When I saw this in the fall of 2011, this was the song that I couldn't WAIT to hear here sing. I was SO excited to get to see her perform live. She paused between EVERY line. I HATED the interpretation and left so disappointed. The thing is, I know it was just that specific performance. Even though I didn't like it, I know she was living in that moment. I respect her all the more for that.
you know you're an amazing performer when you can stand in the same spot, in one light, sing a simple melody, and STILL command attention from an entirely speechless theatre. UGH. flawless.
I saw this two nights ago. I'll never forget it, never. This performance is devastating. It'll stay with me a long time. I don't think I've seen anything like this in years
I saw this 1/12/12 on Broadway. Stunning does not begin to describe the whole show. If you can make it to NY - you must see it B4 it closes 1/22/12 so the theater can run Evita as scheduled.
I just saw her in this show (by the way she fell in the first act) -- she literally CRIED during this song, not like in this version, but it was totally controlled. Much better and convincing then this performance. Generally I don't care for her particular interpretation of this song. Watch me and my friend Marti Bookstein doing this song on my channel
Anyone who passes up the opportunity to see this production live is doing themselves an incredible disservice. It's wonderful that the uploader gave us the chance to catch it here, and we can all cross our fingers that they film this production for posterity, but nothing can replace seeing it live -- especially this number.
Why oh why oh why do I not live in New York any more? I cannot believe I am going to miss this show. This cast. This brilliance.
This is one of Sondheim's most brilliant scores (every song is perfection) and this cast is insane. I wish there were any way I could get there. Lottery ticket.... yes... that's it!
@wendytoman Also, this is an AMAZING musical entitled Follies with music and lyrics written by Stephen Sondheim. This is the best song from the entire score. Another thing, this is not opera (that's opera, like the music, not opra, the mispelling of the billionaires name), this is musical theater. Get your damn facts straight before you bash on something TRILLION TIMES more amazing than Daughtry.
@wendytoman Don't get me wrong, I love Daughtry, but the reason people listen to this is because it's more amazing than Daughtry, and I have to agree with @bbraat soon people won't know who Daughtry is. Either way, you suck. Piss and shit yourself. Goodnight.
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What the heck is this?!?! Watched the first 10 seconds expecting it to be Daughtry's song Losing my Mind then freaked when i heard opra! Seriously, someone tell me what the heck this is and why anyone would want to watch it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Seriously, It's a different song that happens to have the same title. There are a bunch of songs that use that title. This song just did it first. There will be more in the future and someone will wonder who Daughtry is.
I just saw this show last week, and it's really an amazing credit to bernadettes talent. Not many artists can stand perfectly still and deliver a ballad, yet she did and everyone in the audience was transfixed. Flawless.
I saw the original "Follies" when I was 27 and ever since considered it my all time favorite theater-going experience. Until now. I saw the new "Follies" in November and I was shocked to find it better and so much more moving than the perfect original. The entire cast was superb but Bernadette Peters was much more than that- she was brilliant, magical, heartbreakingly enchanting. Alas, I saw the show only once. If I only lived in New York...
I just saw this in NYC. Me and my friend were sitting in the front row and we were both crying watching her in amazement and at the end of the song she looked directly at us and sang the last line. It was the most amazing thing ever!
I just saw this in NYC and oh my gosh... It was amazing. When she started singing this song, I just started crying. She captured the big picture of the whole song and she sang it incredibly well... She's my favorite actress EVER and I waited at the stage door for her and met her :') It was amazing.
The show is uber superlative! My best theatre experience ever. I hope that Sondheim considers finding another theatre to keep this show running past 1/22/12.
See this show! Take ANY opportunity u can to see Ms. Peters perform live. Im not sure who said it first, but many have: she is the greatest living stage actress.........and she is. Specifically, she sings and acts AT THE SAME TIME, whereas most other actors can do both but not both at the same time with the brilliance, precision, honesty and emotion that she can... It's heartbreaking, it's beautiful, and it's captivating. No other theater performer is evocative as she is.. simply stunning.
Bernadette Peters is just amazing. I saw Follies a couple weeks ago and I was pretty close, and sometimes I would forget to pay attention to the story because her facials were so involved, and I would just stare at her the entire time.
I'm a huge BP fan, but when I saw this I didn't get it. At first. Then I saw it again, and its emotional depth hit me. It is a real departure from the OBC recording I'm used to because Collins sings the song as a soliloquy. Peters sings the song as a performance, but the song betrays her true feelings and the cracks in the facade appear. As much as I love the Collins version, this song that betrays her true emotions is truer to the spirit of the musical, and thus superior.
I just saw this last night. I'm so grateful for the clip, but you HAVE to see her in person to experience the full impact of this performance. Mindfulness gurus talk about being "fully present", and that's what Bernadette Peters was for this song. The effect was so shattering that there was relatively muted applause after the song. We were all too stunned to clap or holler. I've seen a lot of musical theater, and this was the most affecting performance I have ever seen - utterly devastating.
I can't attach the youtube clip of Dorothy Collins singing "Losing My Mind" on the David Frost show. just search for it here on youtube. It's posted by an7iguy.
We are blessed to have this close up version of her. Look at her eyes! Notice also (esp today's singers) how far away she is holding the mic!!! And the glissando at the end tears my heart every time I hear it.
All that said (see below. I think)she does portray a total breakdown center stage. At times it is as if she is being driven/animated by the music, much like the Antonia in Tales of Hoffman (sorry if you don't get the ref). I am attaching the Collins version not because it is THE version,but to give another perspective. DC came from the era of the torch song and she sang it that way so naturally. But her subtle acting portrays Sally's breakdown just as much, though in a totally different way.
I don't want to get involved in any of the name calling and accusations. We all love Sondheim. We all love this show. We all love this song. Can Sondheim write a torch song? Yes. When it calls for it. And this called for it.
I've not yet seen BP live, so I don't want to offer a full "critique". I will say that there are moments when I love her and moments when I cringe. And I have always been a huge BP fan. Loved her in into the woods and Gypsy. and her many recordings, etc...cont'd
As a huge Bernadette Peters fangirl, I can honestly say that her vocal tone/technique isn't the greatest in this performance, so I certainly understand the criticisms that exist there.
But DAMN. Just...the pure emotion she pours into this song...it renders me speechless. It's as though she herself is literally falling apart right there on the stage. It's heartbreaking, it's beautiful, and it's captivating. I can't think of any performer that affects me like she does...she's simply stunning.
Absolutely stunning performance. So moving. I've been a big fan of Bernadette since I was a girl. I'm incredibly moved by this performance. So real! Thank you so much for posting it!
I saw this stunning show Friday as well, and I was crying so hard during this number I thought I would have to be airlifted from the Marquis. A "must see" for all theater goers. Thank you, Follies!
@pudgeuncle You're every bit as immature as maseraticboychik... You claim to be an adult, but your over-the-top hyperbole makes it hard to believe. Saying Bernadette Peters fans border on terrorists? Really? Every performer has fangirl/fanboys... If you think Bernadette Peters fans are bad, you really need some perspective. As for this video: I was moved more when I saw it live, but perhaps something is lost in translation or Ms. Peters has improved since this was filmed.
I just saw it and I love love loved the play. What I didn't like were the seniors all around making noise and getting up before the show was over to get their coats on! I also didn't like the "sippy" cups that are senior proof which they served my 20. glass of wine in, or the fact that they failed to flicker the lights when intermission was over. But all in all, well Done Bernadette, Elaine and all the rest. We gave them a standing ovation at the end - wait or were they getting their coats on?
