Anyone seeing FOLLIES in LA tonight?

[CarlosAlberto]

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Matt, that look is more Sally than the red dress and the Bernadette wig.

[theeatah]

SonofRobbieJ, why do you think Uptown/Downtown is infinitely superior to its replacements? I've always found the lyrics rather awkward.

[Gaveston2]

That's exactly what I had in mind, Mister Matt. I didn't realize it had already been worn! (What is that from, if I may ask?)

BTW, sorry about Rachel Reilly. Or maybe congrats: since she seems to be crying in your avatar, perhaps you were pleased with last night's show.

[CarlosAlberto]

That's a picture of Bernadette from the movie HEARTBEEPS in which she co-starred with Andy Kaufman.

[Gaveston2]

Oh, yes, of course. Thank you, Carlos and Matt.

[nasty_khakis]

Well, at least it's pink!

[Wicked Fanatic]

Gaveston2 when you saw it was Michael Hayes back as Roscoe? Did they have any souvenirs for sale yet?

[PalJoey]

COLE PORTER, 1944, written for Seven Lively Arts:

Is It the Girl or Is It the Gown?

Is it the girl
Or is it the gown?
Which one of the two
Do you love?

Is it her hair
You long to caress
Or is it that ex-
Quisite dress?

Is she the dream
Of all you desire
Or is it her frock
That happens to knock you down?

Is it the girl
You love so dearly
Or is it merely
Her beautiful gown?

[SonofRobbieJ]

Re: Uptown/Downtown. I guess it's just a personal preference. I adore the imagery of the song, and the section that starts 'She sits are the Ritz...' is one of my all-time favorite Sondheim lyrics. I actually think Lucy and Jessie is a little to self-conscious in its rhyming. I generally do not like Ah, But Underneath...however, I do think that song would have served Jan Maxwell best in the show. Not only would it have played to her strengths more (better vocalist than dancer), but I felt that the arc she created for the character would have been best served by that song.

[choitoy]

Though I do agree that "Ah, But Underneath" would have suited Jan better (singing), I feel "Lucy and Jessie" fits her characterization of Phyllis better.

"Lucy and Jessie" talks about the duality of how she lived her past self and her current state, and how after having an epiphany moment, they come together and would make her a better person. Phyllis in this character finds her voice, which is why she's so outwardly angry during "Could I Leave You".

"Ah, But Underneath" ends with the line "Sometimes when the wrappings fall/ There's nothing underneath at all". Which fits with less of an outward reaction during "Could I leave You". The message of this song is that Phyllis has built up so much armor around herself that she doesn't know what she is on the inside anymore. I don't think Jan's Phyllis is portrayed that way in this production.

[SonofRobbieJ]

See...that's exactly how I interpreted her performance. Well... not exactly. But my take on her take was that she spent so many years supressing her natural impulses and creating this version of a human being that wasn't real, that she no longer knew who she was at her center. That doesn't mean she can't show anger and hurt and all the other things she brought to Could I Leave You?

Plus...I just plain don't like Lucy and Jessie. There. I've said it. Burn me as a witch.

[Gaveston2]

Wicked, I'm seeing it tonight. I'll let you know tomorrow...

[Gaveston2]

paljoey, thank you for the Porter lyric. That is quite simply the gayest lyric I've ever read!

Is it possible anyone still thought Porter was straight after that?

[Gaveston2]

I know SonofRobbiej knows this, but for the sake of the children reading it should be pointed out that the rhyming of "Lucy and Jessie" is deliberately self-conscious, just as when Porter rhymes "G.O.P. or gop" and "de trop" with "You're the Top."

I believe Sondheim lets Phyllis parody Porter because the deliberate artificiality of the lyric is a parallel to Phyllis' artificially created personality. And of course because Porter was famous for writing about rich people.

(I don't see how "Uptown/Downtown" has rhymes that are any less self-conscious, but the images of "U/D" are concrete things the mind can visualize; "Lucy and Jessie" deals more in abstract concepts. Rhymes like "maturity/security" don't paint word pictures and are therefore less easy for the mind to grab quickly. Nonetheless, I prefer "Lucy and Jessie", perhaps only because I knew it for years before I heard the alternatives.)

[TheatreDiva90016]

Tonight, tonight!

I'll see the show tonight!

[PalJoey]

Robbie, Robbie, Robbie may you not be burned as a with for disliking "Lucy/Jessie," but may you be ringed with the fires that Wotan put around the sleeping Brunnhilde.



You may like "Uptown, Downtown"--I happen to think it's a nifty little song well-suited for cabaret performance--and you may dislike "Lucy/Jessie," but to say that one's rhyme scheme is self-conscious and the other's is not....well, come on now--can you really say that "Ritz, oh/schizo" is NOT self-conscious:

She sits at the Ritz
With her splits of Mumms
And starts to pine for a stein
With her Village chums,
But with a Schlitz in her mitts
Down at Fitzroy's Bar,
She dreams of the Ritz, oh--
It's so schizo.

The two girls as described in "Uptown/Downtown" are not at all like the character--Phyllis and Sally's first apartment in New York was in the east forties, under the 3rd Avenue el...hardly "downtown."

But the two girls as described in "Lucy/Jessie"?

Jessie is racy
But hard as a rock.
Lucy is lacy
But dull as a smock.
Jessie wants to be lacy,
Lucy wants to be Jessie.

Phyllis to a T.

[somethingwicked]

Victoria Clark's L.A. costume looks stunning. I venture to say I prefer it to either of the previous dresses worn by Bernadette Peters in this production.

[broadwaybabytn]

Victoria Clark looks stunning and so young!

[E.Davis]

I like that her hair is down.

[aasjb4ever]

From that angle she looks like Mary Steenburgen.

[SonofRobbieJ]

I fully accept all of your explanations about thoughts on Lucy/Jessie v. Uptown/Downtown.

I simply just plain don't like Lucy and Jessie.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

I don't not like Lucy and Jessie (although I do not like "Ah, But Underneath!" at least when it's being sung in a production of Follies), but I've always preferred "Uptown, Downtown." It is very similar to Lucy and Jessie, but there's something about it I like more.

I like the lines about reconciling "who she was with who she is" and I've always liked that Harriet, like Phyllis, is essentially the female version of a male name, which I thought was clever.

[E.Davis]

"From that angle she looks like Mary Steenburgen."

She totally does.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

I see Karen Ziemba.

[PalJoey]

She looks gorgeous.