For the third time in a year, the Caldwell Theatre has put the words and music of Stephen Sondheim onstage, emphasizing his intricate way with a song and his emotionally complex storytelling in its musical concert series.
If the Boca Raton company’s current offering, 1971’s Follies, is not quite up to the delirious level of its Sunday in the Park With George or Into the Woods, perhaps that is because the surprise factor that its performers can learn, stage, rehearse and present these demanding shows in less than a week is starting to wear off.
Or maybe it is the nature of Follies itself. More concept musical than traditional book musical, less than a third of its numbers move the skeletal story along, which may not lend itself as well to the concert format. The score is full of memorable showstoppers, but they are mostly presentational specialty numbers, faux-vintage songs like Broadway Baby, Ah, Paris! or that ultimate torch song, Losing My Mind.
Sondheim-philes would probably go anywhere to hear these tunes sung as well as they are at the Caldwell this weekend, and on that level, you have to deem artistic director Clive Cholerton’s production a success. But the pared-down staging and lack of scenic touches leads to narrative confusion. It is hard to imagine that someone who had not seen Follies previously would be able to follow the show’s shifts between the present and the past, between reality and fantasy.
The show won seven Tony Awards, but was inexplicably edged out for best musical by Galt MacDermot’s Two Gentlemen of Verona. It focuses on two former chorus girls of the famed, fictional Weismann Follies, both caught in unsatisfying, empty marriages. Phyllis (Laura Hodos) is married to foundation head Ben (Stephen G. Anthony), both bored by their New York social obligations. In contrast, Sally (Melissa Minyard) and Buddy (Wayne LeGette) live a simple life in Phoenix, with him often unfaithful on the road as a traveling salesman.
They are reunited, along with many featured performers from Follies past, at the theater where these extravagant revues once played, now crumbling and destined to be razed for a parking lot. In the course of one night, the four main characters acknowledge earlier infatuations, express current unhappiness and interact with the ghosts of their younger selves. This view of idealistic youth and the compromises made over time would be addressed again by Sondheim a decade later in Merrily We Roll Along, which also was a financial flop.
LeGette and Minyard have been paired and prominent in all three Caldwell concerts and they are again the standouts in the cast. You would not have to have seen the now-legendary 1985 Follies concert at Lincoln Center to hear echoes of Mandy Patinkin’s Buddy in LeGette’s vocal approach to the character, but that intensity is very welcome, particularly on the burlesque-like Buddy’s Blues. Minyard is handed some of the score’s most haunting songs (In Buddy’s Eyes, Too Many Mornings, Losing My Mind) and she delivers them flawlessly.
Hodos is not as icy cool as ennui-fueled Phyllis is usually portrayed, but she is on-target with her laser-sharp solo, Could I Leave You? And Anthony takes a while to get going as standoffish Ben, but eventually comes on strong on Live, Laugh, Love, an 11 o’clock mental breakdown number, something of a Sondheim specialty.
Cholerton has found some terrific new talent — Joey Zangardi, John Debkowski, Melanie Leibner and Nicole Niefeld — for the foursome’s younger selves. As part of his informal musical rep company, they definitely widen his future possibilities.
Follies is one of the few Sondheim shows where dance is an integral part of the show, and the Caldwell has lagged — understandably perhaps — on including much choreography in its concerts. As a result, numbers like Who’s That Woman? And The Story of Lucy and Jessie fall short in their impact.
This concert series has grown incrementally in its use of projections as a visual backdrop. The opening shots of vintage portraits that morph into each other is striking, as are the photos of dilapidated theater palaces and a brief film clip of period dance. But something more is needed — either a lighting change or a scenic suggestion — to convey that the show has gone into fantasy mode in the climactic Loveland sequence.
Overall, this Follies concert is another gift from the Caldwell to us Sondheim fanatics, surely more enjoyable to those already familiar with the show than newbies. It is good to hear that Cholerton is committed to continuing the series and, if the other performances are as packed as Friday night’s was, the theater might make a little money on the show,
Next, Clive, how about Sondheim’s latest, the saga of the Mizner Brothers called Road Show (a/k/a Bounce, a/k/a Wise Guys)? After all, some of it is set in Boca Raton.
Follies can be seen today at 8 p.m. and tomorrow at 2 p.m. at the Caldwell Theatre, 7901 N. Federal Highway, Boca Raton. Tickets: $30-$35. Call (561) 241-7432 or (877) 245-7432.