Ghosts Of The Past

As you may have noted, I have been considering ghosts of late. October, with its decay, longer nights, & indirect light seems to invite visitors from the other side & the month ends on the day that the dead walk the earth. I have had more than one encounter with an apparition & I will share the best tales later in the month.

Quite the segue in to musical theatre... when I reflect on ghosts, I am brought to my second favorite musical- Stephen Sondheim’s Follies. Like my favorite musical- Gypsy, Follies has the milieu of theatre & show biz & they both share the conceit of a score with pastiche musical numbers in the style of the era, done as performances for an unseen audience & more emotional "book" songs that move the story forward. They share the tongue tripping, thrilling lyrics of Stephen Sondheim &  each has a score of intense lusciousness. Gypsy & Follies are both propelled by "If I had only..." “what if”, “I should have” & “why not me?”

Follies' themes are the rawness of youth & a life in review when you over 50: dangerous, desperate, decisive despair as an undercurrent to an everyday life, swirled together in the sweet & sour of nostalgia & certain cynicism, add to this a dash the real reek of regret. It's perfect for this season  it has got ghosts, skeletons bursting out of closets & a haunted theatre.

James Goldman's book focuses on a reunion of former showgirls & performers who were featured in various editions of a musical revue not unlike the Ziegfeld Follies, which flourished on Broadway between WW1 & WW2. A party takes place in a dilapidated theatre awaiting the wrecking ball. The theatre is populated with specters of showgirls from the past, oblivious the party.

Follies uses the stories of 2 unhappily married couples: rich & preividged Phyllis & Ben & the middle-class Sally & Buddy as they return to the theater where their unhappy romances began.

Each married the wrong person, or think they did. What's worse, all 4 have never recovered from their youthful dreams of love & romance. The title's double meaning is clear.

Phyillis in Act One of Follies: “Ben & I don't do things anymore, we say things. When we are young, there is no limit to the roles we hope to play. Star, mother, hostess. I wanted to do it all but I learned to choose. & suddenly our selections are chiseled in marble."

Also at the reunion are the younger selves of the characters, ghosts from an era when everything seemed possible. Follies is about the past & present having a pile-up, hopes & dreams colliding with reality. So much for aging gracefully. All 4 principals end the show in a nervous collapse of bitterness & disappointment, but with a slap of self recoginition.

At the end of Follies, Phyllis says to Ben: “Come on, let's go home," But the ghosts stick around just a little longer.

The original Broadway cast album is always been mentioned as problematic, chopping much of the luscious score to little samples & medleys or leaving out numbers entirely, but since it was my first experience with the show, it remains a favorite. I was in a production of Side By Side By Sondheim in the mid-1980s & I was fortunate enough to sing Too Many Mornings from Follies.

Follies is being presented on Broadway this season, in a well reviewed production of The Kennedy Center’s lavish & landmark new staging starring Bernadette Peters as Sally. My heart breaks that I won’t have a chance to see it. A double cast album will be released in November. It will be the first time in a long time that I purchase a CD instead of a download.

Ben:

Too many mornings

Waking & pretending I reach for you,

Thousands of mornings

Dreaming of my girl.

All that time wasted,

Merely passing through,

Time I could have spent

So content

Wasting time with you.

Too many mornings

Wishing that the room might be filled with you.

Morning to morning,

Turning into days.

All the days that I thought would never end,

All the nights with another day to spend.

All those times I'd look up to see

Sally standing at the door

Sally moving to the bed,

Sally resting in my arms

With her head against my head.

SALLY:

If you don't kiss me, Ben, I think I'm going to die.

How I planned

What I'd wear tonight &

When should I get here,

How should I find you,

Where I'd stand,

What I'd say in case you didn't remember.

How I'd remind you...

You remembered.

& my fears were wrong!

Was it ever real?

Did I ever love you this much?

Did we ever feel

So happy then?

BEN:

It was always real

SALLY:

I should have worn green.

& I've always loved you this much.

I wore green the last time.

We can always feel

The time I...

this happy...

was happy...

BOTH:

Too many mornings

Wasted in pretending I reach for you.

How many mornings

Are there still to come?

How much time can we hope that there will be?

Not much time, but it's time enough for me.

If there's time to look up & see

Sally standing at the door,

Sally moving to the bed,

Sally resting in your/my arms,

With your head against my head.

Stephen Sondheim
1970