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Did you catch that marvelous documentary that was available last month? I’m speaking of “Tell the Story: Celebrating Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman’s ASSASSINS” that Classic Stage Company offered on line. Check the company’s website and see if the broadcast will be made available again. If it is, grab the opportunity. If it isn’t, well, as […]

Did you know that April is National Leftovers Month? I would have mentioned it sometime during the actual month, but, as faithful readers can attest, I spent all of April by commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of FOLLIES. Still, I have some leftover thoughts from April that I’ll tell as we segue into May. Did you […]

The day before FOLLIES closed its Boston tryout, an important decision was made. It would seem to have been a no-brainer, but the person who made the ruling on March 20, 1971 certainly was known for his extraordinary brain: Harold Prince, the smartest producer of his era and arguably the most intelligent director of musicals […]

Seven trucks. That’s how many were needed to accommodate the ornate sets and costumes that made their way from New York to Boston a half-century ago. They were required for FOLLIES’ pre-Broadway tryout at the Colonial Theatre. There the new musical would experience “four intense weeks,” as Ted Chapin described them in his magnificent 2003 […]

The first four words in Ted Chapin’s EVERYTHING WAS POSSIBLE haven’t aged well. However, in his remarkable history of FOLLIES from pre-production to closing night, Chapin isn’t responsible for the now-obsolete start of the sentence. Frank Rich is. In the foreword of the 2003 book, Rich wrote “More than three decades after its premiere, FOLLIES […]