Show guide
Follies
Follies follows two aging former showgirls and their husbands as they reunite for one last night in a crumbling Broadway theatre about to be torn down.
- Broadway premiere
- 1971
- Music by
- Stephen Sondheim
- Genre
- Drama
- Setting
- 1970s
Follies: quick answers
What is Follies about?
- At a reunion in a crumbling Broadway theatre about to be demolished, former Follies showgirls gather with their husbands, and two unhappy couples confront the ghosts of their younger selves and the choices they regret.
When did Follies open on Broadway?
- Follies opened on Broadway on April 4, 1971, at the Winter Garden Theatre and ran for 522 performances, closing on July 1, 1972. It returned in a 2011 Broadway revival at the Marquis Theatre.
Is Follies a Golden Age musical?
- No. Follies opened in 1971, after the Golden Age, and belongs to Sondheim's later, more experimental era, though its score deliberately pastiches the revue songs of the 1920s and 1930s.
Where and when is Follies set?
- Follies is set in 1971 at the Weismann Theatre in New York, with the ghosts of the performers' interwar Follies days haunting the party.
Has Follies played in London's West End?
- Follies opened at London's Shaftesbury Theatre in July 1987 in a reworked version with four new songs and ran 644 performances. The National Theatre's 2017 revival, starring Imelda Staunton, won the Olivier Award for Best Musical Revival.
The story of Follies
Set in 1971, Follies takes place at a reunion party inside the Weismann Theatre, a once glamorous Ziegfeld style venue that is about to be demolished. Former showgirls gather for one final night, and the reunion centers on two couples, Sally and Buddy Plummer and Phyllis and Benjamin Stone, whose marriages have quietly curdled over the decades.
As the party unfolds, the ghosts of the characters' younger selves appear alongside them, forcing each couple to confront choices made thirty years earlier. James Goldman's book uses the doomed theatre as a metaphor for fading glamour, regret, and the gap between the lives people imagined and the ones they actually built.
The music and the makers
Stephen Sondheim wrote the score, with James Goldman providing the book, and much of the music is written as loving pastiche of the vaudeville and Ziegfeld era numbers the older characters once performed, giving each of them a period style song that echoes their younger selves. The result plays like a real backstage revue haunted by memory.
Signature numbers include Broadway Baby, Losing My Mind, Could I Leave You, and the show's best known anthem, I'm Still Here, a survivor's account of reinvention through decades of changing fortune. That blend of pastiche and raw confessional ballad gives Follies one of Sondheim's richest and most emotionally direct scores.
Follies on Broadway
Follies opened on Broadway in April 1971 at the Winter Garden Theatre, directed by Harold Prince and choreographed by Michael Bennett. The original cast included Alexis Smith, Dorothy Collins, Gene Nelson, John McMartin, and Yvonne De Carlo, whose performance of I'm Still Here became legendary.
The production won seven Tony Awards, including Best Score, though its lavish physical production meant it closed at a financial loss despite a substantial run. Follies has been revised and restaged many times since, including a large scale 2011 Broadway revival, and remains one of the most admired and frequently debated Sondheim musicals for its bittersweet portrait of aging and memory.
Follies: frequently asked questions
What does "follies" mean in musical theatre?
In musical theatre, follies are lavish revues of songs, dances, comedy, and costumed showgirls with no single plot, a format made famous by Florenz Ziegfeld's Ziegfeld Follies, which began in 1907. Sondheim's Follies is set at a reunion of performers from the fictional Weismann Follies, modeled on Ziegfeld's shows, and its title also puns on the characters' own follies.
Is Follies a Golden Age musical?
No. Follies opened in 1971, after Broadway's Golden Age of roughly 1943 to the mid 1960s had ended. It belongs to the later, more experimental era of the Sondheim concept musical, even though its score includes pastiche numbers in the style of 1920s and 1930s revue songs.
Did Follies win the Tony Award for Best Musical?
No. Follies lost Best Musical to Two Gentlemen of Verona at the 1972 Tony Awards, despite leading the ceremony with 11 nominations and winning seven Tonys, including Best Score.
Is Follies still running on Broadway, and has it been revived?
No. The original production closed on July 1, 1972, after 522 performances. Follies has returned to Broadway twice since, in a 2001 revival at the Belasco Theatre and a larger 2011 revival at the Marquis Theatre.
When did Follies open on Broadway?
Follies opened on Broadway in 1971 at the Winter Garden Theatre.
Who wrote Follies?
Stephen Sondheim wrote the music and lyrics, with a book by James Goldman.
What is Follies about?
It follows two aging couples reuniting at a party in a Broadway theatre about to be demolished, confronting old regrets and the ghosts of their younger selves.
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