PS Follies' 20th Anniversary Show Delivers

Follies Forever

What can one add about the success of the Follies in this their twentieth season but to say one big 'Bravo'! I attend the show every season, sometimes twice - ever since 2005 - and never go away disappointed. It never fails to lift my spirits high! This year, there is a very large video screen in back of the stage that shows a montage of pictures of the careers of each and every Follies' lady during the Pretty Woman segment and continues to churn out great photos and pretty graphic images to accompany segments throughout the show. It's amazing!

This year's theme, celebrating 20 years, is a retro look at mid-century music and dance: of the 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s. There are songs like: "You Stepped Out of a Dream", "Venus", "Summer Wind", "Temptation", with a bevy of pop tunes like "Stayin' Alive" and "I Got You Babe" saluting film and TV, and a great mix of Broadway fare such as "America", "Cabaret", "All That Jazz", "I Hope I Get It" from A Chorus Line and the classic "42nd Street". What variety, like a sumptuous buffet!

 

What better guest star than 60s pop legend Lesley Gore, who still looks fantastic and sings her fanny off! In her 20 minute set she performs "Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows", "Judy's Turn to Cry", "She's a Fool", "Maybe I Know", and of course gold hits "It's My Party", which rocketed her to stardom in 1963 at 16 years of age, and "You Don't Own Me". Gore, really for the first time, sang what a teenage girl was thinking and feeling, helping to set precedents for feminine causes. She remains a truly remarkable performer.

 

Also on hand is superb Canadian juggler Rejean St. Jules, who will set your eyes a spinning as he manipulates clubs, balls and...well, I won't ruin the finale by giving away what else he does with those balls. You must visit and see for yourself! Host Riff Markowitz keeps his always funny monologues short and sweet; and of course, the finale sublimely salutes America and those military men and women in the audience who have so honorably served her through the years. Welcome handsome gent Robert Amore to the ensemble, a young 56 - now the new kid on the block!

 

A great 20th Anniversary show! Follies Forever means just that! May they - and it - never die!

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PS Follies @ Historic Plaza Theatre / 128 South Palm Canyon Drive / Palm Springs, California 

Call: (760) 327-0225 or visit their website for schedule of performances and ticket info:

www.psfollies.com

 

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