Girls, "Miss Saigon" Was Not The Only Musical Inspired By A Photograph!!!!!

Now, I have a better idea, darlings, of why this more recent show popped into my head!!!!! Forty years ago, one of the musical stage's classics, "Follies" (one more day till I go, loves, and you better believe I will be wearing pink, in honor of Dorothy Collins!!!) was inspired by the photo you see of Gloria Swanson standing in the rubble of New York's once famed Roxy Theatre!!!! So, history has repeated itself in a way; the difference being the first time out resulted in a classic, the second in, well, a commercial success, but hardly a classic.

But let's talk about "Follies" a moment. Not having seen the original (I WAS old enough--16--at the time, but as a suburban neophhyte, my parents did not want me to go to New York alone, where my then purity might be impugned!!!!!), I can live with the fact that no production will live up to it, but, having missed the Paper Mill production (with Donna McKechnie, no less, as Sally), let us hope this one outdoes the Roundabout, which, despite Blythe Danner, Judith Ivey, Polly Bergen and several others, had lackluster work from the men (Treat Williams and Gregory Harrison, who should know better) and a Loveland sequence that would have been GREAT in community theater, but did not cut it on Broadway!!!!!

The word I have heard on this "Follies" is good, but I worry. Bernadette Peters is playing Sally (which is MY role, darlings, not just because of the pink and the songs, but because Dorothy Collins and I share the same birthday, November 18. Or, at least we did, when she was alive!!!) which has me worried. I know Bernadette will look great and nail the songs, but she is one of those performers, like BARBRA, that, no matter what she does, she is always....Bernadette. Her charm got her through "Annie Get Your Gun," but she really wasn't Annie, so I hope she fares better here; for "Follies" to work, you have to believe Sally's plight and desperation.

So, we shall see tomorrow evening, and you know, girls, I will give you a full report on all I see. And, let me tell you, the "Who's That Woman?" number had better blow the roof off the theater!!!!! If it doesn't, the director is going to hear from me!!!!!!

One photo inspires a fave, the other a redux. Let us hope this "Follies" meets with its mavens' approval. There are a lot of us out there, and if this does not come up to snuff, I hope the creators of this realize the danger they are in!!!!!! Attacks from screaming Theater Queens and Sondheim fanatics, both!!!!!!

And I will lead the way, darlings!!!!! Yonduh lies muh fathuh's castle on duh hill!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!