re: Sondheim Talks FOLLIES Movie Musical

[CapnHook]

http://www.broadwayworld.com/l.cfm?id=210972

FINALLY some news!

[ljay889]

If done right, this is going to be AWESOME.

[zooxanthellae]

This is the most amazing news! I hope this actually comes to fruition! Any speculation on the big star name?

And a remake of West Side Story is just unneeded. Spielberg is brilliant, but no thanks!

[JudasIscariot]

Gah, all this new Sondheim news makes me want to wet myself.

(Out of joy, not out of a bladder problem.)

[Mattbrain]

As I am normally first in line for ANY movie musical these days, I SHALL be going to see it and no doubt, I shall love it in spite of whatever shortcomings it may have. So it was with The Producers.

And so in the words of Riley of The Boondocks:

Booty dance
Unh
Booty dance
Booty dance
Unh
Booty dance
Booty dance
Unh
Booty dance

[CurtainPullDowner]

Streep as Sally?

[Mattbrain]

No! She's done enough film adaptations. I'm still pissed that Cherry Jones isn't playing Sister Aloysius in the movie version of Doubt.

[CapnHook]

A FOLLIES movie musical is old news. Rob Marshall is the high-profile director.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/02142007/entertainment/theater/good_golly__its_a_hit_follies_theater_michael_riedel.htm

[sondheimgeek]

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

I really hope Phyllis and Sally aren't too old.

Age up Nicole Kidman for Sally and have Miss Vanessa Williams play Phyllis. Alec Baldwin for Ben, Timothy Hutton for Buddy, Madonna for Carlotta, Bette Midler for Stella and Susan Sarandon for Solange.

Perfection.

I still won't believe it till I see it, and I pray Bill Condon doesn't write the screenplay.

[InfiniteTheaterFrenzy]

This could be glorious.

But I want me a Carlotta that can SANG. For REALZ.

[Izzy's Baby]

Izzy Baby for baby Sally!

[ljay889]

Aaron Sorkin is writing the screenplay isn't he?

[CapnHook]

Yup.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

I heard that once, but I don't know if it's confirmed. Yay, if Sorkin does it will remain talky! It'll probably be kinda preachy, though.

[wickedfan]

If Sorkin does it, it will be funnier. One thing that Sorkin needs to do is add jokes. The show is a huge drag when there aren't any laughs.

[ljay889]

The most problematic part for the writer will be making the LOVELAND sequence work. That is going to be tricky. They can't just cut all of those great songs.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Since we're wishing ... I hope he uses the 1971 script as his template!

[keen on kean]

Alec Baldwin - oh, please, NO!

[wickedfan]

I'd like the look of Loveland to be a bit like the dream sequences in "Limelight", although not transition into it as abruptly as Chaplin did.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Oh, I think he'd be great, Keen. Pfeiffer or Williams have to be Phyllis!

And because the powers at be really should be taking their cues from me, here's a piece of advice - If they are worried about justifying the songs, I have the solution. It's a MUSICAL.

[TheBoyDownstairs]

Follies is my favorite musical ever, and the thought of the movie makes me so excited if it is done well.

For me the key is if they can cast Sally correctly, I honestly dont know which big star I can see as Sally. I really love the idea of Vanessa Williams as Phyllis, I think she would be great.

Perhaps if they got big enough stars for Phyllis/Ben/Carlotta they could cast a Victoria Clark type for Sally (yeh, I know it will never happen, but I adored her Sally at City Center)

[CapnHook]

WHOA - correction. I have my movie musicals mixed up. It's NOT Rob Marshall. It's Sam Mendes.

[jewishboy]

I think Annette Bening would be the best Phyllis.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Well, WHOEVER is making it needs to contact me immediately. We've no time to lose.

Wickedfan, have you ever heard the soundboard recording. That performance got plenty of laughs. I really think the problem is the revised book. Not only does the revised version kill all the gravitas and poignancy of the ending, but it kind of kills the laughs, too.

[wickedfan]

I have not heard the soundboard, Phyllis, (if you know how I can go about doing that I would be entirely grateful) but I have read both the original and revised scripts. Whereas the revised script IS more drab than the original, the original script is not very funny. Most laughs that the show got must have been due to line delivery, because there are very few moments that I, and many others I know who have read both scripts (and are far older than me, in case you were wondering if this were an age-bias), find funny. In addition, I think that only Sondheim's songs give real depth or warmth to the characters (with the exception of Sally's lines about not washing the dishes when she left the house at the end of the show).