@GCGuy. ....what a ludicrous generalization. There are MANY torch songs in Sondheim; your extremely limited mentality and idiotic circumscription of definition is not the world gold standard for what makes a torch song. Get a ride. "Not a Day Goes By", "Send in the Clowns", even "Too Many Mornings" from the same show. not to mention several from Company. That's only what comes instantly to mind. Do stop attempting to pontificate.
@maseraticboychik You are a jolly fellow. I could stoop to your level of posting, but I think I'll bypass the obvious insults and not muddy up this page. It isn't in either of our interests.
It's not genuine emotion, petal, it's called acting. All I am saying is that her acting in the song is a little more visible than usual and, in my view, take from the impact of the song. Again, it's just my view. I rarely post here but I decided to because I was so surprised not to like her rendition. It seems I'm not alone. That said, I love Bernadette. Her version of "Being Alive", from her Carnegie Hall concert, must be one of the best recordings ever.
@scallywag77 Completely agree with you. I think the beauty of the sequence is that the songs are sung in a fictional reality-- LOVELAND. Ms. Peters plays this too self-aware. It's too much. Not bashing, I love her as well.
I sat third row, center for this show last night. Completely blown away. Bernadette just has this way of...completely connecting to every single part of her character.
The off kiltered costume was perfect! I feel it symbolized a straight jacket of sorts - restraining her physically during the song and metaphorically the charaters emotions! Brava on the peformance!!
@joyzboy2002 Welp, you might have been right in D.C., because she stayed like the video, but in New York she moves her arms a bit more, and shields her face from the audience when she starts crying. Amazing talent.
Say whatever you want about the song, the show, the performance, the actress, ANYTHING YOU WANT.. but you can't say ANYTHING about the last note other than... MAGNIFICENT!!! Thank you you Bernadette!
Saw it recently on B'way. Always been a BP fan & have seen her perform live many times. Thought she'd be my favorite, but she wasn't . This just sounds a bit syncopated and "sing-songy", i.e., The Sun comes up, I think about you, The coffee cup, I think about you. The warbly vibrato isn't pleasant either. All in all she seemed a "sad sack Sally". Listen 2 the original Sally - Dorothy Collins on YT to hear real pathos & emotional depth. Not hating BP, just not loving her in this role. JMHO
First off, I'm a huge BP fan. It took me a while to get used to the pictorial quality of this production, which is gorgeous, but I felt hindered great performances by people like BP. That is, I felt that the insistence on the visual impact constrained the movements and performances of the singers. But I have changed my mind since. The restraint allows for a certain interpretation of the musical that is strangely intimate. It seems paradoxical, but the show is also paradoxical. Well done.
It's like the director was like, "Bernadette. I want you to stand there and sing the song. I do not want you to move your arms or move your head. I just want you to sing and act the fuck out of that song." And it's so amazing.
This was just as amazing recorded, as it was live. I could not stand Sally as a character (for her situation with Ben reminds me of the same situation I am in, and all I want is to help her), but this was absolutely stunning, and brought/brings tears to my eyes when i watch it. Meeting her afterwards was the best experience ever (especially because she was confused as to why someone my age knows who she is)
Holy shit. I cried, and then I got this look of horror on my face, and then I cried some more, and my eyes started to burn from being open so wide and so long. This is fucking amazing.
How amazing at this late date Bernadette gives her greatest performance. And she has taken one of the great songs of the Broadway stage to a whole new place, God bless her.
Perfectly right, about this song. There really isn't any other way to do this brilliant song, My bitter remarks were about what else I've viewed here.
@jjarndyce I agree with your point on "I'm Still Here", and I haven't seen the Broadway run yet, so I am not sure it has changed. The staging doesn't really do justice to Page nor the number. Although amateurish may be too strong a word. Because even in this number, an amateur could go a thousand places. Think if she were sitting, or off to the side of the stage. I've seen both, in amateur productions.
Point taken. Theater can't really be judged by clips. Nonetheless: when 5 videos of actual numbers reveal amateurish staging and inept choreography, I am justified in making an assessment. No energy of being at a live performance changes how the actors move. No energy in the theater can reverse the idiocy of having a major song sung to four guys sitting around on stage, to listen. That, I maintain, is rotten direction.
@jjarndyce To be fair this is the run at the Kennedy Center, so the staging and choreography most certainly have changed from this recorded version to what you see at the Marquis Theater today. This number however is staged perfectly. It is the torch song, the standalone number. Peters on stage by herself, centered. The same way you would have seen Fanny Brice deliver My Man, and considering Follies is intended to mirror that era, the direction and staging here is perfect.
Listen, I love her. Loved her in 'Woods', 'Sunday', etc. But the reality is that this has no more pathos than the Collins original. I would argue, in fact, that Collins' matronly quality made the song more gut-wrenching. The PS here, since I'm in trouble anyway, is that every other clip I've seen of this revival is pretty bad. as in, AWFUL direction and staging.
@jjarndyce Just saw the production on Friday night, and the staging and direction actually seemed pretty inspired. Every character was well-developed and the relationships were real and complex. One can't really try to make an assumption about staging and direction based of of a few bootlegged clips that are put up on youtube, so wait until you've seen it to try and knock the "AWFUL" staging and direction. Obviously have an opinion, but be sure that it is an informed one.
@ToxicPopsicle You're ludicrous. The demands of this song are such that only a performer like Peters, Cleo Laine, Dorothy Collins (the original Sally, FYI) can meet them in any way. The show, and the tune, are not for amateurs. How many professional versions have YOU heard? LMAO
@jjarndyce Must you compare everything on earth and try to 'rank' it? Are you incapable of seeing that Collins and Peters are both magnificent in this role?
@lite7761str You might get different impression if you saw her perform this live. I saw her perform it in this very production and the pathos of her performance, not just in this song but the entire musical, was unfathomable. Don't be so quick to judge it.
puts Bernadette back on the pedestal that had eluded her since her bizarre and disturbing Annie Get Your Gun. Her ability to strip away her craft and technique to present a woman still chasing a dream is remarkable and heart wrenching. I felt like i was peeking into Sally at confession instead of watching a Bway showstopper. I do wonder if they considered making at least a section of the number, a "Follies" number as dictated by the script. Would have added a level I missed.
Just saw this last night. And wow, is all I can say. I was sucker-punched. The emotion was overwhelming. All 4 leads were exceptional, but Bernadette was truly magnificant to the point where words can't even be used. When she walked out to deliver this, she was already wiping tears off her face, and fell completely apart by the time it was over. I was nearly sobbing.
The performance & delivery of Bernadette Peters with this song is Pure Perfection. Have seen the current Broadway production twice already, and with the exception of the RUDE women behind me noisily unwrapping candies during the prologue & "Losing My Mind", the show was pure enjoyment from start to finish. The lush orchestrations & stellar cast make this a top-notch production.... Not to be missed!
Very memorable performance! I liked the show so much, that I might see it a second & third time! What a show! I believe that it will win many awards, especially best revival of a musical!
I saw this show yesterday and think it's one of the best shows I've seen in years.... Bernadette was fantastic...this song brought goose bumps...the others in the cast were wonderful as well....well worth seeing!!!
