The Girls Upstairs: A review of the National Theatre Live production of Follies

So we missed the beginning. Not of the show, but of the opening to the Sondheim interviews that were broadcast before we crossed over to the theatre. Stupid Merseytravel! When we eventually arrived however, there was a sense of anticipation in the Edge Hill University theatre hall. The last live version of Sondheim show was Gypsy with Imelda Staunton and that was a roaring success, so we all thought that Follies would be as good, if not better. And at times it was, the dance sequences were beautifully shot and the performance of I'm Here by Tracie Bennett pulled at every heartstring in the audience both in the theatre and the cinema. There was a sense of downtown New York but the piece just felt very British in both terms of performance and staging. Therefore, at times the conventions of the show were not fully realised and the characters that you are supposed to grow and understand become grating in the later stages. However, this ambitious production does leave the audience with a sense of wonderment of the beauty of the piece, just not with the heart of the story.

The show implemented some of the main concepts of the piece including the idea of the characters younger selves being present within the theatre. However, the function became exactly that, a function. There were times when they needed to be there such as the times when they were remembering a specific time i.e. The Girls Upstairs, or where haunted by the ghosts of their past. In contrast, there were times when the only reason they were there was too highlight the difference in age between the characters such as the very opening

to the play when they all arrived in the theatre. The director, Dominic Cooke (his first credit as a director for a musical) clearly misunderstood this function, leading to it undermining the younger characters performance as their constant presence became an annoyance to the audience. There were also the problems of a number of the leading ladies falling in to the trap of acting what they know. For example, at times, especially during Sally's breakdowns, she reverted to what she knew best; Mama Rose. This meant that with the overbearing presence of this other strong woman, the character of Sally became whiny and I could not connect once with her story as, to me, she came across as a self entitled, overbearing complainer. All the traits that endear us to Mama Rose as she has a purpose, a purpose to make her children succeed in life (even if only for her own selfish gains). In Sally, they became annoying and I found myself just wishing she would stop talking and go home. The opposite is said for the character of Phillis, played immaculately by Janie Dee, who I came to care about and root for especially during her rendition of Leave You which I felt embodied her strong, no nonsense character. This made the ending all the more frustrating when she takes Ben back as if nothing has happened. But it could be forgiven as you fully felt that this was a decision her character fully supported, even if it goes against everything she stands for as a woman. In terms of acting, the ensemble party work was at times laughable as the actors fell in to the tarp of "party acting" i.e. miming and over the top, exaggerated movements to show just how much they were enjoying themselves. Again this could be down to the fact that the director did not understand how to direct a musical and tried to put all of the traditional conventions mashed together.

There were times in the cinema, as in many cinemas around the country, where the orchestra overpowered the actors and you could barely hear what they were saying or singing. This led to many of the actors shouting their words in what were supposed to be quiet and intimate moments. This was especially evident during Buddy's Folly where you could not understand a word that was said by Peter Forbes so the whole song became useless. There was also the whole problem with the set, the beautiful staircase that led up to the dressing room was beautifully utilised during The Girls Upstairs but that was the only time the use of the staircase made any sense. Using it for the descent of the girls in Beautiful Girls made no sense dramatically as the girls would never have come from the dressing room into the theatre, and throughout the sequence the only thing the actors could convey was how utterly terrified of falling down the stairs they were. There was also the small matter of the theatre looking like a demolition site, if we are asking the audience to believe utterly in the world they are entering, then we have to bring up the question that they would never be allowed in the theatre if it was in that much of a state. This meant, that due to the cost spent on the first half of the show, the grandeur and sheer frivolity of the follies sequence was not fully achieved. Therefore, we never fully accepted (or understood in my case) what we were seeing in front of us. The colours of the follies set and the costumes were beautiful however, so I did understand that there was supposed to be a sense of beauty and wonder but it was never fully realised by the creative team.

Overall, this show reached some of the heights that were expected of such a piece. However, not enough to make this as successful as Gypsy, which was fully understood by both the creative and performance team. Follies was never fully realised in terms of both acting or direction so it left the audience a fair distance away from the piece and not fully emerged in either the characters or the concept. Sondheim himself admits that this show is supposed to create a sense of a time and place. Not really a story, more of a concept. But in previous productions, you begin to understand how the characters became the way they are and begin to feel something for each of them. Sadly, in this production, I admired the complexity of the characters, the songs and the show but did not feel like I was involved in either the story or the emotions of the characters.

#review #follies #sondheim #nationaltheatrelive