Stephen Sondheim's FOLLIES Greenlit For Film Adaptation

The Hollywood Reporter has reported that a film adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's Follies has just been greenlit for production by BBC Films and Heyday Films.

According to the report, Dominic Cooke, director of the acclaimed 2017 National Theatre revival of the musical, will helm the film adaptation.

Stephen Sondheim, composer of the beloved musical, has noted that Cooke's interpretation helped him to envision the material as having cinematic potential.

Sondheim says of the film. ""Over the years, there have been many attempts to bring Follies to the screen, but not until Dominic Cooke's brilliant production at the National Theatre of Great Britain did it seem like it could be a real movie. I'm more than delighted, I'm thrilled, that it's finally going to happen,"

Cooke said in a statement: "James Goldman's skilful book nods as much to the golden age of movie musicals as to Broadway, so it feels like natural material to turn into a movie,"

With music and lyrics by Sondheim and a book by James Goldman, FOLLIES tells the story of the former showgirls of the Ziegfeld Follies, amidst a wealth of well-known songs, including Losing My Mind, Broadway Baby and I'm Still Here. The musical was voted in the Top Ten of BBC Radio 2's The Nation's Number One Essential Musical.

The original production of Follies premiered on Broadway in 1971, where it was nominated for eleven Tony Awards, and won seven. The show premiered in London in 1987, and has been revived around the world many times to great acclaim.

Follies was most recently revived on Broadway in 2011, starring Bernadette Peters, Jan Maxwell, Danny Burstein, Ron Raines, Elaine Page and more. The production was nominated for seven 2012 Tony Awards and won one for its costume design.

Cooke's recent revival of the musical at the National Theatre starred Tracie Bennett, Janie Dee and Imelda Staunton and featured a cast of 37, an orchestra of 21 players, and was nominated for 10 2018 Olivier Awards and picked up a win for Best Revival of a Musical.