And yet probably the greatest interpretation of this song is by Julia McKenzie (80s London Revival). McKenzie understands Sondheim utterly (indeed, she is one of his favourite interpreters) and in her Sally we are given a woman tormented in the belief that her life is small and unfulfilled. Her version is stunning in its restraint and purity of voice. I'd go so far as to say that McKenzie is to this song what Stritch is to Ladies Who Lunch! She truly is one of the Sondheim greats - no question!
@tippiwalter I agree, I saw her perform it 5 times in London in the 80's show, and its always killed me, however Ms. Peters creates an amazing performance too, hard to pick!
@pudgeuncle There is a key difference between blind Idol worship and artistic appreciation. Certain writers and certain singers go together. Ethel Merman's robust approach and Cole Porter's clever lyrics were a match made in heaven. Mary Martin's angelic voice and Rodgers & Hammerstein iconic music are perfectly coupled. Peters and Sondheim have that same kind of connection, his deeply insightful musicals and her ability to flush out these types of moments are what make both so powerful together
@truthbetoldagain Collins is the definitive version of the role. It is to me why so many others have tried to emulate her, they can't. I have seem some great women tackle the role, and the role is one of the best in musical theater, but most attempted a Collinsesque approach. Peters break from that tradition is one of the reasons I would have to say this is the best Revival of it. Technically the Broadway version of this revival, not the Kennedy Centers.
@GCGuy A couple of years ago I saw an incredible revival of it starring Gregory Harrison, Betty Garrett and Marni Nixon. When it opened it even had the great Joan Roberts in it. She was the original lead in 1943's " Oklahoma !"
@truthbetoldagain Was that the 2001 revival with Judith Ivey as Sally? It included all of that cast, and if so Polly Bergen was fantastic in it, Ivey....not so much.
@GCGuy Why yes it was. And Polly Bergen was indeed fantastic. People might not recal that back in the day she also had quite the nice recording career going. I was pleased as well to have met her after the performance .
I saw "Follies" on saturday afternoon, and Bernadette gave the most touching performance of Sally that I've ever seen anyone portray in a long time! Being there "Live" always gives you much more! She was the best when I saw her!
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I think people need to stop blindly worshiping their idols. If someone else gave the exact same vocal performance, I doubt these accolades would be showered. And Ms. Peters' age is irrelevant. I am thrilled that her star power brought this show back to NY on this scale but ....
@pudgeuncle Its not just the vocal preformance people are "showering accolades" about its the emotion behind the words that is amazing. Yes i will admit she has sounded better but she still sounds better than 99% of singers, and from what I have heard she is 10 times better now on broadway : )
@pudgeuncle Look, pal, she has nothing to do with Streep. Miss Mannerisms thinks (except in comedy, thank god!) that accents, icks, tics, and SHTICKS are the key to DRAMA. Peters stands there and sings , center stage, and she is completely valid. Find me any singer who doesn't have a few sour notes in this role, Buckwheat-this is a musical, not Aida in 1930 with the greatest singers imaginable.
@maseraticboychik Your putdowns of the most celebrated film actress of all time are contemptible. But then Ms. Peters has fans who border on terrorists. I'm an adult. I have loved her in some parts and been horrified at others. She's lucky her Equity card wasn't taken away after GYPSY.
Just saw it in preview on Broadway. This song has a mediocre lyric that she made great. Further this is the best damned show I've seen in at least two decades. They used a couple of half-dead people and brought em to life through the staging.
I cried so hard I disturbed several rows. This version isn't half as good as what I saw tonight.
@boynamedalexxx "sometimes I stand in the middle of the floor, not going left, not going right." i If you're standing still, why would it be right in the middle ? And if you are, isn't it obvious you're not moving in any direction? Left, right, back, forward?
However, when BP does it, she puts makes the entire song into a "mad scene," so that the words "not going right" now mean, "not going in the right direction, or in any direction,Not going well, but going crazy with obsession."
@psychomusicanana I don't see that as mediocre, I see it as intentional. It gives more insight into Sally's cracking mind and her obsession. It's making it clear her infatuation is a daily ritual, as normal as breathing (for her), and right down to every minescule detail.
If we were to discuss the physics of it, perhaps Sally, in reference to "every little chore" is tending her house, etc. and just stops dead, overwhelmed. She stops moving. Not left, right or anywhere. (1/2)
@psychomusicanana (2/2). Yes, it's obvious if you're standing, you're not going in any direction, but let's understand we are in SALLY's MIND. It's a dark, non-sensical place. If you're standing still, why *not* in the middle? It all feeds in to how consumed and crippled Sally is by this.
@boynamedalexxx It may very well been intentional by Sondheim, but no one ever brought the obsession to madness in this lyric before BP. it to life to the extent that Peters did. I'm pretty savvy, and this lyric was a pet peeve, because it didn't sound crazy enough. Dororthy Collins did it as Dorothy Collions, others did it not much better, and DP did at Sally's mad scene and it made sense of the lybic
@psychomusicanana Well, I don't think I have to shell out any more praise for Bernadette (suffice to say, I always can), but I also disagree about Collins. She made for an incredibly moving Sally. Her "Losing My Mind" is very, verryy haunting, I think.
Also, Judith Ivey, from the 'eh' 2001 Revival, did a very intense rendition. Hers was very much a journey into madness. An interesting interpretation, and effective, no doubt, but didn't quite work.
@psychomusicanana So only people with failed marriages can grasp the emotional weight of this song? Isn't that like saying only people who died on Titanic would be able to find the movie sad? The importance of an actor, especially in theater, is to bring flush that emotion out, so even a child could understand on some level that this moment is a sad one. Life experience doesn't make one appreciate art more. And to be fair this song is not about her marriage, it is about obsessive love.
@GCGuy Actually, only people with long marriages, not failed ones, can experience the havoc that the whole show wreaks on the emotions. I have a way of sounding pedantic and self-righteous that isn't intentional - I just comment quickly and sometimes I piss people off without meaning to.
@psychomusicanana I did not take any offense at all to what you said. I just disagreed with the need for a life experience to mirror a work of art as the only way to truly appreciate it No one alive knew Mona Lisa, she still captivates us however. Great art, like this performance and especially this musical, should be emotionally available. A person who is in a long fruitful relationship is going to take something out of this performance that someone who endured a long bitter one would not.
@GCGuy I really meant the whole show. and this song is about using obsession, among the many tricks humans use to avoid intimacy with their long-term partners. If Sally weren't married to Buddy, who loves her to death, the song wouldn't work as wel.
@psychomusicanana I think in Buddy's Follies moment you see what Sally's obsession has done to him, in this moment you see what it has done to her. That is why the torch ballad style fits it so well. That is why the lyric is actually so mesmerizing. Sondheim captures the foolishness, the insanity and still keeps it simple. This song is so...not Sondheim. This is Sally's moment. In fact nothing about this song even refers to Buddy. It is the climax of her madness, done differently than DC (cont.)
@GCGuy (cont.) which is what makes Peters refreshing in the role, behind that beautiful exterior you see a cracked woman. Darker, more intense.... more Sondheim like. Offering the first Sally that differs from Collins, which is where it really makes it's mark for me personally.
@GCGuy No. This is completely Sondheim. The man who wrote Follies, A Little Night Music , and Pacific Overtures is completely capable of a drop dead torch song. That is a range literally UNKNOWN today in the era of dreck 'musicals'. There was very little Sondheim couldn't write if he put his mind to it.
