FOLLIES is the "Gatsby" of American musicals--brilliant, satiric, tough, sentimental, aware of the characters'--and the nation's--dreams/illusions and their realities. And that music: the opening with the introduction of the women of the follies ("these lorelais"!); the great "Who's That Woman" number; and the songs of the four principals and their shadows/their younger "romantic" selves. The music is heat-breaking; the songs show us the psychological needs and damages. The second act, with its "Follies" show and its break-downs/break-outs, was the stuff of tragedy.
This performance--my third of this production--was the last one, and phenomenal. Rob Raines and Jan Maxwell are as good as, perhaps better than, anyone I've ever seen in the roles of Ben and Phyllis (and I saw the original, the London, the Papermill, and the Encores--where Victoria Clark and Donna Murphy were peerless); Raines may be the only actor I've seen who managed the last number without letting the tension slip, and without confusing the audience. I want to like Peters--and she acted often quite brilliantly; but the songs do not sit well in her voice; and sometimes--especially in "Losing My Mind"--I felt she acted to compensate for vocal issues, and the song didn't "work" as it should. Still: the "Too Many Mornings" duet between her and Raines was heart-breakingly poignant.
The great "Leave you?" of Act II showed the power of Maxwell; and her return one more time to rescue Ben from his emptiness--or at least spell it for a time--was brilliantly directed.
FOLLIES is the greatest of all Amerian musicals, I think, because it uses the wonders of the musical form to comment on it. It loves musicals, and sees the illusions they support and perpetuate. Its characeters, especially their younger selves, seem created by the American songbook writers; but their songs, and the keys they are written in, suggest the darkness that those songs worked to banish. Here the two exist ... in tension; and in brilliance.
GO to any production. But this one is one that should not be missed.