Victorian Opera | Follies
Feb 1, 2025, Palais Theatre St Kilda, VIC
It’s been a long wait for lovers of Stephen Sondheim to finally see a fully staged production of Follies in Australia. So many musical theatre and opera buffs cheered when the Victorian Opera announced its 2025 season opener was the fabled 1971 hit musical. As opening night approached some even voiced their concerns that the production might not live up to their expectations.
Well, they needn’t have worried. The production, directed by Stuart Maunder, ably assisted by music director Phoebe Briggs, set and costuming by Roger Kirk and choreography by Yvette Lee, was flawless.
From the striking and ominous opening chords to the clever interplay between characters in two stages of their lives, seen simultaneously on stage and interacting, to the fabulous Ziegfeld-style girls covered in diamantes and feathers like living sculptures who moved silently and slowly through the set, not a note or visual was out of place.
The core ensemble of four characters, played by Marina Prior, Antoinette Halloran, Adam Murphy and Alexander Lewis, were played beautifully with enough regret and sadness to enable us to look past their flaws, self-deceit and callous characteristics. Sondheim excels at the sad songs, think ‘Losing my mind’ and ‘Could I leave you’. And even the comic numbers, such as ‘The God-Why-Don’t-You-Love-Me Blues’ and ‘Live, Laugh, Love’ spend more time on the darker side of human emotions than on the funny side.
The show is a tremendous vehicle for a range of mature-er characters, a celebration of doyennes of the stage with songs like ‘I’m still here’, ‘Broadway baby’ and ‘Ah Paris’. The ensemble featured Anne Wood, Rhonda Burchmore, Colette Mann, Geraldene Morrow, Evelyn Krape and Merlyn Quaife. Incredible! What a star-studded line up. Each one lit up the stage, and dare I say, stole the show, one at a time.
The show is clever and sad. Complete with a farcical show within a show at the end, ‘Loveland’, with exaggerated costumes and fake smiles. It’s a wonderful way to get the entire cast on stage and tie everything together. We’re reminded this is a show about a theatre troupe.
Conductor and musical director Phoebe Briggs expertly navigated the orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick to support the action on stage and it veered from the dark and threatening, to the ridiculous and flashy. Rhonda Burchmore’s closing dance number complete with tap dancing and kicks drew cheers from the audience.
The younger members of the cast acquitted themselves with great panache, particularly Mia Simonette, Taao Buchanan, Jacob Steen and Jack Van Staveren, who shadowed their older characters on stage and ended up dancing with them in a poignant visual moment.
I’m sure this is why Follies has been such a hit for all these years. It’s theatre meant to delight and entertain, but it’s not set in a fantasy world on stage of pumpkins turned into carriages. It’s real life being played out, about lives and real life reflections. But at least, Sondheim finds ways in music and language to make us laugh about it.
Good times and bum times, I’ve seen ’em all
And, my dear, I’m still here
Plush velvet sometimes
Sometimes just pretzels and beer, but I’m here
Photo credit: Jeff Busby