@maseraticboychik Sondheim was not ever a torch song writer. In fact no other number in his amazing body of work is like it. I never said he was incapable of a torch song, just that this straightforward style of writing, is a concept of a bygone era. Each Sondheim work is unique, that is what makes him the mammoth composer he is. He is paying homage to a style long gone from the stage by the 1970s, making this a standout number for his body of work, it's what makes Follies the standout musical.
@psychomusicanana how limited are you emotionally and spiritually? Pathetic. There is no qualifier on the capacity of great art to wreak havoc on the emotions. That is the entire point of great art. Go study some rudimentary esthetics, BOZO.
@boynamedalexxx Thank you. in the midst of the BOOBOISIE that chose to comment here (shudder), an accurate response. Ivey was wonderful and it worked on its own terms. Collins and Peters are both wonderful--why would we want to do without either?
I saw her sing this in concert, in character in Follies at the Kennedy Center & will again in 3 weeks on Broadway. It is a heartbreaker and she certainly gets it across as only she can. BP is THE greatest interpreter of Sondheim.
@kylejerel it was a breathtaking moment. When I saw it in DC, during this song there was an energy from the audience that I had not felt in a theatre before. It was a collective pity that we had just watched a character that we cared about totally fall apart in front of our eyes in the span of three minutes.
@edmame Elaine Stritch said that both to her and about her during their entire "Night Music" run. I'm waiting on it, too. I'd love to see her take on some non-musical roles. I'd DIE to see her as Arkadina in "the Seagull"--I feel like it would just be totally mind-blowing.
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Not even close to Dorothy Collins, especially on the first Sondheim tribute album. Peters is miscast simply because she would have been the shortest folly girl in history. But that's her entire career...mostly playing roles totally unsuited to her monumental talent.
@pudgeuncle You are misinformed. Sally is described multiple times in the script and stage directions as being small/petite/"little." Collins was also very short.
What a gorgeous version of this song. Perfectly acted and sung. BP and Sondheim are a match made in heaven. Bernadette just gets better and more beautiful with age. CAn't wait to see this on Broadway
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Sorry kids, I'm tremendously respectful of Bernadette Peters but she can't sing everything and this is one of those moments. This rendition is -- in my subjective opinion -- all technique and no heart. Go look at Dorothy Collins sing it elsewhere and compare. One is a woman singing herself into despair (with great - almost invisible - acting and singing technique), the other is someone singing Sondheim.
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she looks old....i mean i know she's no spring chicken but she looks like real old
Jtscott18098 2 weeks ago
this was my first broadway show i will always have her in my memory
crazyforcrunch88 3 weeks ago
When I saw this in the fall of 2011, this was the song that I couldn't WAIT to hear here sing. I was SO excited to get to see her perform live. She paused between EVERY line. I HATED the interpretation and left so disappointed. The thing is, I know it was just that specific performance. Even though I didn't like it, I know she was living in that moment. I respect her all the more for that.
BruceN88 4 weeks ago
BRILLIANT!
getoutandgetfit 1 month ago
you know you're an amazing performer when you can stand in the same spot, in one light, sing a simple melody, and STILL command attention from an entirely speechless theatre. UGH. flawless.
actng4me 1 month ago 5
I saw this two nights ago. I'll never forget it, never. This performance is devastating. It'll stay with me a long time. I don't think I've seen anything like this in years
villageguy13 1 month ago
She is so amazing. I love each of her performances!
wocial1986 1 month ago
I saw this 1/12/12 on Broadway. Stunning does not begin to describe the whole show. If you can make it to NY - you must see it B4 it closes 1/22/12 so the theater can run Evita as scheduled.
ajb1776 1 month ago
I just saw her in this show (by the way she fell in the first act) -- she literally CRIED during this song, not like in this version, but it was totally controlled. Much better and convincing then this performance. Generally I don't care for her particular interpretation of this song. Watch me and my friend Marti Bookstein doing this song on my channel
lovemypiano111 1 month ago
doesn't she look good for being 63?
iphonefan3000000 1 month ago 3
@iphonefan3000000 uhh YEA! I wish she was my grandmother!
ringleret 1 month ago
Anyone who passes up the opportunity to see this production live is doing themselves an incredible disservice. It's wonderful that the uploader gave us the chance to catch it here, and we can all cross our fingers that they film this production for posterity, but nothing can replace seeing it live -- especially this number.
pete422188 1 month ago
i adore bernadette peters.
Ibeannaful 1 month ago 4
Why oh why oh why do I not live in New York any more? I cannot believe I am going to miss this show. This cast. This brilliance.
This is one of Sondheim's most brilliant scores (every song is perfection) and this cast is insane. I wish there were any way I could get there. Lottery ticket.... yes... that's it!
WrenSong14 1 month ago
Simply divine!!!!
dirkandi 1 month ago
@wendytoman Also, this is an AMAZING musical entitled Follies with music and lyrics written by Stephen Sondheim. This is the best song from the entire score. Another thing, this is not opera (that's opera, like the music, not opra, the mispelling of the billionaires name), this is musical theater. Get your damn facts straight before you bash on something TRILLION TIMES more amazing than Daughtry.
Headin4DaStarz 1 month ago
@wendytoman Don't get me wrong, I love Daughtry, but the reason people listen to this is because it's more amazing than Daughtry, and I have to agree with @bbraat soon people won't know who Daughtry is. Either way, you suck. Piss and shit yourself. Goodnight.
Headin4DaStarz 1 month ago
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This is an insult to all modern day singers
wendytoman 2 months ago
@wendytoman In what way? Because it's not Daughtry's "Losing My Mind" as you suggested in your previous comment?
boynamedalexxx 2 months ago 2
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What the heck is this?!?! Watched the first 10 seconds expecting it to be Daughtry's song Losing my Mind then freaked when i heard opra! Seriously, someone tell me what the heck this is and why anyone would want to watch it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
wendytoman 2 months ago
@wendytoman I can't tell if you're trolling or just absurdly stupid.
kevkevshields 1 month ago 2
@wendytoman
Seriously, It's a different song that happens to have the same title. There are a bunch of songs that use that title. This song just did it first. There will be more in the future and someone will wonder who Daughtry is.
bbraat 1 month ago
I just saw this show last week, and it's really an amazing credit to bernadettes talent. Not many artists can stand perfectly still and deliver a ballad, yet she did and everyone in the audience was transfixed. Flawless.
BornForTheatre 2 months ago
I saw the original "Follies" when I was 27 and ever since considered it my all time favorite theater-going experience. Until now. I saw the new "Follies" in November and I was shocked to find it better and so much more moving than the perfect original. The entire cast was superb but Bernadette Peters was much more than that- she was brilliant, magical, heartbreakingly enchanting. Alas, I saw the show only once. If I only lived in New York...
