Anyone seeing FOLLIES in LA tonight?

[lovebwy]

I've seen this production 10 times. 5 times in NYC and 5 times in LA. I really wanted to go to the closing performance, but I've run out of money. : - (

Whoever is going on Saturday night will you please post a description of what happens? I would LOVE to be there for Terri's final "Who's That Woman" but it's just not to be!!

[PalJoey]

Why didn't you see it in Washington?

[lovebwy]

I lived in New York when it was in NY and in LA now! Never made it down to Washington. I would have been interested to see Linda Lavin play Hattie. Someone who HAD seen it in Washington told me she was wonderful.

[nealb1]

Too bad you're going to miss it lovebwy. I'll post a mini review as I'm seeing it on Saturday night. Closing night in New York, Terri's number stopped the show and got a standing O. It was an incredible moment.

[Wicked Fanatic]

Hoping for the same reaction for Terri's number in L.A. I'll be standing and I've never done that before during a show.

Pal Joey thanks for the links to the numbers from the London revival which I enjoyed especially those with Dolores Gray. Am interested in the ghosts and how they were used in Washington and then in NYC especially pre-show and during intermission. In L.A. no ghosts until the curtains rises and none at intermission roaming the stage which is what I remember reading here happened in Washington or did I imagine reading that, shades of "Loveland"?

[lovebwy]

I've always wanted to stand after Who's That Woman!! No one else ever did. Honestly, I believe that number ALONE is the reason I've seen the show so many times, not that there weren't a number of other great things in it!

[nealb1]

When I saw the show in DC & NYC, I don't remember there being any ghosts before the show started, or during intermission. They may have entered the stage right before intermission ended.

Yes,Lovebwy - it's a great number, and always brings cheers from the audience.

[TheatreDiva90016]

There is one ghost who stands on the stage right balcony during intermission. Staring at the audience...

[Gaveston2]

Was there last evening (Tuesday). Audience response was rapturous. Sat behind a cheering and sobbing Holland Taylor...

I know this will sound like a joke, but I swear it isn't: saw the show again last night (Wednesday) and sat behind Conchata Ferrell in the center mezzanine. Had a brief chat with her before the show and she was lovely. I assume Jon Cryer or Ashton Kutcher will be there (and sitting in front of a BWW poster) tonight (Thursday).

For me, the show practically belongs to Victoria Clark at this point. She has found the perfect placement in her considerable voice for every note in the score. "Two Many Mornings" has become one of the greatest duets I've ever heard outside an opera house. She has invented or been given just enough movement for "Losing My Mind" that everyone now gets she is "standing in the middle of the floor/Not going left/Not going right." (My husband, who is very shy and rarely demonstrable in public actually whispered aloud on the last note: "Holy ****!" Later, he didn't even remember doing it.) "Losing My Mind" got the biggest hand of the night except for "Who's That Woman?" and, despite the slow exit, people were literally still screaming in the mezzanine behind me when Jan Maxwell and the male chorus took their turn on stage.

All four of the leads got huge hands at the curtain call, which was as it should be.

I loved the production in previews and didn't think it could get much better. I was wrong.

[nealb1]

Thanks for the info on the ghost during intermission.

Always like Conchata Ferrell. She's a great actress. Did she say that Jon & Ashton would be seeing the show in the next 3 days?

[choitoy]

"When I saw the show in DC & NYC, I don't remember there being any ghosts before the show started, or during intermission. They may have entered the stage right before intermission ended."

Nealb1: There wasn't any ghosts before the orchestra started (though if you watch carefully, you can see both the one behind the curtain that goes up and the one that comes from behind the stairs get into places about 30 seconds before the overture starts).

The intermission ghosts (there are three) have been hanging around during the whole intermission ever since the DC production (I should know, I used this time to get better looks at the costumes through my binoculars, though I felt a little bit like a lecher). And I noticed in the LA production (I'm not sure of the Broadway mounting, since that's the one place where I didn't see the show) that they added a couple of more ghosts. One during the "Rain on the Roof"/"Ah Paree"/"Broadway Baby" montage (I think she appeared during "Ah Paree"), and one during "I'm Still Here".

