Throat sore from cheering, hands red from clapping, eyes bright with emotion, ears ringing and heart full, I stood as the audience rose as one at the end of an extraordinary night. No hesitating, slow Mexican wave of a standing ovation here. The last notes of music were still fading as the entire theatre surged to its feet. The show is on a limited run through until early May and if you love musical theatre – or any kind of theatre at all – beg, borrow and steal to get a ticket.
A group of ageing former showgirls reunite in the 1970s to mark the tearing down of the iconic theatre where they starred in the Weisman Follies between the wars. It sounds nostalgic, indulgent and cosy, but this is Sondheim.
The evening lays bare the follies of youth and the inescapable realities of love and loss, regrets and recriminations. The show is merciless in exposing the damage we do ourselves and those around us, but it also has compassion. Oh yes, and it is so damned beautiful you almost forget the pain.
Following the sold-out run last year, the classic musical is back with one major change. Joanna Riding has replaced Imelda Staunton as Sally. She is arguably a better fit for the role of a fragile yet ruthless woman who can’t let go of the past and the illusion of love with her best friend’s husband. Riding is wonderful throughout, mixing crippling self-doubt and steely selfishness until she brings it home in the iconic Losing My Mind.
Janie Dee is magnificent as that (former) best friend Phyllis, the withering one-liners masking the loneliness and loss of youthful dreams and building to the raw rage of Could I Leave You?
Peter Forbes brings real pathos to Sally’s poor neglected husband Buddy, hamming it up as a sweaty shmuck when all he wants is for Sally to let him love her, while Alexander Hansen is subtly broken as former golden boy Ben.
Claire Moore delivers a feisty Broadway Baby, Geraldine Fitzgerald has huge fun vamping as Solange on Ah Paris, while Billy Boyle and Myra Sands are adorable in Rain on the Roof (last seen as the camp cell block musical performed by Hugh Grant in the end credit scene of Paddington 2!)
Tracie Bennet blazes through the night as Carlotta, toying with every man and proclaiming I’m Still Here with shades of an ageing Judy Garland had she defeated her demons.
One rather brutal critic mocked the moment all the older women relive a classic tap dance number, Who’s That Woman?, lead by a radiant Dawn Hope as Stella. I found it extraordinary and extraordinarily moving. Not only can they all still hoof in great style, it was a glorious affirmation of being alive and a welcome reminder that it ain’t over until…
Well, there was no fat lady, but there was 78-year-old Dame Josephine Barstow as the German soprano Heidi Schiller. Her aria One More Kiss was already beautiful, but the closing harmonies with her younger self (Alison Langer) were exquisite. It brought tears to my eyes.
The entire supporting cast bring dazzle and playful depth to a night that mixes poignancy with pizzazz. They are perfectly complemented by Vicky Mortimer’s sublime staging. The backdrop is the crumbled wreckage of the theatre, where the younger showgirls perch frozen in the perfection of the past. The main stage rotates constantly and there is always something or someone in the shadows behind the action, an echo of what was lost, a painful reminder of the present.
Do not miss this show. It is perfection.
FOLLIES AT THE NATIONAL THEATRE UNTIL MAY 11: TICKETS, INFO AND BOOKINGS HERE