SandViolet 2 months ago
I just saw this in NYC. Me and my friend were sitting in the front row and we were both crying watching her in amazement and at the end of the song she looked directly at us and sang the last line. It was the most amazing thing ever!
dncr4mygod 2 months ago 24
I just saw this in NYC and oh my gosh... It was amazing. When she started singing this song, I just started crying. She captured the big picture of the whole song and she sang it incredibly well... She's my favorite actress EVER and I waited at the stage door for her and met her :') It was amazing.
heyitsfran16 2 months ago
The show is uber superlative! My best theatre experience ever. I hope that Sondheim considers finding another theatre to keep this show running past 1/22/12.
damone77 2 months ago
See this show! Take ANY opportunity u can to see Ms. Peters perform live. Im not sure who said it first, but many have: she is the greatest living stage actress.........and she is. Specifically, she sings and acts AT THE SAME TIME, whereas most other actors can do both but not both at the same time with the brilliance, precision, honesty and emotion that she can... It's heartbreaking, it's beautiful, and it's captivating. No other theater performer is evocative as she is.. simply stunning.
bigbadjockt 2 months ago 5
Amazing performance! So emotive.
pjd83 2 months ago
nice ending!
theblueangel28 2 months ago
Bernadette Peters is just amazing. I saw Follies a couple weeks ago and I was pretty close, and sometimes I would forget to pay attention to the story because her facials were so involved, and I would just stare at her the entire time.
jugiepie 2 months ago
I saw her sing this yesterday. I was so close to tears. It was mind-blowingly amazing!
SandyRow23x3 2 months ago 8
I'm a huge BP fan, but when I saw this I didn't get it. At first. Then I saw it again, and its emotional depth hit me. It is a real departure from the OBC recording I'm used to because Collins sings the song as a soliloquy. Peters sings the song as a performance, but the song betrays her true feelings and the cracks in the facade appear. As much as I love the Collins version, this song that betrays her true emotions is truer to the spirit of the musical, and thus superior.
mwilson345 2 months ago 3
I just saw this last night. I'm so grateful for the clip, but you HAVE to see her in person to experience the full impact of this performance. Mindfulness gurus talk about being "fully present", and that's what Bernadette Peters was for this song. The effect was so shattering that there was relatively muted applause after the song. We were all too stunned to clap or holler. I've seen a lot of musical theater, and this was the most affecting performance I have ever seen - utterly devastating.
Somepeople 3 months ago 3
I can't attach the youtube clip of Dorothy Collins singing "Losing My Mind" on the David Frost show. just search for it here on youtube. It's posted by an7iguy.
We are blessed to have this close up version of her. Look at her eyes! Notice also (esp today's singers) how far away she is holding the mic!!! And the glissando at the end tears my heart every time I hear it.
spn1007 3 months ago
All that said (see below. I think)she does portray a total breakdown center stage. At times it is as if she is being driven/animated by the music, much like the Antonia in Tales of Hoffman (sorry if you don't get the ref). I am attaching the Collins version not because it is THE version,but to give another perspective. DC came from the era of the torch song and she sang it that way so naturally. But her subtle acting portrays Sally's breakdown just as much, though in a totally different way.
spn1007 3 months ago
I don't want to get involved in any of the name calling and accusations. We all love Sondheim. We all love this show. We all love this song. Can Sondheim write a torch song? Yes. When it calls for it. And this called for it.
I've not yet seen BP live, so I don't want to offer a full "critique". I will say that there are moments when I love her and moments when I cringe. And I have always been a huge BP fan. Loved her in into the woods and Gypsy. and her many recordings, etc...cont'd
spn1007 3 months ago
As a huge Bernadette Peters fangirl, I can honestly say that her vocal tone/technique isn't the greatest in this performance, so I certainly understand the criticisms that exist there.
But DAMN. Just...the pure emotion she pours into this song...it renders me speechless. It's as though she herself is literally falling apart right there on the stage. It's heartbreaking, it's beautiful, and it's captivating. I can't think of any performer that affects me like she does...she's simply stunning.
WickedWitchElphaba 3 months ago in playlist Favorite videos
the song is gorgeous - each person who sings it puts her or his own stamp on it. Why compare? Enjoy them all. There's no such thing as "best" anyway.
qbear17 3 months ago 3
Absolutely stunning performance. So moving. I've been a big fan of Bernadette since I was a girl. I'm incredibly moved by this performance. So real! Thank you so much for posting it!
Danicawuzhere 3 months ago
this is the most emotional song. ever.
MelchiGabor1 3 months ago
I saw this stunning show Friday as well, and I was crying so hard during this number I thought I would have to be airlifted from the Marquis. A "must see" for all theater goers. Thank you, Follies!
dljahns 3 months ago
Dorothy Collins did this song best.
sinjin405 3 months ago
I get goosebumps. Amazing.
Giavannaks 3 months ago
she looks incredible
TheEchovoices 3 months ago
@pudgeuncle You're every bit as immature as maseraticboychik... You claim to be an adult, but your over-the-top hyperbole makes it hard to believe. Saying Bernadette Peters fans border on terrorists? Really? Every performer has fangirl/fanboys... If you think Bernadette Peters fans are bad, you really need some perspective. As for this video: I was moved more when I saw it live, but perhaps something is lost in translation or Ms. Peters has improved since this was filmed.
kowl90 3 months ago
So much emotion
brettarnett 3 months ago
I just saw it and I love love loved the play. What I didn't like were the seniors all around making noise and getting up before the show was over to get their coats on! I also didn't like the "sippy" cups that are senior proof which they served my 20. glass of wine in, or the fact that they failed to flicker the lights when intermission was over. But all in all, well Done Bernadette, Elaine and all the rest. We gave them a standing ovation at the end - wait or were they getting their coats on?
rsmiraldi 4 months ago
Comment removed
rsmiraldi 4 months ago
@GCGuy. ....what a ludicrous generalization. There are MANY torch songs in Sondheim; your extremely limited mentality and idiotic circumscription of definition is not the world gold standard for what makes a torch song. Get a ride. "Not a Day Goes By", "Send in the Clowns", even "Too Many Mornings" from the same show. not to mention several from Company. That's only what comes instantly to mind. Do stop attempting to pontificate.
maseraticboychik 4 months ago
@maseraticboychik You are a jolly fellow. I could stoop to your level of posting, but I think I'll bypass the obvious insults and not muddy up this page. It isn't in either of our interests.
GCGuy 4 months ago
It's not genuine emotion, petal, it's called acting. All I am saying is that her acting in the song is a little more visible than usual and, in my view, take from the impact of the song. Again, it's just my view. I rarely post here but I decided to because I was so surprised not to like her rendition. It seems I'm not alone. That said, I love Bernadette. Her version of "Being Alive", from her Carnegie Hall concert, must be one of the best recordings ever.
scallywag77 4 months ago
@scallywag77 Completely agree with you. I think the beauty of the sequence is that the songs are sung in a fictional reality-- LOVELAND. Ms. Peters plays this too self-aware. It's too much. Not bashing, I love her as well.
YELLOW42758 4 months ago
I sat third row, center for this show last night. Completely blown away. Bernadette just has this way of...completely connecting to every single part of her character.
AshOnStage 4 months ago
The off kiltered costume was perfect! I feel it symbolized a straight jacket of sorts - restraining her physically during the song and metaphorically the charaters emotions! Brava on the peformance!!
joyzboy2002 4 months ago 2
@joyzboy2002 Welp, you might have been right in D.C., because she stayed like the video, but in New York she moves her arms a bit more, and shields her face from the audience when she starts crying. Amazing talent.
aasjb4ever 4 months ago
Who knew that someone just standing there and singing could be such a powerful song?
perford2004 4 months ago
nice video, but actually getting to see it live was so much better, I must say XD
Sondheim is THE BEST. This song is so amazing, i was in tears about two measures into Bernadette's singing.
