From: arndt_w@cubldr.colorado.edu
Newsgroups: rec.arts.theatre
Subject: Re: Original cast recording of "Follies"
Date: 22 Jan 93 22:46:37 GMT
Organization: University of Colorado, Boulder

In article <1993Jan18.011420.12357@galileo.cc.rochester.edu>, rtut@troi.cc.rochester.edu (Raymond Tuttle) writes:
> Angel Records is following SONY Classical's lead in reissuing a series of
> Broadway original cast recordings.  The first six titles include "Funny
> Girl," "St. Louis Woman," "The Music Man," "Can-Can," "Zorba" and "Follies,"
> all of which originally appeared on the Capitol label, I believe.  Several of
> these titles already were available on CD, but these repackagings feature
> expanded notes and enhanced production values. 
> 
> I sampled the original cast recording of Stephen Sondheim's ambitious
> "Follies" (ZDM 64666) because the show's reputation seems to increase
> from year to year, even if productions are few and far between.  Its
> disillusionment, and its message that blind nostalgia can be dangerous,
> was perhaps more than the average theatre-goer was willing to take at its
> premiere in 1971, and even today, its surreal flavor removes it from the
> average song-filled Broadway joy-fest by several orders of magnitude. 
> 
> I got to know the show from RCA's 1985 "Follies in Concert" album, and I
> must admit I've never seen "Follies" live (I was 8 years old when it opened
> on Broadway).  Still, I feel that the RCA album gives a vivid sonic picture
> of what the show was all about, even though this recording was not
> associated with a staged production.   
> 
> The RCA recording was produced by Thomas Z. Shepard.  This is what
> Shepard says about the original cast recording of "Follies" in Craig Zadan's
> book _Sondheim & Co._: "I think [it] . . . was irresponsible . . . to take a
> score of that scope and try to put it on one LP, to mangle the songs in
> order to do it, and then to do a rush job of it is shocking  . . . Forgetting
> that 'Follies' [the recording] is so terrible technically, the spirit and flavor
> are gone - if you didn't see the show you would have had no idea what it
> was all about - and that alone makes it a monumental failure." 
> 
> One could merely accuse Shepard of sour grapes, since he didn't produce
> the original cast recording, but regrettably, I find everything Shepard says
> to be true, only more so.  I find it impossible to judge the performances on
> this disc; in my heart, I know they must have been more effective in the
> theatre, but on this CD, they are dead in the water.  Furthermore, this
> recording of "Follies" also misrepresents Sondheim's music and lyrics; 58
> minutes is not enough for this score, even with songs and parts of songs
> cut, and tempos rushed beyond reason. 
> 
> However, if you want to get at least a vague idea of what the original cast
> sounded like, this is the only way you're going to do it, and it is for this
> reason that "Follies"-philes like myself will want this recording, even if
> it doesn't do the performers, the composer or the listener justice.  The
> recording is, not surprisingly, unatmospheric.  This is the most
> controversial CD in Angel Broadway's initial clutch of reissues, and should
> not be taken as a mark against the entire series. 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> --
> ****************************************   Raymond S. Tuttle
> "Dunkel ist das Leben, ist der Tod,"       University of Rochester
> but it's nothing to get depressed about!   (still with his two little 
> ****************************************   white mice).
I am one of those old geezers who actually saw FOLLIES with the original cast
in 1971.  I had seen COMPANY toward the end of its run and was thrilled with
it.  I  went to see FOLLIES based on my wonderful experience with COMPANY and
because I found the original poster to be so haunting.  So I saw FOLLIES very
early, even before I had read a review or seen a synopsis.  It completely
knocked me out and I saw it again about three months later with five or six of
my best friends.  Later I sent my mother and a friend to see it.  I was to meet
them when it was over and got there in time to rush in and see the curtain
calls.

It seemed like forever waiting for the cast album.  When it finally came I
practically played it to death, lying in my dark room trying to imagine that I
was back in the theatre.  It has always seemed to me that the original cast
recording would be very hard to appreciate if you hadn't seen the show -- it
being such a small portion of the score.

An important point is that in 1971 we all remembered Dorothy Collins from "Your
Hit Parade," we all remembered Alexis Smith from Warner Bros. musicals in the
1940s, we all remembered Gene Nelson from the Doris Day musicals in the 1950s.  
Ethel Shutte really had been a "Broadway Baby" in the 1920s, and Fifi D'Orsay
had been a star in the 1930s.  It added a layer of reality that can never be
recreated in a revival, no matter how good it is.

About the new recordings -- the concert at Avery Fisher has some wonderful
moments and some fine performances.  I like the London recording a lot.  I am a
big Diana Rigg fan, and I think "Ah, But Underneath!" may possibly be a better
song than "Lucy and Jessie."  But with all of these recordings, there's still
missing music.  Whatever happened, for instance, to "Tango D'Amour"?  I
remember it vividly from the show, but I cannot recall the music.

One final point:  in the Sondheim Tribute album (the "scrabble" album), which
is a live recording of a performance at the Shubert Theatre on the NIGHT MUSIC
set, "Beautiful Girls" is performed as a way of introducing some of the women. 
He sings a verse, then says, "Ladies and Gentlemen . . . Miss Angela Lansbury!"
Wild applause.  "Miss Glynis Johns!"  More applause.  "Miss Nancy Walker." 
Still more cheering.  And so on.  This to me is the closest thing available to
what it was actually like during the original show.  I heartily recommend the
recording.

	William Arndt
	University of Colorado at Boulder