical by James Goldman (book) and Stephen Sondheim (songs) at the Melrose Theatre. Director Gene Nelson. Musical director Don Sheffey. Lighting Joseph Taggart. Set Lenny Mazzola. Special effects George Woodard. Costume design NVW Costumers and Bjo Trimble. With Georgia Ford, Jomarie Ward, Kate Ward, Lenno Wells, Kay St. Germain, Sandra Cusimano, Charles Sarna, Lowell Harris, James Michael Hayes, Evelyn Farney, Alex Roberts, Mona King, Margaret Muse, Joyce Jameson, Sandy Freeman, Paul Kent, Jane Finstrom, Bryan Miller, Dick Clair, Charles Bloom, Alex Rondine, John Engle, Alex Roberts, Cheryl Erickson, Jimmy Crookshank, Fabiola La Rue, Lisa Pease, Pat LeBow, John McGruder, Theresa Knight. Plays Thursdays-Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 7 p.m. Tickets $9-$12. 733 Seward St., (213) 465-1885.

Advertisement
Advertisement