With a now basically unaffordable original Broadway cast of 47 (and opulent sets and costumes to match), Stephen Sondheim and James Goldman’s Follies turned out to be the ideal rarely-staged gem for Musical Theatre Guild to introduce audiences to its best-ever new space at Santa Monica’s The Broad Stage, a one-night-only concert version that more than earned Sunday’s extended standing ovation.

The year is 1971 and Florenz Ziegfeld, sorry, make that Dimitri Weismann (Glenn Rosenblum) has reunited his fabled Ziegfeld Girls, sorry, make that Weismann Girls for a gala reunion the night before his theater is to be torn down to make room for a parking lot.

Now anywhere from 50ish to well into their nineties, the still-got-it Weismann alumnae include movie star Carlotta Campion (Jennifer Leigh Warren), famed tapper Stella Deems (Barbara Carlson Heart), operatic soprano Heidi Schiller (Mary VanArsdel), “Broadway Baby” Hattie Walker (Helen Geller), perky Emily Whitman (Eydie Alyson), half of a husband-wife duo completed by hubby Theodore (Brad Ellis), and French chanteuse extraordinaire Solange LaFitte (Susan Edwards Martin), each of whom gets introduced in glorious song by a silver-throated Roscoe (Paul Wong) in “Beautiful Girls.”

These women-of-a-certain-age provide the supporting-character backdrop for the more intimate reunion of long-estranged former besties Sally Durant (Anastasia Barzee) and Phyllis Rogers (Teri Bibb), and the re-igniting of a not yet entirely extinguished romantic quadrangle completed by Sally’s husband Buddy Plummer (Roger Befeler) and Phyllis’s other half Benjamin Stone (Brent Schindele), the Lothario Sally loved and lost to her bff.

The shit, not surprisingly, is about to hit the fan.

But first come a series of musical numbers that are not only among Sondheim’s most tuneful, they provide vocal showcases for a sizzling Warren (“I’m Still Here”),

coloratura supreme VanArsdel and exquisite Younger Heidi double Bryce Charles (“One More Kiss”),

showstopper par excellence Geller, still packing a punch at 95 (“Broadway Baby”), dizzy delight Allyson and duet partner Ellis (“Rain On The Roof”), and the ooh-la-luscious Martin (“Ah, Paree!”),

not to mention the dance showcase that Follies offers a power-punching Heart and younger-version tappers Jasmine Ejan, Linton, and Stock (“Who’s That Woman?”).

Along the way, flashbacks introduce us to our four leads’ 20something personas (fabulous foursome Will Collyer as Young Ben, Chelsea Morgan Stock as young Phyllis,

Gabriel Navarro as Young Buddy, and Ashley Fox Linton as Young Sally), allowing us to see the events leading up to the two women’s estrangement and sample some of Sondheim’s jauntiest ditties (“Waiting For The Girls Upstairs,” “You’re Gonna Love Tomorrow,” and “Love Will See Us Through”) along the way.

Lighter moments aside, this is powerful dramatic stuff indeed, particularly where our four leads are concerned, and a radiant Barzee, a salt-of-the-earth Befeler, a fiery Bibb, and a devilishly debonair Schindele not only dig deep into their characters’ turbulent pasts and presents, each of them dazzles in their own Act Two ovation-worthy showcase number(s), Bibb’s “Could I Leave You?” and “The Story Of Lucy And Jessie,” Befeler’s “The God-Why-Don’t-You-Love-Me Blues,” Barzee’s “Losing My Mind,” and Schindele’s “Live, Laugh, Love.”

If it’s not already clear, Follies is a bear of a show to stage, even under the cushiest of circumstances, and with Actors Equity limiting “concert staged reading” rehearsals to twenty-five hours total, you need a director as inspired and in-control as Jason Graae, who delivers the goods and then some, and though “Follies: Concert Version” cuts back on dance numbers, those staged by choreographer Lee Martino are show-stopping showcases for the aforementioned dancers and their male counterparts Michael James Brown and Ricky Bulda.

Not all of Goldman’s book makes it into the concert version, which means among other things that Warren’s Carlotta doesn’t get her seduction scene with hunky waiter Kevin (Brown).

Also missing from Follies (Concert Version) are many of the former Follies girls’ “younger” incarnations, who in a full production would haunt the stage with their presence throughout much of the show.

On the plus side, the resulting shorter running time might actually suit contemporary tastes, and Sondheim’s songs all remain intact.

Music director Ellis not only conducts but tickles the ivories in Follies’ expert four-piece orchestra (completed by Jimmy Emerzian on woodwinds, Nathan Light on bass, and Brian Boyce on percussion), a fraction of the Broadway original in size and lushness, but more than enough for Follies In Concert.

Last but not least, the production looks especially splendid on The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage, a definite step up from the Alex (such comfy seats!), and even reduced in number and frills, A. Jeffrey Schoenberg’s costumes nonetheless are stunners in their own right. (I did miss the sashes proclaiming the year each Weissman Girl made her debut, however.)

Kelley Dorney is production coordinator. Leesa Freed is production stage manager and production manager, and Stacey Cortez and Debra Miller are assistant stage managers.

The last time L.A. got to experience Follies was when its spectacular 2011 Broadway revival played the Ahmanson in 2012, and since I can’t imagine a single SoCal theater with enough bucks to revive it any time soon, those fortunate enough to have attended Sunday’s sold-out performance at the Broad can consider themselves among the luckiest people in the world (or at least in Greater L.A.).

The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage, 1310 11th St., Santa Monica.
www.musicaltheatreguild.com

–Steven Stanley
October 1, 2023

Tags: James Goldman, Los Angeles Theater Review, Musical Theatre Guild, Stephen Sondheim