Follies in Concert was performed at the Royal Albert Hall, London.
Star rating: 4 stars ★ ★ ★ ★
London has had a surprisingly – and tragically – short history with Stephen Sondheim and James Goldman’s Follies. The original full-scale West End production opened in 1987 (which, admittedly, remains the show’s longest ever run, anywhere in the world). Other than that, there have been a couple of fringe productions, a staging at the Royal Festival Hall in 2002 and concert versions at Theatre Royal Drury Lane (1996) and the Palladium (2007).
Yet this is one of Sondheim’s best known and best loved works. Rumours have circulated for a few years about another large-scale London revival, but none of these have come to fruition. No surprise, then, that a one-day-only semi-staged production at the Royal Albert Hall has proved to be a big hit with theatregoers. I can’t speak for the matinee, but the evening performance saw the RAH fairly packed, and with an incredibly enthusiastic crowd.
Follies tells the story of a last hurrah by a cast of Weismann Follies girls who reunite in their old haunt – a theatre about to be pulled down to make way for a parking lot. There, two couples in particular are troubled by the ghosts of their past, reviving grudges and opening old wounds. Their relationship troubles are reheated to the soundtrack of the veteran chorines as they relive their big numbers from the past, and the show is a mix of pastiche Follies pieces and book songs that propel the scant plotline forward. It’s also a source of some of Sondheim’s best-known and best-loved songs, in particular ‘I’m Still Here’, ‘Losing My Mind’ and ‘Broadway Baby’.
This audacious venture, by SilverBlue Entertainment (Barry Satchwell Smith and Laura Cunningham), succeeded in getting the notoriously tricky casting almost exactly spot on. Barring a few oddities – Russell Watson (Roscoe) and Alistair McGowan (Dmitri Weismann, an almost-nothing speaking part) were both at least one generation out – the stellar cast truly captured the spirit of the piece.
US star Christine Baranski and the UK’s Alexander Hanson made for a classy Ben and Phyllis Stone, perfectly complementing Ruthie Henshall and Peter Polycarpou’s Sally and Buddy Plummer. All four gelled well, and Polycarpou and Baranski in particular gave blinding performances. And even if Baranski is to choreography what Rex Harrison is to singing – understandable, I suppose, after what must have been an incredibly short rehearsal period – there was no denying her star status.
The younger foursome – Laura Pitt-Pulford (Phyllis), Alistair Brammer (Ben), Amy Ellen Richardson (Sally) and Jos Slovick (Buddy) – also deserved high praise, and arguably worked together even better than the older versions of themselves. If only they had been given more to do…
The joy of this show is not really in the leads’ rather tiresome story but in the scintillating colour around their periphery. It’s here that we got treated to some inspired performances from the delightful principals and a 12-piece ensemble. We had Anita Harris and Roy Hudd as the dotty duo Emily and Theodore Whitman, who just about made it all the way through ‘Rain On the Roof’ before nearly headbutting each other and corpsing through the last couple of lines of their silly song.
As chanteuse Solange LaFitte was the wonderful Stephanie Powers, who resisted the temptation to pile on the jambon for ‘Ah, Paris’ and kept the French accent and campery under control. (And she can sing! Who knew?!) And Lorna Luft – the daughter of Judy Garland – stepped up as Hattie Walker to give us the show’s first big hitter, ‘Broadway Baby’, for which she got the biggest response of the night so far.
Outdoing even Luft, though, was the astonishing Anita Dobson, whose mirror number, ‘Who’s That Woman’, was an unanticipated highlight. She showed she was the consummate performer, pulling off this fantastic tap number with aplomb. No one was more surprised by her performance than Dobson herself, who heaved a large sigh of relief when this challenging group number came to an end.
The last of the chorines were Charlotte Page as Heidi Schiller (who duetted with her uncredited younger self in the beautiful ‘One More Kiss’), and the incomparable Betty Buckley, who took the role of Carlotta Campion. Buckley got the show’s most memorable – though perhaps most difficult to memorise – song, ‘I’m Still Here’ and nearly took the roof off the hall.
Perhaps the biggest star of the night, though, was the band – the City of London Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of the ever-reliable Gareth Valentine – and the support choir from Arts Ed (although largely uncredited in the programme).
What a glorious sound it was to hear Jonathan Tunick’s outstanding orchestrations given the Royal Albert Hall treatment. Baranski’s Follies pastiche ‘The Story of Lucy and Jessie’ was effectively the show’s 11 o’clock number – big, sassy and brassy – and the band really let rip in the jitterbug instrumental middle section. A nod must also be given to Andrew Wright and his team for the very effective choreography. I’d’ve paid the ticket price just to experience this number alone.
Not surprisingly for a two-show run, there were the odd hiccups, and the mixing of the vocals in the cavernous RAH left a lot to be desired. But given the scale and ambition of director Craig Revel Horwood’s production, it was a remarkably successful night. All in all, a delightful night out that reminded us of how much we desperately need a full production of this show in London soon. A cast like this one would help, too.
Craig Glenday
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