Transport Group brings a one-night-only concert of Stephen Sondheim and James Goldman's Follies to Carnegie Hall June 20. The evening, part of the Off-Broadway company's Anne L. Bernstein Concert Series, features an all-star cast directed by Transport Group Artistic Director Jack Cummings III and music directed by Joey Chancey.
That cast includes Kate Baldwin, Julie Benko, Mikaela Bennett, Michael Berresse, Alexandra Billings, Klea Blackhurst, Lauren Blackman, Harolyn Blackwell, Stephen Bogardus, Julianna Brown, Len Cariou, Carolee Carmello, Jim Caruso, Jessica Chambers, Nikki Renée Daniels, Mamie Duncan-Gibbs, Christine Ebersole, Hannah Elless, Katie Finneran, Santino Fontana, Alexander Gemignani, Christian Mark Gibbs, Miguel Gil, Ruth Gottschall, Olivia Elease Hardy, Grey Henson, Fernell Hogan, Jennifer Holliday, JoAnn M. Hunter, Candice Katakeyama, Isabel Keating, Marc Kudisch, Beth Leavel, Adriane Lenox, Norm Lewis, Alicia Lundgren, Abby Matsusaka, Ryan McCartan, Dana Moore, Erin N. Moore, Michele Pawk, Margo Sappington, Thom Sesma, Barbara Walsh, Nina White, Jacob Keith Watson, and Karen Ziemba. Casting is by Merri Sugarman.
Original cast member Kurt Peterson and theatre historian Ted Chapin (who served as a gofer on the original production as a college intern) will host the evening, which features Jonathan Tunick's original, 30-piece orchestrations and selections of Michael Bennett's original choreography, restaged by original company member Mary Jane Houdina. Hannah Oren is the evening's creative producer.
Set in a decaying theatre on the eve of its demolishing, Follies centers on a reunion of former follies girls who reunite to relive their past, and rehash old wounds and regrets. Sondheim’s Tony Award-winning score, a mix of pastiche and complex, character-driven material features “I'm Still Here,” “Broadway Baby,” “Losing My Mind,” “The Right Girl,” and “Too Many Mornings.” The original production opened on Broadway in 1971, which was followed by revivals in 2001 and 2011. A major London revival at London's National Theatre was filmed and broadcast in movie theatres in 2017.
Transport Group's concert is presented by special arrangement with Cameron Mackintosh. The London producer gave the musical its West End premiere in 1987, a production that made dramatic changes to Goldman's book and Sondheim's score. Those changes, which generally gave the work a more upbeat tone, have never again been authorized for use.
The concert is also being presented by special arrangement with Music Theatre International.
Previous presentations in Transport’s Anne L. Bernstein Concert Series include Nine; Rodgers & Hammerstein: A Broadway Celebration; Sweet Charity; Promises, Promises; Man of La Mancha; Baby; Once Upon a Mattress; The Music Man; Peter Pan; and A Man of No Importance.
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