University of Virginia Library

Follies' Ghosts

The show is about a reunion of
former Follies girls and their
spouses, held in their old theatre
which is now scheduled to meet the
wrecker's ball. The past converges
with the present as ghostly images
of Follies girls filter through the
party, unnoticed by the guests.
Images can be invisible, but
memories rarely are, and before
long the two couples on whom
James Goldman's intelligent book
focuses are busy trying to relive the
past, fighting to undo their
romantic and marital mistakes,
struggling to find some of their lost
happiness.

Much of "Follies" can be
interpreted on two levels. Even
its title is ambiguous — the subject
of the evening is human follies just
as much as it is show business
Follies. We are treated to some
spectacular production numbers of
the sort that made Ziegfeld famous
— gaudily and beautifully costumed
by Florence Klotz and brilliantly
choreographed by Michael Bennett.
It is intended to be nostalgic, but
not in the sense that "No, No,
Nanette" is nostalgic. The tone of
the latter is sweet and gentle
whereas "Follies" at times tends to
be bittersweet and caustic, pointing
up the essential emptiness and
human insincerity of this form of
entertainment on which America
once thrived.

This is ultimately brought across
when, in the last third of the show,
the barren realism of Boris
Aronson's basic set design is
supplanted by the trappings of a
storybook fantasy: we are suddenly
the audience at a Follies'
extravaganza. Throughout the
show, the four principals have
presented and dealt with their
problems on an intensely serious
basis. Now, each is required to act
out his folly in the guise of a light
vaudeville act. To see these
characters reduced to where they
must sacrifice their own validity for
the sake of cheap entertainment is
the most painful sight I've seen on a
stage in a long time.