After most recently appearing on stage in the five-star revival of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Imelda Staunton is leads the cast in a revival of Stephen Sondheim’s musical Follies. Directed by Dominic Cooke, Follies was last seen in London in 2002 at the Royal Festival Hall. Closing the Olivier Theatre’s 2017 season, the show is Staunton’s first return to musicals since her acclaimed performance in Gypsy.
Set during a reunion in a crumbling Broadway theatre, past Weismann Follies girls meet before the venue is collapsed forever. Following two unhappy couples, Buddy and Sally and Benjamin and Phyllis, Follies is a heart-wrenching musical that sees old friends forced to confront a lifetime of bad decisions. Looking back at ghosts of their younger selves, the duos begin to question where exactly they went wrong. Featuring songs such as “Losing My Mind”, “Could I Leave You” and “Live, Laugh, Love”, Follies has been revived multiple times over the years.
Olivier award-winning actresses Imelda Staunton and Janie Dee star as Sally Durrant Plummer and Phyllis Rogers Stone respectively. Staunton is best-known for her numerous theatre credits including Gypsy, Guys and Dolls, Good People and Sweeney Todd, as well as screen credits such as Harry Potter and Vera Drake. Janie Dee last appeared on the West End in Broadway comedy Hand to God and has multiple credits including Blithe Spirit and Mack & Mabel.
Additional star-studded casting includes Philip Quast as Ben Stone, Peter Forbes as Buddy Plummer, Zizi Strallen as Young Phyllis, Alex Young as Young Sally and Tracie Bennett as Carlotta Campion, alongside Julie Armstrong, Norma Atallah, Josephine Barstow, Di Botcher, Billy Boyle, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Bruce Graham, Adrian Grove, Fred Haig, Dawn Hioe, Liz Izen, Gemma Page, Gary Raymond and Adam Rhys-Charles.
Ensemble members include Jeremy Batt, Anouska Eaton, Liz Ewing, Emily Goodenough, Aimee Hodnett, Alison Langer, Emily Langham, Sarah-Marie Maxwell, Ian McLarnon, Leisha Mollyneaux, Kate Parr, Edwin Ray, Jordan Shaw, Barnaby Thompson, Christine Tucker and Michael Vinsen.
Dominic Cooke directs Sondheim’s Follies, which features design by Vicki Mortimer, choreography by Bill Deamer, lighting design by Paule Constable and sound design by Paul Groothuis, with musical supervision by Nicholas Skilbeck, orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick, additional orchestrations by Josh Clayton and musical direction by Nigel Lilley.
Originally opening on Broadway in 1971 directed by Harold Prince and Michael Bennett, Follies was nominated for eleven Tony Awards, swiping seven. Follies premiered in the West End in 1987, starring Diana Rigg. Now, the musical wows audiences at London’s Olivier Theatre with a stellar cast.
Just super! Words cannot describe how good this show is! It is 2hrs and 15 min straight through but it is worth it (just don't drink too much coke prior!) The set was fantastic how it changed and revolved round and the singing and choreography was in Read more