Follies
Stephen Sondheim & James Goldman
Musical in two acts.
Book by James Goldman.
Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim.
Original Broadway production directed by Harold Prince.
Orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick.
Premiered on April 4,1971 at the Winter Garden Theatre in New York.
Nouvelle production.
Coproduction avec le Grand Théâtre de Genève et le Théâtre du Châtelet.
Infos
Mulhouse
La Filature
Strasbourg
Opéra
Entracte compris.
En langue anglaise, surtitrage en français et en allemand.
Prologue
Une heure avant le spectacle (Durée : 30 min.) Une courte introduction vous est proposée avant chaque représentation.
Cast
Direction musicale David Charles Abell Mise en scène, costumes Laurent Pelly Décors Chantal Thomas Lumières NN Chorégraphie Stephen Mear Ballet de l'Opéra national du Rhin, Chœur de l’Opéra national du Rhin, Orchestre philharmonique de Strasbourg
Artists
Sally Durant Plummer Natalie Dessay Buddy Plummer Damian Humbley Benjamin Stone Ben Davis Phyllis Rogers Stone Josefina Gabrielle Hattie Walker Louise Pitre Solange LaFitte Jasmine Roy Heidi Schiller Dame Felicity Lott Stella Deems Sophie Louise Dann Roscoe Bonaventura Bottone La jeune Heidi Louisa Stirland
Presentation
A former Broadway producer holds a reunion to honor the beautiful chorus girls who performed during the interwar years in his eponymous review show, the Weismann’s Follies. But long gone are the sequined costumes, spotlights, back-stage nerves, and thunderous applause: the once resplendent theater is now a cinema and about to be demolished. Phyllis and Ben and Buddy and Sally, two titular Follies and their respective husbands, recall the joyful and occasionally bitter-sweet memories of their former lives. As they conjure up the past in the present, they are joined by the ghosts of their younger selves to perform a final swansong, reviving old flames they believed were extinguished a long time ago…
Follies stands as a brilliant musical well deserving of its cult status. It pays homage to the lavish New York revues like the legendary Ziegfried Follies while offering a deeply Proustian reflection on time and the unfulfilled promises of the American Dream during the waning days of the post-war economic boom. Sondheim has masterfully crafted a pastiche celebrating the composers who defined Broadway, including George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin and Jerome Kern. In this new show, co-produced with the Théâtre du Châtelet and Grand Théâtre de Genève, the director Laurent Pelly collaborates with opera stars like Natalie Dessay and Felicity Lott, as well as Stephen Maer, choreographer for the OnR Ballet. This musical and visual extravaganza directed by conductor David Charles Abell, one of Leonard Bernstein’s last protégés and an authoritative interpreter of the musicals of Stephen Sondheim, brings this season to a spectacular close.
