Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Overture - New York Philharmonic
2. Beautiful Girls - André Gregory, New York Philharmonic
3. Don't Look at Me - Barbara Cook, Howard McGillin
4. Waiting for the Girls Upstairs - Liz Callaway, George Hearn, Howard McGillin, Daisy Prince, Lee Remick, Jim Walton
5. Rain on the Roof - Betty Comden, Adolph Green
6. Ah Paree - Liliane Montevecchi
7. Broadway Baby - Elaine Stritch
8. Road You Didn't Take - George Hearn
9. In Buddy's Eyes - Barbara Cook
10. Who's That Woman? - Betty Comden, Barbara Cook, Liliane Montevecchi, , Lee Remick, Elaine Stritch,
11. I'm Still Here - Carol Burnett
12. Too Many Mornings - Barbara Cook, George Hearn
13. Right Girl - Mandy Patinkin
14. One More Kiss - Licia Albanese, Elaine Stritch
15. Could I Leave You? - Lee Remick
16. Love Land - Cast
17. You're Gonna Love Tomorrow/Love Will See Us Through - Howard McGillin, Daisy Prince

Disc 2:

1. Buddy's Blues
2. Losing My Mind
3. The Story of Lucy and Jessie
4. Live, Laugh, Love
5. Finale: Waiting for the Girls Upstairs and Beautiful Girls (reprises)
6. Stavisky: Theme from "Stavisky"
7. Salon at the Claridge #1
8. Arlette by Day
9. Auto Show
10. Easy Life
11. Secret of Night
12. Erna
13. Distant Past
14. Arlette by Night
15. Airport at Biarritz
16. Trotsky at Saint-Palais
17. Montalvo at Biarritz
18. Operetta
19. Arlette and Stavisky
20. Recent Past
21. Salon at the Claridge #2
22. Suite at the Claridge
23. Old House
24. Goodbye Arlette
25. Hideout at Chamonix
26. Erna Remembered
27. The Future
28. Women and Death
29. Theme from "Stavisky"
30. Hideout at Chamonix - New York Philharmonic
31. Erna Remembered - New York Philharmonic
32. Future - New York Philharmonic
33. Women and Death - New York Philharmonic
34. Theme from Stavisky - New York Philharmonic

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #22172 in Music
• Released on: 1990-10-25
• Number of discs: 2
• Formats: Cast Recording, Live
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: .42 pounds

Amazon.com
Since the original Broadway cast recording of Stephen Sondheim's Follies was a truncated affair that turned out to be both a disappointment and a disservice to a brilliant show with a brilliant cast, this 1985 concert performance from New York's Avery Fisher Hall set out to record the whole score, a set of pastiches of old songs and songwriters as performed by a cast of faded stars and the visions of their younger selves. The result was a star-studded roster backed by the New York Philharmonic led by Paul Gemignani, with principals Barbara Cook, Mandy Patinkin, Lee Remick, and George Hearn, supported by the likes of Carol Burnett, Liliane Montevecchi, and Liz Callaway. Even these stars can't quite match the original cast, and the results are somewhat uneven--from Cook's yearning "Losing My Mind" to Patinkin's you-love-it-or-you-hate-it schizophrenia in "Buddy's Blues." Other highlights include Elaine Stritch's wry "Broadway Baby," the two young couples' interplay in "You're Gonna Love Tomorrow/Love Will See Us Through," and the electrifying audience reactions to "Beautiful Girls" and "Who's That Woman?" (A documentary video was released, but unfortunately, it did not contain the complete show.) As a bonus, this two-CD set includes 45 minutes of instrumental music Sondheim composed for the 1974 French film Stavisky, including two melodies that had been cut from the original production of Follies. --David Horiuchi

Customer Reviews

FOLLIES - the best recording ...so far
If any one album makes a case for FOLLIES is is this set of FOLLIES IN CONCERT. It is not the definitive FOLLIES, but about as close as we're likely to get. The sound is very VERY good, especially for a live recording, but as such there is quite a bit of applause on this disc.

Producer Thomas Shephard originally taped the dress rehearsal so he would have quiet endings for all the numbers but when the audience nearly tore the roof off Avery Fisher Hall, he decided that eliminating applause would negate the event that led to the album. So, he comprmised and used applause after the "follies" numbers but not after plot songs. If you didn't know this you might wonder why "Beautiful Gilrs' gets such a huge hand and the next song "don't Look at me" seems to be met with stoney silence.

The cast is sensational. Perhaps not in the same league as the originals but a fine "revival" cast. Lee Remick and Barbara Cook are ideal as leading ladies Phyllis and Sally and its a joy to hear Cook's glorious voice in "Losing My Mind." Mandy Patinkin effectively uses his energy to put a new spin on "Buddy's Blues. " I know some object to his over-the-top style but it was effective on stage. Elaine Stritch has fun singing "Broadway Baby" and Carol Burnet makes the most of "I'm Still Here." Really, there isn't one bad track in the whole package.

Completists may quibble with the slight cuts here and there..the last bit of the Overture (including a segment of "Can That Boy Foxtrot") has been cut, as has "Bolero D'amour." The original montage ending of "Rain on the Roof/Ahh Paris/Broadway Baby" was dumped, and the spoken interludes in "Loveland" have been re-arranged. NONE of this will impair your enjoyment of this wonderful show.

As a bonus RCA has filled out the second CD with the soundtrack of Sondheim's score for STAVISKY. Many cut songs from FOLLIES were used in this film score, so its a natural tie-in.

The booklet has all the lyrics but no synopsis to place the songs within the context of the story. It is a minor flaw in an otherwise first rate package.

A star-studded cast gives a glorious "Follies"
If you want only one version of Stephen Sondheim's "Follies," this is the edition to own. Sondheimaniacs ponder the differences between this and the Original Cast, the London production, and a recent New Jersey attempt, and are doubtless hoping for a fifth version when a revival opens on Broadway in spring of 2001. To simply enjoy the music, this concert edition provides the cast. George Hearn is the best Ben on any recording; Mandy Patinkin is wonderfully Mandy Patinkin as Buddy, which will delight many and annoy others. A particular delight is hearing the incredible talents of the then incredibly young Liz Callaway, Daisy Prince, Jim Walton, and Howard McGillin as the "young" characters. Pulling in Betty Comden and Adolph Green to sing "Rain on the Roof" was a great idea. The casting is fabulous throughought. Complaints about Licia Albanese miss the point: she's supposed to be an aged opera singer with voice to match. This concert version provides every bit of the drama of "Follies."

Just the best.
I love theater. Every six months I buy myself another six to twelve broadway CDs, plus grabbing a few inbetween at stores and the like. And do you know why I do this? Because I keep hoping to myself that if I look long enough, I'll find another Follies. This musical is, first and foremost, a deep and incisive discussion of aging and the pains of middle age, but if one looks deeper, one finds that it is in fact a metaphor for the situation of Broadway at the time Follies entered the scene. For those who don't know, the early 1970s was a very bad period for Broadway, and many thought it would never again recover. Follies, with each and every one of its songs written in the style of a famous old Broadway composer, is a tribute to the aging "Wiesmann Follies" that ran "between the wars" but now is being replaced "by a parking lot". This performance is far superior to the original recording, with particular standouts being Elaine Stritch and Lee Remick. However, in sheer terms of quantity, this is NOT the best recording. The best recording for amount of Follies music is the 1999 Paper Mill Playhouse cast. Still, this is a fantastic CD and I recommend it, and especially the show, above all others in existence at this time.