DiamondDayna94 4 months ago
Say whatever you want about the song, the show, the performance, the actress, ANYTHING YOU WANT.. but you can't say ANYTHING about the last note other than... MAGNIFICENT!!! Thank you you Bernadette!
vhudspath 4 months ago
Saw it recently on B'way. Always been a BP fan & have seen her perform live many times. Thought she'd be my favorite, but she wasn't . This just sounds a bit syncopated and "sing-songy", i.e., The Sun comes up, I think about you, The coffee cup, I think about you. The warbly vibrato isn't pleasant either. All in all she seemed a "sad sack Sally". Listen 2 the original Sally - Dorothy Collins on YT to hear real pathos & emotional depth. Not hating BP, just not loving her in this role. JMHO
DiffrentDrumr 4 months ago
I don't get too emotional listening to things
But this is so powerful
iluvrandom314 5 months ago 3
He does so many thing perfectly!
MrLProfeta 5 months ago
First off, I'm a huge BP fan. It took me a while to get used to the pictorial quality of this production, which is gorgeous, but I felt hindered great performances by people like BP. That is, I felt that the insistence on the visual impact constrained the movements and performances of the singers. But I have changed my mind since. The restraint allows for a certain interpretation of the musical that is strangely intimate. It seems paradoxical, but the show is also paradoxical. Well done.
mwilson345 5 months ago
what age is she now?
UntitledProject123 5 months ago
@UntitledProject123 She's 63. Born 28 February 1948.
padfoot5544 5 months ago
It's like the director was like, "Bernadette. I want you to stand there and sing the song. I do not want you to move your arms or move your head. I just want you to sing and act the fuck out of that song." And it's so amazing.
yelanates 5 months ago in playlist yelanates's Favorited Videos
This was just as amazing recorded, as it was live. I could not stand Sally as a character (for her situation with Ben reminds me of the same situation I am in, and all I want is to help her), but this was absolutely stunning, and brought/brings tears to my eyes when i watch it. Meeting her afterwards was the best experience ever (especially because she was confused as to why someone my age knows who she is)
VainXavier246 5 months ago
@VainXavier246 how old are you that she was surprised by that? lol
meghanx21 4 months ago
@meghanx21 I am 17
VainXavier246 4 months ago
@VainXavier246 I am 17 too and I love Bernadette Peters!
TheTombRaider94 4 months ago
is there any problem if i say i totally connect to this song? hope i don't go crazy
bidubarreto 5 months ago
she was wonderful - saw this last week
sallyjdawg 5 months ago
Beautiful...simply beautiful...<3
TheClaireAlexandra 5 months ago
Holy shit. I cried, and then I got this look of horror on my face, and then I cried some more, and my eyes started to burn from being open so wide and so long. This is fucking amazing.
yelanates 5 months ago 2
I would kill to see this live.
BOomeek 5 months ago 2
WOW, wonderful performance.
saw it once in Washington and once in New York.
If you haven't seen it GO !
yak965 5 months ago
Who can argue? Brava, La Bernadette!
RafaelPReyes 5 months ago
Its amazing how she can stand in one spot....but still be completely captivating.
sweet448 5 months ago 3
How amazing at this late date Bernadette gives her greatest performance. And she has taken one of the great songs of the Broadway stage to a whole new place, God bless her.
waynebrasler 5 months ago 2
no one plays fragile like her.
biddybooable 5 months ago 2
This is fantastic! The pause right before the end was absolutely heartbreaking.
Bucherwurm28 5 months ago
Perfectly right, about this song. There really isn't any other way to do this brilliant song, My bitter remarks were about what else I've viewed here.
jjarndyce 5 months ago 2
@jjarndyce I agree with your point on "I'm Still Here", and I haven't seen the Broadway run yet, so I am not sure it has changed. The staging doesn't really do justice to Page nor the number. Although amateurish may be too strong a word. Because even in this number, an amateur could go a thousand places. Think if she were sitting, or off to the side of the stage. I've seen both, in amateur productions.
GCGuy 5 months ago
Point taken. Theater can't really be judged by clips. Nonetheless: when 5 videos of actual numbers reveal amateurish staging and inept choreography, I am justified in making an assessment. No energy of being at a live performance changes how the actors move. No energy in the theater can reverse the idiocy of having a major song sung to four guys sitting around on stage, to listen. That, I maintain, is rotten direction.
jjarndyce 5 months ago
@jjarndyce To be fair this is the run at the Kennedy Center, so the staging and choreography most certainly have changed from this recorded version to what you see at the Marquis Theater today. This number however is staged perfectly. It is the torch song, the standalone number. Peters on stage by herself, centered. The same way you would have seen Fanny Brice deliver My Man, and considering Follies is intended to mirror that era, the direction and staging here is perfect.
GCGuy 5 months ago 3
Listen, I love her. Loved her in 'Woods', 'Sunday', etc. But the reality is that this has no more pathos than the Collins original. I would argue, in fact, that Collins' matronly quality made the song more gut-wrenching. The PS here, since I'm in trouble anyway, is that every other clip I've seen of this revival is pretty bad. as in, AWFUL direction and staging.
jjarndyce 6 months ago
@jjarndyce Just saw the production on Friday night, and the staging and direction actually seemed pretty inspired. Every character was well-developed and the relationships were real and complex. One can't really try to make an assumption about staging and direction based of of a few bootlegged clips that are put up on youtube, so wait until you've seen it to try and knock the "AWFUL" staging and direction. Obviously have an opinion, but be sure that it is an informed one.
jtrudeau88 5 months ago 11
@jjarndyce You're 100% right. Don't let people bully you into changing your opinions. I've heard and seen this song performed better many times.
ToxicPopsicle 5 months ago
@ToxicPopsicle You're ludicrous. The demands of this song are such that only a performer like Peters, Cleo Laine, Dorothy Collins (the original Sally, FYI) can meet them in any way. The show, and the tune, are not for amateurs. How many professional versions have YOU heard? LMAO
maseraticboychik 4 months ago
@jjarndyce Must you compare everything on earth and try to 'rank' it? Are you incapable of seeing that Collins and Peters are both magnificent in this role?
maseraticboychik 4 months ago
thumbs up if you typed in "gpoy"
pele928 6 months ago
2:50 gets me every single time.
JordynsPoetryPannier 6 months ago 3
This comment has received too many negative votes show
A real yawn. I hate it.
lite7761str 6 months ago
@lite7761str You might get different impression if you saw her perform this live. I saw her perform it in this very production and the pathos of her performance, not just in this song but the entire musical, was unfathomable. Don't be so quick to judge it.
Beejeification 6 months ago 4
OH MY GOD YESSSSS
BrandonTJones69 6 months ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
Minnie Mouse on helium. I've never understood all the fuss about her.
laggers65 6 months ago
puts Bernadette back on the pedestal that had eluded her since her bizarre and disturbing Annie Get Your Gun. Her ability to strip away her craft and technique to present a woman still chasing a dream is remarkable and heart wrenching. I felt like i was peeking into Sally at confession instead of watching a Bway showstopper. I do wonder if they considered making at least a section of the number, a "Follies" number as dictated by the script. Would have added a level I missed.
Scorpion773 6 months ago
this is incredible...
