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| "All Things Bright and Beautiful," cut from Follies. | |
| Last Edit: Delvino 11:33 am EDT 08/09/20 | |
| Posted by: Delvino 11:22 am EDT 08/09/20 | |
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| In a discussion about the prelude to Follies -- one of my favorite Sondheim melodies -- I brought up the source, the never used "All Things Bright and Beautiful" and went back to the Sondheim text for a reminder of why it was composed. I was again struck by the original intention in the Goldman book: rather than an unbidden intrusion -- of a stylized Follies imbued with cathartic psychodrama, seemingly summoned subconsciously by the individual and collective angst in the quartet -- the song was an 11th hour triggered flashback to a decisive event, when Ben and Sally were discovered making love by Buddy and Phyllis. It also reminded me that the concept for the show was somewhat more linear and traditional: Sally organized a make-shift Follies -- a performance by the women for men, using a trunk of old costumes and props -- rather than triggered a show-within-a-show via invocation. As the show became more of the piece we know now, it slowly abandoned the pretense of traditional plotting. Goldman's original instincts were to ground the evening in action and behavior. One of the reasons the show is so mysterious is its ability to illustrate how memory, once unleashed, simply won't be silenced, and makes the players confront the past, whether they like it or not. My appreciation of all that Follies became is strengthened again. | |
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| re: "All Things Bright and Beautiful," cut from Follies. | |
| Posted by: ARM25 09:36 am EDT 08/10/20 | |
| In reply to: "All Things Bright and Beautiful," cut from Follies. - Delvino 11:22 am EDT 08/09/20 | |
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| As an ardent Follies fan, I am glad the 2017 National Theatre London production went back to using more-or-less the original 1971 script.... the later revisions, even the script of the 2011 Broadway revival, are diluted, and the intermission kills the flow of the show. | |
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| re: "All Things Bright and Beautiful," cut from Follies. | |
| Posted by: andyboy 11:37 am EDT 08/10/20 | |
| In reply to: re: "All Things Bright and Beautiful," cut from Follies. - ARM25 09:36 am EDT 08/10/20 | |
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| Agreed. It was a pleasure to hear those scenes as originally intended and so much more potent. | |
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| re: "All Things Bright and Beautiful," cut from Follies. | |
| Posted by: ARM25 10:17 am EDT 08/11/20 | |
| In reply to: re: "All Things Bright and Beautiful," cut from Follies. - andyboy 11:37 am EDT 08/10/20 | |
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| I am huge and reverent Sondheim fan but that said, I think "Country House" from "Follies" in London 1987 might be his worst song. | |
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| re: "All Things Bright and Beautiful," cut from Follies. | |
| Posted by: Chromolume 05:25 pm EDT 08/11/20 | |
| In reply to: re: "All Things Bright and Beautiful," cut from Follies. - ARM25 10:17 am EDT 08/11/20 | |
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| I love "Country House" but it's definitely in the wrong musical style for Follies. It feels like it belongs much more in the musical world of Sunday or Into The Woods (the shows he wrote during that time). In fact, there's a definite "Into The Woods" moment in the song, when the mention of "the child" comes up and there's a "sting" chord in the orchestra. :-) But - I love the music of the song, and especially the repartee between Ben and Phyllis, which I think he got just right. |
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| re: "All Things Bright and Beautiful," cut from Follies. | |
| Posted by: EvFoDr 09:38 am EDT 08/13/20 | |
| In reply to: re: "All Things Bright and Beautiful," cut from Follies. - Chromolume 05:25 pm EDT 08/11/20 | |
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| I understand why the song is problematic. And I probably don't want to see it in a productin of Follies, but I do like that is give Phylis more to do. As it stands now, prior to the final Follies sequence, Ben and Sally each have two duets and a solo, and Buddy while Buddy and Phylis have only one solo each. I REALLY enjoy the lyric: It's my board / Oh dear Lord / And they can't be ignored / No and you can't afford to be bored with your board, can you? :-) |
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| re: "All Things Bright and Beautiful," cut from Follies. | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 04:56 pm EDT 08/13/20 | |
| In reply to: re: "All Things Bright and Beautiful," cut from Follies. - EvFoDr 09:38 am EDT 08/13/20 | |
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| Of course, all four are also in "Waiting for the Girls Upstairs," which Buddy starts and has a bit more solo stuff to sing than anyone else. That song was originally a duet for Buddy and Phyllis. The duet version went into Side by Side by Sondheim during the Broadway run (although it may have been in and out) and was in the Australian production and is on the cast recording of that production (never issued on CD). Sondheim once cited it as one of his favorites of his own songs (and he said that he specifically meant the duet version as performed in SBSBS). Interestingly, the published script gives the first two solo lines after the young people exit to Buddy as a solo, and the next two to Ben. And the published score gives Buddy the first line, Ben the second, and the next pair to the two of them together before the ladies join in. Anyway, just imagine the few days in Boston when Alexis Smith was having vocal troubles and they cut "Could I Leave You?" so that her only solo was "Uptown, Downtown," which hearsay suggests she didn't sing all that well even when in good vocal shape. |
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