There's a difference between "no plot" and "no clear story."
Follies, despite all the characters, the party atmosphere, and the fragmented feel of it all, really does have a clear story going on with the 4 leads. Unlike Wild Party, Sondheim and Goldman manage to keep the other characters out of that main story, only really coming alive for the pastiche songs. To me it works in a much clearer way.
Similarly, Bobby is really the hub of everything that happens in Company, and we don't really ever lose that center. (Same with Pippin.) Perhaps Queenie SHOULD be the hub in Wild Party, but as it's written, I don't feel she is.
Hair is a lot messier, granted - but ultimately I think the show is about its zeitgeist more than any of its characters (perhaps except for Claude). But it helps, indeed, that Hair was written as a reaction to its actual era that perhaps we still feel the echoes of today, whereas Wild Party (as a musical) is a morality tale about an era long-gone that carries more nostalgia for us than reality.
I'm glad you feel you got something much different out of the show. And I don't deny you that at all. For me, it's a great score in search of a better book. |