RandomRandommer 6 months ago
Just saw this last night. And wow, is all I can say. I was sucker-punched. The emotion was overwhelming. All 4 leads were exceptional, but Bernadette was truly magnificant to the point where words can't even be used. When she walked out to deliver this, she was already wiping tears off her face, and fell completely apart by the time it was over. I was nearly sobbing.
boynamedalexxx 6 months ago 4
The performance & delivery of Bernadette Peters with this song is Pure Perfection. Have seen the current Broadway production twice already, and with the exception of the RUDE women behind me noisily unwrapping candies during the prologue & "Losing My Mind", the show was pure enjoyment from start to finish. The lush orchestrations & stellar cast make this a top-notch production.... Not to be missed!
dw4720 6 months ago 4
Very memorable performance! I liked the show so much, that I might see it a second & third time! What a show! I believe that it will win many awards, especially best revival of a musical!
kenitobaby75 6 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
she has no talent. ziich. none.
maysell23 6 months ago
PM me if interested in video
ythc11 6 months ago
I saw this show yesterday and think it's one of the best shows I've seen in years.... Bernadette was fantastic...this song brought goose bumps...the others in the cast were wonderful as well....well worth seeing!!!
Apocalypse758 6 months ago
And yet probably the greatest interpretation of this song is by Julia McKenzie (80s London Revival). McKenzie understands Sondheim utterly (indeed, she is one of his favourite interpreters) and in her Sally we are given a woman tormented in the belief that her life is small and unfulfilled. Her version is stunning in its restraint and purity of voice. I'd go so far as to say that McKenzie is to this song what Stritch is to Ladies Who Lunch! She truly is one of the Sondheim greats - no question!
tippiwalter 6 months ago
@tippiwalter I agree, I saw her perform it 5 times in London in the 80's show, and its always killed me, however Ms. Peters creates an amazing performance too, hard to pick!
chdawh 6 months ago
Very inspirational. I have seen this song done so many times, and not one of them has touched me the way Bernadette's has.
She is my favorite actress and my inspiration. She always has me in tears.
Evlog1 6 months ago
I think this performance would work better if it was less self-aware.
YELLOW42758 6 months ago
I think Donna McKechnie's performance in the Papermill production was more affecting. Search "losing my mind an7iguy" on here to find it.
JoshMich1985 6 months ago
@pudgeuncle There is a key difference between blind Idol worship and artistic appreciation. Certain writers and certain singers go together. Ethel Merman's robust approach and Cole Porter's clever lyrics were a match made in heaven. Mary Martin's angelic voice and Rodgers & Hammerstein iconic music are perfectly coupled. Peters and Sondheim have that same kind of connection, his deeply insightful musicals and her ability to flush out these types of moments are what make both so powerful together
GCGuy 6 months ago 30
@GCGuy The late great Dorothy Collins, who performed this originally on Broadway, was in a word, spectacular .
truthbetoldagain 5 months ago 2
@truthbetoldagain Collins is the definitive version of the role. It is to me why so many others have tried to emulate her, they can't. I have seem some great women tackle the role, and the role is one of the best in musical theater, but most attempted a Collinsesque approach. Peters break from that tradition is one of the reasons I would have to say this is the best Revival of it. Technically the Broadway version of this revival, not the Kennedy Centers.
GCGuy 5 months ago
@GCGuy A couple of years ago I saw an incredible revival of it starring Gregory Harrison, Betty Garrett and Marni Nixon. When it opened it even had the great Joan Roberts in it. She was the original lead in 1943's " Oklahoma !"
truthbetoldagain 5 months ago
@truthbetoldagain Was that the 2001 revival with Judith Ivey as Sally? It included all of that cast, and if so Polly Bergen was fantastic in it, Ivey....not so much.
GCGuy 5 months ago
@GCGuy Why yes it was. And Polly Bergen was indeed fantastic. People might not recal that back in the day she also had quite the nice recording career going. I was pleased as well to have met her after the performance .
truthbetoldagain 5 months ago
@GCGuy I've always put Merman and Berlin together, not Merman and Porter (and not just because of Annie Get Your Gun). Otherwise, agreed.
90lysander 4 months ago
I saw "Follies" on saturday afternoon, and Bernadette gave the most touching performance of Sally that I've ever seen anyone portray in a long time! Being there "Live" always gives you much more! She was the best when I saw her!
kenitobaby75 6 months ago 2
FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK I'm so angry I'm not going to be able to see this!!! ARGHHH!!!! This is perfection!
pheck64 6 months ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
I think people need to stop blindly worshiping their idols. If someone else gave the exact same vocal performance, I doubt these accolades would be showered. And Ms. Peters' age is irrelevant. I am thrilled that her star power brought this show back to NY on this scale but ....
pudgeuncle 6 months ago
@pudgeuncle Its not just the vocal preformance people are "showering accolades" about its the emotion behind the words that is amazing. Yes i will admit she has sounded better but she still sounds better than 99% of singers, and from what I have heard she is 10 times better now on broadway : )
3CheesyTacos 6 months ago 5
@3CheesyTacos Oh, the emotion. I forgot that Peters is the Meryl Steep of musical theater.
pudgeuncle 6 months ago
@pudgeuncle Look, pal, she has nothing to do with Streep. Miss Mannerisms thinks (except in comedy, thank god!) that accents, icks, tics, and SHTICKS are the key to DRAMA. Peters stands there and sings , center stage, and she is completely valid. Find me any singer who doesn't have a few sour notes in this role, Buckwheat-this is a musical, not Aida in 1930 with the greatest singers imaginable.
maseraticboychik 4 months ago
@maseraticboychik Your putdowns of the most celebrated film actress of all time are contemptible. But then Ms. Peters has fans who border on terrorists. I'm an adult. I have loved her in some parts and been horrified at others. She's lucky her Equity card wasn't taken away after GYPSY.
pudgeuncle 4 months ago
Just saw it in preview on Broadway. This song has a mediocre lyric that she made great. Further this is the best damned show I've seen in at least two decades. They used a couple of half-dead people and brought em to life through the staging.
I cried so hard I disturbed several rows. This version isn't half as good as what I saw tonight.
psychomusicanana 6 months ago 3
@psychomusicanana What lyric in this song is mediocre? For me, this is possibly Sondheim's best number of all time.
boynamedalexxx 6 months ago 3
@boynamedalexxx "sometimes I stand in the middle of the floor, not going left, not going right." i If you're standing still, why would it be right in the middle ? And if you are, isn't it obvious you're not moving in any direction? Left, right, back, forward?
However, when BP does it, she puts makes the entire song into a "mad scene," so that the words "not going right" now mean, "not going in the right direction, or in any direction,Not going well, but going crazy with obsession."
psychomusicanana 6 months ago
@psychomusicanana I don't see that as mediocre, I see it as intentional. It gives more insight into Sally's cracking mind and her obsession. It's making it clear her infatuation is a daily ritual, as normal as breathing (for her), and right down to every minescule detail.
If we were to discuss the physics of it, perhaps Sally, in reference to "every little chore" is tending her house, etc. and just stops dead, overwhelmed. She stops moving. Not left, right or anywhere. (1/2)
boynamedalexxx 6 months ago
@psychomusicanana (2/2). Yes, it's obvious if you're standing, you're not going in any direction, but let's understand we are in SALLY's MIND. It's a dark, non-sensical place. If you're standing still, why *not* in the middle? It all feeds in to how consumed and crippled Sally is by this.
boynamedalexxx 6 months ago
@boynamedalexxx It may very well been intentional by Sondheim, but no one ever brought the obsession to madness in this lyric before BP. it to life to the extent that Peters did. I'm pretty savvy, and this lyric was a pet peeve, because it didn't sound crazy enough. Dororthy Collins did it as Dorothy Collions, others did it not much better, and DP did at Sally's mad scene and it made sense of the lybic
psychomusicanana 6 months ago
@psychomusicanana Well, I don't think I have to shell out any more praise for Bernadette (suffice to say, I always can), but I also disagree about Collins. She made for an incredibly moving Sally. Her "Losing My Mind" is very, verryy haunting, I think.
