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Music

Follies in Concert (Melbourne Recital Centre) ★★★

by •
ABR Arts • 26 May 2016
Music

Follies in Concert (Melbourne Recital Centre) ★★★

by •
ABR Arts • 26 May 2016

Stephen Sondheim's Follies opened on Broadway in 1971, during his most fertile period as a composer and lyricist; it premièred one year after Company and two years before A Little Night Music. It echoed the plotless structure of the former and the ambivalent nostalgia of the latter, but largely failed to make an impression on audiences. It wasn't the unmitigated disaster of Anyone Can Whistle (1964) – which infamously closed after nine performances – but it has had a chequered history ever since, and never had a full-scale production that made its money back.

To call it a failure, however, would be to do it a grave disservice. According to Meryle Secrest's Stephen Sondheim: A Life (1998), a bootleg recording of the original New York production 'reveals the kind of shuffling of feet and coughing in the audience that strikes dread into the heart of a producer', but most of the critics were positive and the show's reputation has only strengthened over time.

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Tim Byrne

Tim Byrne is a freelance writer and theatre critic for Australian Book Review and Time Out Melbourne. He is currently working on a novel. Tim is also a bookseller and interviewer, running a series of author interviews at Avenue Bookstore. He maintains an arts blog that focuses on theatre, film, and books.

Leave a comment
Tim Byrne

Tim Byrne is a freelance writer and theatre critic for Australian Book Review and Time Out Melbourne. He is currently working on a novel. Tim is also a bookseller and interviewer, running a series of author interviews at Avenue Bookstore. He maintains an arts blog that focuses on theatre, film, and books.

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Comments (2)

  • I went with friends to see Follies on opening night. Although the performers were all fantastic, I thought the sound and lighting were terrible. The orchestra was too loud and the performers were too soft, hence I could hardly hear them singing over the music! The lighting was all over the place and the actors were half in the dark through most of the show. I was very disappointed and I resent having to pay $159 for a show of such poor technical quality.
    Posted by Ray
    29 May 2016
  • Interestingly I thought The Newtons looked awkward and wooden but thought Debra Byrne poured her heart into her anthem, deserving The Guardian's comment that it was a showstopper. So often I Am Still Here is over sung, however Debra gave it a sensitive subtlety to make it her own. At the Matinee it was the only piece that got a standing ovation.
    Posted by Mark Leonard Bolwell
    28 May 2016

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