Customer Reviews

Follies (Highlights from the 1987 London Revival Cast)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This "highlight" release is exactly the same as the two cd release with the exception of one cut: "Social Opening". It is not really a song, but characters talking with underscore using the music of the cut song "That Old Piano".

The London version was an attempt to make the story more up beat and in this version will never be staged again. Sondheim wrote three news songs and reworked others with new lyrics. The new songs are "A Country House", "Ah, But Underneath" which replaced the equally fine "Lucy and Jessie" (Which in turn replaced "Uptown/Downtown") and "Make the Most of You Music" which replaced "Live, Love, Laugh".

"Loveland" was almost complety overhauled for the London version. Other songs like "In Buddy's Eyes" changes the devasting lie of Sally's life. The most grevious omission from the score was in my opinion was "The Road You Didn't Take"

No one perhaps will match the star power and performances of the original cast, but the London cast comes in a close second. Diana Rigg, Julia McKenzie, Daniel Massey and David Healy do very well as the four leads. The great Dolores Gray does her own take on "I'm Still Here" and succeeds. In fact the whole cast succeeds with the exception of Margaret Courtney as Hattie (Broadway Baby). She was most likely directed to sing it as cutesy little girl and ruins the intention of the song.

This recording is important to anyone who is a Sondheim completist. It is a record of Follies that will never be performed again.

The three stars are for the lyric changes, the omission of The Road You Didn't Take, the uneccesary replacement songs and the performance of Margaret Courtney.

This recording has many of the same problems of the Broadway cast recording in that it is incomplete. However, this is doubely (is that a word?) incomplete in that it cut some numbers from the original production and replaced them with other numbers. In some cases this worked, "Ah, But Underneath" is much better than "The Story of Lucy and Jessie," which it replaced. However some songs, "Make the MOst of Your Music," fall short of their predecessors. It also cut "The Road You Didn't Take," which was borderline criminal. Needless to say, if you were to have one recording of Follies, this would not be it. However, beacause almost all of the Follies recordings (with the possible exeption of the Papermill Playhouse recording) are flawed, it is almost neccessary to buy multiple recordings, and this particular recording does have many merits. The merits are Diana Rigg, Julia Mackenzie, and the two leading males. Their performances are universally fantastic. I would be surprised if you could find a better recording of "Losing My Mind" or "Buddy's Blues" or "Waiting for the Girls Upstairs" or any one of the number of standards from the show. (The only song that is not done particularly well is "One Last Kiss"). If this cast sang all of the songs on the Papermill Playhouse recording, then that would be the ideal CD. However, life isn't like that, so buy this CD only if you're a Sondheim nut and want the "rare" songs, or if you're a Follies nut and can't refuse a good cast, even if they don't sing all of the songs.

I've often found with Broadway musicals, the first version of a production or recording I'm exposed to and get to know is the one I end up liking the best. I familiarized myself with this version of "Follies" after playing in the pit for it in a small, local production, and now when I hear the 1971 Original Cast album, which many other people praise as the definitive best, I still hear, and want to hear, the inflections and phrasing of the singers on this CD. To my ears, the 1987 performances are more emotional and impassioned because of the more syncopated and meticulous and brassy vocal phrasing (and clearer recording). In contrast, the vocal style of the 1971 recording is smoother and more fluid, and executed in a more "classic" Broadway style. Fine performances, but not what I'm used to.

Adding to that, the horrible editing and cutting up of songs in the 1971 release, I prefer this one. Cutting out the extended instrumental section and tap dancing in "Who's That Woman?" ruins it for me (I love the percussion of tap); ditto in cutting out whole verses of "The God-Why-Don't-You-Love-Me Blues". I also miss the ritard during the B sections of "Broadway Baby", which the 1971 version doesn't do, and is faster in general. However, big omissions on this version are "The Story of Lucy and Jessie" and "Live, Laugh, Love", which we did in the production I played in, and was thrilled with when I got the 1971 version, although I think they again shortened "Lucy and Jessie".

Actually, I don't have this CD anymore, the original two-disc release. An ex-girlfriend ended up with it, you know how it goes. Grr. I don't want to buy this "highlights" version, so I want to pick up the New Jersey version to have complete versions of songs. I bet that I will like the 1971 versions of "Lucy and Jessie" and "Live, Laugh, Love" better.

Diana Rigg is the star of this recording. She takes Phyliss' new numbers "Ah, But Underneath" and "Country House" and makes a new charachter.I was thoroughly dissapointed by Julia McKenzie. Her "Losing My Mind" is the most unmoving, over-the-top, melodramatic rendition I've ever heard.Ben (Daniel Massey) has had his two best numbers cut "Road You Didn't Take" and "Live Laugh Love." They've been replaced by the cutsey "Make the Most of Your Music" that doesn't live up to the scores standard.The rest of the cast is bland and forgettable with the possible exception of a funny "Buddys Blues" and an odd "Broadway Baby"

Having seen the original American production with stars who were BORN to play and sing it -- Alexis Smith, Dorothy Collins, Gene Nelson, Mary McCarty, Ethel Shutta, Fifi D'Orsay -- this gallant effort may be more complete as a recording, but doesn't hold a candle to the original. But, oh, how I wish it did. The one person in the cast who shines is Dolores Gray. Not only does she carry the ghostly associations of the Golden Age of the Musical but she also attacks "I'm Still Here" like no one has done before or since, with back-phrasing and a slow burn that turns to a growling sizzle in the final bars. Great, chilling stuff that works beautifully right alongside a definitive version by Yvonne De Carlo in the original. There's a lot of soggy singing among the rest of the cast, odd accents and completely wrong-headed choices. Don't even get me going on "Broadway Baby." "Country House" and "Make Your Own Music" are unworthy additions and, frankly, both annoyingly written and sung. Best to buy ALL the versions and pick and choose favorite cuts and performances for a TOTAL "Follies" experience.