Also, Judith Ivey, from the 'eh' 2001 Revival, did a very intense rendition. Hers was very much a journey into madness. An interesting interpretation, and effective, no doubt, but didn't quite work.
boynamedalexxx 6 months ago 2
@boynamedalexxx You know, I think that to judge these you have to have been married for at least 20 years. Are you qualified under that rule?
psychomusicanana 5 months ago
@psychomusicanana Well, I disagree with that.
boynamedalexxx 5 months ago 3
@boynamedalexxx I guess I have my answer. This entire show "wreaks havoc on the emotions" of those who have been there and done that...
psychomusicanana 5 months ago
@psychomusicanana It definitely wreaked serious havoc on my emotions. I was still wiping my eyes and nose a good 20 minutes after the curtain call.
boynamedalexxx 5 months ago 4
@psychomusicanana So only people with failed marriages can grasp the emotional weight of this song? Isn't that like saying only people who died on Titanic would be able to find the movie sad? The importance of an actor, especially in theater, is to bring flush that emotion out, so even a child could understand on some level that this moment is a sad one. Life experience doesn't make one appreciate art more. And to be fair this song is not about her marriage, it is about obsessive love.
GCGuy 5 months ago 4
@GCGuy Actually, only people with long marriages, not failed ones, can experience the havoc that the whole show wreaks on the emotions. I have a way of sounding pedantic and self-righteous that isn't intentional - I just comment quickly and sometimes I piss people off without meaning to.
psychomusicanana 5 months ago
@psychomusicanana I did not take any offense at all to what you said. I just disagreed with the need for a life experience to mirror a work of art as the only way to truly appreciate it No one alive knew Mona Lisa, she still captivates us however. Great art, like this performance and especially this musical, should be emotionally available. A person who is in a long fruitful relationship is going to take something out of this performance that someone who endured a long bitter one would not.
GCGuy 5 months ago 10
@GCGuy I really meant the whole show. and this song is about using obsession, among the many tricks humans use to avoid intimacy with their long-term partners. If Sally weren't married to Buddy, who loves her to death, the song wouldn't work as wel.
psychomusicanana 5 months ago
@psychomusicanana I think in Buddy's Follies moment you see what Sally's obsession has done to him, in this moment you see what it has done to her. That is why the torch ballad style fits it so well. That is why the lyric is actually so mesmerizing. Sondheim captures the foolishness, the insanity and still keeps it simple. This song is so...not Sondheim. This is Sally's moment. In fact nothing about this song even refers to Buddy. It is the climax of her madness, done differently than DC (cont.)
GCGuy 5 months ago 10
@GCGuy (cont.) which is what makes Peters refreshing in the role, behind that beautiful exterior you see a cracked woman. Darker, more intense.... more Sondheim like. Offering the first Sally that differs from Collins, which is where it really makes it's mark for me personally.
GCGuy 5 months ago 4
@GCGuy No. This is completely Sondheim. The man who wrote Follies, A Little Night Music , and Pacific Overtures is completely capable of a drop dead torch song. That is a range literally UNKNOWN today in the era of dreck 'musicals'. There was very little Sondheim couldn't write if he put his mind to it.
maseraticboychik 4 months ago
@maseraticboychik Sondheim was not ever a torch song writer. In fact no other number in his amazing body of work is like it. I never said he was incapable of a torch song, just that this straightforward style of writing, is a concept of a bygone era. Each Sondheim work is unique, that is what makes him the mammoth composer he is. He is paying homage to a style long gone from the stage by the 1970s, making this a standout number for his body of work, it's what makes Follies the standout musical.
GCGuy 4 months ago
@psychomusicanana how limited are you emotionally and spiritually? Pathetic. There is no qualifier on the capacity of great art to wreak havoc on the emotions. That is the entire point of great art. Go study some rudimentary esthetics, BOZO.
maseraticboychik 4 months ago
@boynamedalexxx Thank you. in the midst of the BOOBOISIE that chose to comment here (shudder), an accurate response. Ivey was wonderful and it worked on its own terms. Collins and Peters are both wonderful--why would we want to do without either?
maseraticboychik 4 months ago
Just saw it in preview on Broadway. This song has a mediocre lyric that she made great.
psychomusicanana 6 months ago
I saw her sing this in concert, in character in Follies at the Kennedy Center & will again in 3 weeks on Broadway. It is a heartbreaker and she certainly gets it across as only she can. BP is THE greatest interpreter of Sondheim.
californiajo 6 months ago
The last note surprised me...in a good way!
kylejerel 7 months ago
@kylejerel it was a breathtaking moment. When I saw it in DC, during this song there was an energy from the audience that I had not felt in a theatre before. It was a collective pity that we had just watched a character that we cared about totally fall apart in front of our eyes in the span of three minutes.
siroakleigh98 6 months ago 5
@siroakleigh98 Thank you for that insightful and wonderful comment. I love when people discuss about theatre in such a delightful manner!
kylejerel 6 months ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
They should call this Losing My Voice.
pudgeuncle 7 months ago
@pudgeuncle I should sound this good at 63! I AM 63.
psychomusicanana 6 months ago 2
I should sound so good at 63 - I AM 63.
psychomusicanana 6 months ago 2
this woman is 63 and still a powerhouse...that's AMAZING!!! i love bernadette peters and always will!!!
danefritz2006 7 months ago
are they making a recording of this production?
theman8398 7 months ago
She's marvellous. Breathtaking.
bootydepository 7 months ago
Do you have Jan Maxwell's Could I Leave You????
whogamiwhatzitz 7 months ago 2
This is so crazy different than any version I've seen... and I appreciate that.
thesurfacenyc 7 months ago
seems she's worked her entire career towards blanche dubois. when will it happen?
edmame 7 months ago
@edmame Elaine Stritch said that both to her and about her during their entire "Night Music" run. I'm waiting on it, too. I'd love to see her take on some non-musical roles. I'd DIE to see her as Arkadina in "the Seagull"--I feel like it would just be totally mind-blowing.
boynamedalexxx 7 months ago 3
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Not even close to Dorothy Collins, especially on the first Sondheim tribute album. Peters is miscast simply because she would have been the shortest folly girl in history. But that's her entire career...mostly playing roles totally unsuited to her monumental talent.
pudgeuncle 7 months ago
@pudgeuncle You are misinformed. Sally is described multiple times in the script and stage directions as being small/petite/"little." Collins was also very short.
iamupforallfun 7 months ago 9
What a gorgeous version of this song. Perfectly acted and sung. BP and Sondheim are a match made in heaven. Bernadette just gets better and more beautiful with age. CAn't wait to see this on Broadway
bradlybinsd 7 months ago 2
Oh Bernadette... I love YOU so, it's like I'm losing MY mind <3
TheTombRaider94 7 months ago 5
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Sorry kids, I'm tremendously respectful of Bernadette Peters but she can't sing everything and this is one of those moments. This rendition is -- in my subjective opinion -- all technique and no heart. Go look at Dorothy Collins sing it elsewhere and compare. One is a woman singing herself into despair (with great - almost invisible - acting and singing technique), the other is someone singing Sondheim.
scallywag77 7 months ago