Follies to Receive a New Broadway Revival - or Film?

According to the New York Times, a new Broadway revival of the Sondheim/Goldman masterpiece Follies may be in the works.

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If the revival comes to pass, it would be based upon the rapturously received Encores! production that recently ran at City Center from February 8th through 12th.  "Several Broadway insiders said that the top names on the list of interested producers were Fran and Barry Weissler, who took the Encores! presentation of Chicago to Broadway in 1996 and made it a long-running hit (and produced a subsequent Encores!-to-Broadway transfer of Wonderful Town, which ran a little more than a year).  Mr. Weissler refused to comment," states the article.

In addition, The New York Post's Michael Riedel reported this morning that both film directors Bill Condon (Chicago screenplay, Dreamgirls) and Rob Marshall (Chicago, Memoirs of a Geisha) are interested in bringing Follies to the screen.

New York City Center's Encores! 2007 Season paid tribute to the 100th Anniversary of the first Ziegfeld Follies by kicking off the celebration with Stephen Sondheim and James Goldman's legendary 1971 multiple Tony Award-winner, Follies, directed and choreographed by Casey Nicholaw, with music direction by Eric Stern.

The Encores! cast included Lucine Amara, Christine Baranski, Philip Bosco, Leena Chopra, Victoria Clark, Yvonne Constant, Colin Donnell, Diane J. Findlay, Robert Fitch, Victor Garber, Mimi Hines, Curtis Holbrook, Katie Klaus, Michael McGrath, Donna Murphy, Jenny Powers, Anne Rogers, Arthur Rubin, Dorothy Stanley, Gerry Vichi and Joanne Worley.

Follies, with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Goldman, opened on Broadway on April 4, 1971, winning eight Tony Awards, including one for Outstanding Score, which includes "Broadway Baby," "Losing My Mind" and "I'm Still Here."  It was previously revived by the Roundabout Theatre Company in 2001.

"Follies takes place in the present and the past simultaneously.  On the eve of its destruction, the once-glorious Weissman Theatre is filled with the ghosts of its past, as veteran showgirls from the Weismann's Follies, a musical revue, (based on the Ziegfeld Follies) reunite to rekindle the aura of the glamorous old days and relive lost memories of promise and splendor. As the evening goes on, the former showgirls reminisce about their past experiences, both good and bad," state press materials.

Visit www.nycitycenter.org for more on Encores!.

Photo by Ryan Miller/Capture Imaging - Victor Garber