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re: lol oops. :)

Posted by: garyd 01:55 pm EST 11/19/14
In reply to: re: lol oops. :) - Michael_Portantiere 12:07 pm EST 11/19/14

Good points. I also remember reading an article prior to the 2002 revival in which Sondheim said something to the effect that some changes were being made in an attempt to make ITW even more "kid friendly" to perhaps tap into the "Lion King" demographic. And, of course, he has always said that he thought/hoped ITW would be more of a cash cow than his other shows and I guess that is true.
I always cringe when I hear of a high school production of "Follies". It just seems so odd. It's like a high school drama teacher deciding "Long Day's Journey Into Night" might make a dandy senior play production.


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re: lol oops. :)

Posted by: Michael_Portantiere 03:27 pm EST 11/19/14
In reply to: re: lol oops. :) - garyd 01:55 pm EST 11/19/14

Have you heard of many high school productions of FOLLIES? I don't think I've heard of any. Which is not to say that other wildly inappropriate shows aren't done in high schools...


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re: lol oops. :)

Posted by: garyd 09:23 pm EST 11/19/14
In reply to: re: lol oops. :) - Michael_Portantiere 03:27 pm EST 11/19/14

Yes, oddly enough, I have heard of several and there are several youtube examples. It almost comes across as child porn.


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re: lol oops. :)

Posted by: Chromolume 10:03 pm EST 11/19/14
In reply to: re: lol oops. :) - garyd 09:23 pm EST 11/19/14

Colleges do it. The Boston Conservatory did a production of Follies back in 2008. They really shouldn't have. The majority of the students, as one would expect, didn't have the life experience to know how to play the material. (Granted, student productions cast youngsters as adults all the time, but when the overarching theme of the show is people looking back at themselves after 30 years, I think that's unreasonable acting material for a cast of mostly 20-year-olds.) I remember that the Hattie and the Phyllis were closest to having the sense of maturity needed to get into the roles, and to the other extreme, I remember that the Weissman resorted to some sort of embarrassingly phony "old man" walk to "define" his character. The rest of the principals learned their lines and songs but had nothing to say with them. The show also ran OVER 3 hours.

Why did anyone think that show was a good choice?


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re: lol oops. :)

Posted by: Michael_Portantiere 09:37 pm EST 11/19/14
In reply to: re: lol oops. :) - garyd 09:23 pm EST 11/19/14

Amazing!


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