Sondheim Follies Original Broadway Cast Prologue Reconstructed Remastered Complete

[Sunlightphil]

Amazing Thank You :)

[Scorpion773]

i didn't think there was any possible way that i could want to have seen the original Follies any more than i already did and then you had to come into my life!

[Merkin4pres64]

I love the rise in music following Dorothy Collins' short monologue. It breaks my heart everytime. It's a musical illustration of her naivete and what's to follow for the rest of the show in terms of mood. Qué bueno.

[muscsf]

there's a nice version of I'm Still here by Yvonne de Carlo at Hollywood Bowl

[burleq]

No, jones...I meant YOU!!

(What a mensch!)

[jonthesYT]

@burleq No modesty here - I know. Since a statue is unlikely, grape products would at least be ingestible. This project is the greatest cast album ever done, just a pity that I had to do it instead of Goddard Lieberson or Shephard with the cast in a proper studio. Some form of this will be issued, some day.

[burleq]

Somebody erect a statue to this man!!

[jonthesYT]

@burleq Or at least toss him an amiable hock and some raisins. I've since put up the entire nearly half hour follies section reconstructed.

[boynamedalexxx]

Thank you so much. This is so terrific.

Now, if you uploaded the rest I would, quite literally, love you forever and ever.

;)

[jonthesYT]

@boynamedalexxx Well, if you check all my uploads, there are several other sections and also the very different prologue from the very first preview. That should be good for some cheap sex at least.

[folliesfanatic]

@boynamedalexxx

[Merkin4pres64]

Amazing.

[klavierspieler72]

Bravo, bravo, bravo, bravo! This is so wonderful!

[jonthesYT]

It's being revived with Bernadette Peters as Sally this spring at the Kennedy Center. I think the Aronson set is crucial, and so hard to cast, everyone has to be brilliant. It occurred to me recently that Lena Horne would have been brilliant as Phyllis, and the high society mixed marriage would have even deepened the story. I hope they are using the original script, the London revision stripped most the plot, which is thin to begin with.

[folliesfanatic]

@jonthesYT 

[folliesfanatic]

I saw the production with Bernadette Peters. It was the Follies light version but the quality of the production was as close to the original as I have ever seen. Peters was miscast or just had an odd interpretation of the role of Sally. Her voice was so wrong. Most everyone else was fabulous. I have an excellent complete audio recording.

[boynamedalexxx]

@folliesfanatic I've heard her main songs ("In Buddy's Eyes", "Too Many Mornings" and "Losing My Mind"), & I thought she was brilliant in each. Though these were only a few numbers, I thought her portrayal of Sally was beautiful, as she really conveys the disappointment & pain of a broken woman. In particular, her "Mind" was so nerve shattering. It makes me cry every time I hear it. The only one that equals Collins, in my opinion.

Btw, you mean you have the audio of the Kennedy production?

[folliesfanatic]

@boynamedalexxx  Yes I do have a wonderful audio recording of the entire show on opening night.

[boynamedalexxx]

@folliesfanatic Would you, perchance, be willing to share that with a poor boy who's hopelessly in love with Bernadette Peters and Sondheim's music?? ;)

I would be very, very, very grateful. (If it's not too much trouble or difficult.)

[sporran564]

@folliesfanatic How can I get a copy? I saw the original production 13 times.

[cbraslow]

I saw the original production and will always remember it as a life highlight. This reconstruction feels so right. Thanks. Maybe the success of "A Little Night Music" will stimulate a revival, but I fear there is no audience to make it a success. Maybe in 20 years.

[RafaelPReyes]

This reconstruction is as haunting as the music. Thank you for the titanic effort. Hope Sondheim (and Tunick) get to hear this

[jonthesYT]

I've thought about that. I've done some minor improvements since posting. I've done everything. "Buddy's" took 34 edits. Sondheim rearranged the lyrics to get more of them in the recording, so the responses are in the wrong places. Small details in the accompaniment are wrong. But that could probably be fixed too, editing bar by bar. I've even edited syllables in a couple of places. The coda on "Right Girl" was apparently only in the studio recording, I don't have a live version with it, I think

[VRNProductions]

@jonthesYT That coda for "Right Girl" was in the Boston tryouts of the show, but was removed when the song was trimmed down to 5 minutes. I guess they figured they'd add it in as a bonus on the Cast Album- a good thing, too, it's my favorite part of the song.

I'd love to hear the improvements you've made- are you thinking of uploading some more videos?

[VRNProductions]

If you're ever going to come back to this, I'd suggest using audio from an7iguy's rehearsal videos for Phyllis & Ben's dialogue rather than the soundboard, as that would remove the audience noises and is slightly clearer than the soundboard.

Other than that, fantastic job! Have you tried reconstructing Buddy's Blues yet? I can imagine how hard it'd be to get a clear recording of that, given how botched up the OCR version of the song is and that Nelson messed up on the soundboard recording...

[penti77]

Fabulous !!!! Well done!

[spn1007]

thanks so much for this. I am a Sondheim and Follies fanatic. Between these recordings and the videos from the LA dress rehearsals I'm nearly in heaven!

[jonthesYT]

I'd be happy to try.

[adalev]

Now if you could just reconstruct the entire original production and put it back on Broadway! ...Thanks for your work.