I forgot to add in my notes from when I saw the show in LA a couple of Sundays ago that I'm glad the ladies remember their purses now at the end of the production. And I really noticed Elaine Paige's back phrasing during "I'm Still Here", which I didn't notice the two times I saw it in DC (though people have been complaining of it since then). She also held the second to last line ("and I'm heeeerrrreeeeeee") which made her phrasing for the last line really weird. At least she sings it well on the cast album.

[Playbilly]

There were ghosts in NY at the top of the show. Between the time I sat in my seat, and moments before the show began, there was a woman under the staircase and one upstage. Don't know when they got there.

[lovebwy]

I think the show is better in LA. Roz Ellias and Don Correa are missed though. Also, I was a fan of what Bernadette did with Sally. And she for sure brought some "star quality" to the show. The thing is, Victoria Clark has a much more powerful soprano voice. Ron Raines was holding back during Too Many Mornings on Broadway, but now he and Clark RIP right into it and it is absolutely thrilling.

I really wish I could go closing night.

[Gaveston2]

Always like Conchata Ferrell. She's a great actress. Did she say that Jon & Ashton would be seeing the show in the next 3 days?

I'm so sorry. I thought that was an obvious joke. No, Miss Ferrell didn't even know that Holland Taylor had attended the night before. I just thought it was funny, as if the cast of TWO-AND-A-HALF MEN were attending, one at a time and sitting with posters from this board.

I apologize for any confusion my sense of humor may have caused.

(I agree that Ferrell is a great actress. That much is NOT a joke. I've been a fan since HOT L BALTIMORE in the 70s.)

[Gaveston2]

She (Elaine Page) also held the second to last line ("and I'm heeeerrrreeeeeee") which made her phrasing for the last line really weird. At least she sings it well on the cast album.

She's still doing it, but last night she managed to catch up and sing the very last "here" precisely when the orchestra got to the note. It made all the difference in the world and actually, I believe, got her a bigger hand.

More importantly, she long ago dropped the "angry" interpretation that YouTube shows her doing in D.C. I think the show desperately needs a Carlotta who's proud to have survived: even Sondheim in his recent book mentions that Carlotta and Hattie are utterly lacking in self-pity, which is an important contrast with the main characters.

[lovebwy]

Of all the interpretations I've seen I think Carol Burnett's is best. Of course, Yvonne DeCarlo brought something to it as the original, but Burnett delivers the opening lines ("I had a Follies number once") and the song best. To me, she had a hard enough life to really KNOW what the song is about, and likely she got all the references without having to look them up.

That said I love watching Elaine do it, but then I'd love watching her sing anything!!!

[HorseTears]

Love these reports, guys. Do you think there's any chance Mr. S might show up for closing night?

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Of all the interpretations I've seen I think Carol Burnett's is best. Of course, Yvonne DeCarlo brought something to it as the original, but Burnett delivers the opening lines ("I had a Follies number once") and the song best. To me, she had a hard enough life to really KNOW what the song is about, and likely she got all the references without having to look them up.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Just got back from my tour and the costumes are even more dazzling up close. The detail and bead work is amazing.

And it was great to tell the performers how much they are loved. Each one seems nicer than the one before and they are all very sad it's ending.


I heard the set is getting tossed into a dumpster, which breaks my heart.

[TheOldRedHillsOfHome]

I am so happy that I was able to see it at the Marquis, but I am still extremely jealous of everyone who gets to see it in LA! I would kill to see Victoria Clark, she is one of my favorite actresses.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

I want the set. I'll decorate my house with it.

[DAME]

I can only imagine what you will do with the drapes.

[PalJoey]

I want the Bracques and Chagalls and all that.

[HorseTears]

Hey Folks – Last minute seating choice. It’s been a while since I’ve been to the Ahmanson. If you had to choose between...

BALCONY-CENTER-FRONT ROW
or
ORCHESTRA-FAR HOUSE RIGHT OR FAR HOUSE LEFT (ON THE AISLE) – LAST 4 ROWS

...which would you select? There’s only a $15 diff, so cost isn’t impacting the decision. Thoughts?

[jacobsnchz14]

I really wish this had been filmed... Sounds amazing...

[Wildcard]

The acoustics would sound better if you sat in the balcony center. You'd also get to see the show from the middle and might actually be closer to the stage than from the last row of the orchestra.