Tuesday, February 13, 2007

I’m so glad I came

I've been to a marvelous party with the Weismann Girls. Follies last night at City Center was a performance I'm going to remember for a long time, and was certainly the best damned Encores! production I've ever seen.

One of the reviews I read said something to the effect that even if the cast had performed only the last four numbers, it would still have been an outstanding production, and that's so true. Michael McGrath as Buddy doing "The God-Why-Don't-You-Love-Me Blues", Victoria Clark as Sally singing "Losing My Mind", Donna Murphy and the men's ensemble tearing up "The Story of Lucy and Jessie" and Victor Garber breaking down "Live, Laugh, Love"...I don't think I've had a more thrilling 20 minutes or so in the theatre in years.

Being closing night with a lot of repeat guests, every number was greeted with thunderous and mostly deserved applause. After Arthur Rubin, who has still got amazing pipes, brought on the cast with "Beautiful Girls", I really thought the show would run an hour longer just for the ovations. By the time Anne Rogers and Robert Fitch did their first dance specialty with "Rain on the Roof", I had a smile on my face that didn't fade all night.

JoAnne Worley as Stella was a scream (literally!), and lord, lord, lord, lord, lord, that woman and all the Weismann girls danced the hell out of "Who's That Woman". Donna Murphy lost a shoe midway through the number and kept right on tapping with one, then reclaimed it and held it over her head triumphantly come the final break.

I've heard a lot against Christine Baranski as Carlotta but I have to say, she created a perfectly consistent portrayal of a woman getting by the best she can with what she's got and what life dealt her. If she didn't exactly hit the final note of "I'm Still Here", I wouldn't have expected her Carlotta to do so. Yvonne Constant (Solange) and Mimi Hines (Hattie) were perfect, and I don't believe I've heard any old and young Heidi (Lucine Amara and Leena Chopra) blend better singing "One More Kiss".

From top to bottom, though, the show belonged to Clark and Murphy. I'm so sad the production wasn't recorded, because I'll have only my memory of their fantastic performances of "Could I Leave You?", "In Buddy's Eyes" and their two 11 o'clock numbers. But what a memory!

The house Monday night was sold out to the rafters, and the show began about 20 minutes late because of a will-call line that stretched all the way down 55th. There were even more stars in the audience than on stage; I spied Fred Willard, Bernadette Peters, Martin Short, Nathan Lane, Alfred Molina, and Matt Cavanaugh, as well as Paul Rudnick, John Doyle and, of course, Mr. Sondheim himself, who was all smiles. At the intermission, Sarah Jessica Parker, with Matt Broderick in tow, came up to me on the sidewalk to ask for a light. Of course, it was fun sitting with my pal Hunter and what seemed like most of the cast of [title of show]

As I was leaving, I spotted Donna McKechnie and Barbara Cook chatting and both looking radiant. Seeing those two former Sallys together was the perfect coda to my evening. And like Sally, I'm so glad I came.

February 13, 2007 at 3:37 PM |
Theatre
theatre | NYC | follies | citycenter | Sondheim