FIRST LOOK: Folles at the National Theatre

1971, New York. There’s a party on the stage of the Weissman Theatre. Tomorrow the iconic building will be demolished. Thirty years after their final performance, the Follies girls gather to have a few drinks, sing a few songs and lie about themselves. Including such classic songs as Broadway Baby, I’m Still Here and Losing My Mind, Stephen Sondheim’s legendary musical is staged for the first time at the NT. Tracie Bennett, Janie Dee and Imelda Staunton play the magnificent Follies in this dazzling new production. Featuring a cast of 37 and an orchestra of 21, the production is directed by Dominic Cooke (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom). 

Winner of Academy, Tony, Grammy and Olivier awards, Sondheim’s previous work at the NT includes A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd and Sunday in the Park with George.

Merrily We Roll Along the Musical: Theatre Review

Based on the 1934 play of the same name, Merrily We Roll Along originally opened on Broadway in 1981 to a very poor reception. It officially opened on the 16^th November 1981 to mostly negative reviews but the score by Sondheim was widely praised. It closed after only 16 performances and 52 previews. An off-West End production opened (with Maria Friedman) in 1992 at the Haymarket Theatre, Leicester and ran for three weeks. A West End production opened at the Donmar Warehouse in 2000 where it won the Olivier Award for Best Musical and it now has returned to the West End, this time transferring to the Harold Pinter Theatre from the Menier Chocolate Factory directed by Maria Friedman. 
Merrily We Roll Along follows three best friends, Franklin Shepard, Mary Flynn and Charles Kringas. It’s a story of friendship and how working with your friends can destroy and strengthen relationships. Throughout the show Franklins love life is one of the main stories, showing his relationships crumble and blossom with Beth and Gussie and of course Mary and Charles. The show actually goes backwards, so the last scene is first and the first scene is the last. This may sound confusing but the way Sondheim has written the show it flows really well and is clearly stated what and where they are in each scene.