Follies

Saturday night I went to the Encores! brief 6-performance-only revival of Sondheim's Follies at City Center. I have to say I was quite impressed and felt lucky in the end to have a ticket. This is a show I had never seen and one of Sondheim's most famous. Plus it packed an all-star Broadway cast including Donna Murphy (as Phyllis), Victoria Clark (Sally), Christine Baranski (Carlotta) and Victor Garber (Ben) - as well as many others. The Encores! Series are never full on staging, but this production had a bit more going on than the last one I saw, Can-Can, did. Everyone in the cast seemed very excited to be in the show and the performances all were exceptional (may times even stopping the show). The crowd also was full of Sondheim fanatics which only increased the energy within. The highlight for me was "Whose That Woman", a full-on song & dance number with all of the females players being led by Ms. Joanne Worley (who was very well cast!). I'm sad this one is not running longer, but I'm at least glad I finally got to see Follies. It's just such a huge production no one can afford to do it on Broadway these days so this is as close as I'm probably ever going to get to seeing it at least partially staged. Tonight is the final performance so if there is any way that you can snag a ticket, go for it!