Lousy musical direction and actors who cannot sing make one hell of a train wreck of a recording. The OBC, The Paper Mill Revival and "Follies in Concert" are all excellent and each have their merits. This London revival is simply the pits.

So the characterizations aren't all so dead-on perfect as the Broadway original. This rare version of Follies is worth a look just to hear what could be done by rethinking the material from scratch. The biggest disappointment is the omission of "The Road You Didn't Take." I also didn't care much for Margaret Courtenay's rendition of "Broadway Baby," having been sold on Ethel Shutta's rendition, shortened though it was on the original B-way recording. Still, I enjoyed this gentler Follies just for what it was by trying not to compare it with the original. The orchestrations are lush, the vocals all fairly good--o.k. Diana Rigg isn't the strongest vocalist, but in characterization she makes up for it in spades. I loved "Ah,But Underneath," companion to the equally good "Lucy and Jessie." I understand that the wonderful "Live,Laugh, Love" was too harsh for this version, but "Make the Most of Your Music" just doesn't contribute much here--There's no substitute for Ben's mesmerizing breakdown in previous versions. I can only compare this "Loveland" with the Paper Mill recording (yes, I have three recordings, being a fanatic for this show)since the original recording ommitted it. I like them both. All in all, by just viewing this as an addition to my collection of all that is Follies, this version is quite enjoyable.

This was the first recording I heard of Stephen Sondheim's Follies. I didn't like it at all, and believed the musical wasn't any good.

Then I got the Complete Recording, and fell in love with Follies almost immediately.

It is widely renown how misconceived the London version of the show was - songs were added, cut and rearranged. The result was more or less a mess.

It is thus fascinating how something so bad can also be so good.

As the recording has grown on me, I have now come to appreciate what this Follies version has to offer. It has a very "cold" and restrained attitude, which really suites the themes of the show itself.

I find myself listening to it more and more often. If you wan't only one recording of Follies, this is not the one to get. But it is definately worth having for a refeence.

All right, all right ... so maybe the London edition of "FOLLIES" was a bit to "happy" and up-beat, and, I'll admit it, that must have weakened the show. I did not see the London production, since I was three years old and living in Atchison, Kansas. But enough about me. I liked the new additions, particularly "Country House", which is now my second favorite Sondheim song ("Every Day a Little Death" from A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC is my #1 favorite). I LOVE "Make the Most of Your Music" and "Ah, But Underneath", which are also favorites of mine. I thought Diana Rigg was phenomenal, and she is (along with Julia MacKenzie and Maria Friedman) one of the top British interpreters of Sondheim (she was the only good thing in the botched film version of NIGHT MUSIC). Now, if only Julia Migenese would join them. Where was I? Oh, yes ... the CD of the London version of FOLLIES. I thought that Delorese Grey (I hope I spelled that right) is a major plus on "I'm Still Here". Whoever those dying cats were that were screeching out "One More Kiss" need to be put out of there misery. I liked the lyrics revisions in "Could I Leave You?" ("But I've done that already/Or did't you know, love?" to "Which I might have already/And you'd never know, love." I liked much better than the original) and "The Right Girl". "Loveland" is more haunting, and this version makes it a less visualy-oriented number (i.e., easier to listen to on a recording). This is an interesteing recording (if not the best), Sondheim affcianados (is that a "sic"?) should buy it.

This 1987 London revision of FOLLIES has been withdrawn by the authors and will never be staged again.

GOOD!

There are a few standout tracks here that are worthwhile:

"Who's That Woman" - about the most complete version recorded

"Country House" - a unique piece for Phyllis & Ben that is given a fine performance by Daniel Massey adn Diana Rigg

"I'm Still Here" -Dolores Gray does a great job on this.

"Loveland" - a new version of this song, and quite good

"Ahh But Underneath" - Diana Rigg's version is still the best (althugh Lucy & Jessie is a better number)

"Make the Most of Your Music" - a great number for Daniel Massey that replaced "Live Laugh Love." (The Cd gives no clue as to how they get out of Loveland after this number! In the original Ben had a nervous breakdown that ended his number prematurely.)

As to the mistakes and mis-steps: Cutting "The Road You Didn't Take"; cutting "Bolero D'amour"; putting the montage ahead of "Waiting for the Girls Upstairs"; Moving "I'm Still Here" to Act II; HAVING an Act II (FOLLIES is meant to be done in one act!); placing "One More Kiss" AFTER "Could I Leave You"; splitting "You're Gonna Love Tomorrow" and "Love Will See You Though" into two seperate numbers; and "Social Dancing" - a total time waster!!

Those in search of the real FOLLIES are still best served by the Concert recording.