Everything Was Possible: The Birth of the Musical Follies (Applause Books) by Ted Chapin Page A
Authors: Ted Chapin
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made a first distribution to investors was “paying off $78,000 it had borrowed.”)
It was easy to sense Hal’s producer-versus-director conflict on a daily basis. One day when Ingram Ash, the head of the show’s advertising agency, brought down a series of photographs and layouts for Hal’s approval, he tried to talk Hal into leasing the large half-block billboard above the marquee of the Winter Garden Theater, where the show would play in New York. Ash had a rendering of how it might look, but Hal rejected it as an extravagant expense. Everyone on the support team thought he should take the plunge, but he saw it through the prudent producer’s eyes and didn’t want to take it on. (He was eventually talked into it.)
On the second day, Michael began work on staging the Prologue. Hal would sit in whenever he could, since what they were creating was a kind of mosaic—people arriving at this ghost-filled theater for the party, greeting each other, sensing the ghosts, hearing bits and pieces of shows from the past. The Prologue was to change three times before the New York opening, each version fascinating in its own right. It had been decided that there would be no overture. The house curtain would be down as the audience filed in. Once the house lights dimmed, the curtain was to rise on the half-lit set of the crumbling Weismann Theater after some flashes of lightning. The Prologue set the ambiance of the scene before anyone arrived for the party. We would discover—in some way yet to be determined—the ghosts of showgirls haunting the theater, lurking in the shadows, ready to do the show, only the show wasn’t happening anymore. It was to include specific memories from the days of the Follies, although what memories those were or how they would be manifested had yet to be decided. Slowly, the reality of the present would become apparent and the ghost figures would recede into the background, only to appear again when conjured up by the events of the play. The characters would begin to arrive, and each would react differently to the surroundings, as usually happens at reunions, only this time, the feelings would be verbalized and, in some instances, physicalized. When Solange LaFitte (Fifi D’Orsay) arrives, for example, she hears her old applause echoing in the past, and she brightens to its sound. Hattie Walker (Ethel Shutta), ever the pragmatist, enters directly with her black-and-white ghost figure shadowing her every move. The wheelchair-bound Heidi Schiller (Justine Johnston) is greeted by the swirling movement of her “waltz.” We could get glimpses into the people they were today before we learned about who they had been in the days of the Follies. When Stella Deems (Mary McCarty) is announced by the Major-Domo of the party by her maiden name, she has no reaction; her husband reaches out to remind her of her previous life. John Berkman, the arranger of the dance music, sat at the piano and created the arrangement as Michael worked, basing everything on elements and variations of the songs in the show. It was moody, atmospheric, and eerie. Each day more characters were introduced, the staging got more specific, and the music related more to the characters. Sometimes the ghost figures would take over and influence the music with specific references to the past. On the day when Michael finally got to the end of the Prologue, Hal said, “Oh, well, good. It’s an opening.” And Michael replied, “And what do you know? I don’t have a clutch in my stomach.”
Another focus early in the week was “Waiting for the Girls Upstairs.” In some ways this song was the key to the whole show. Not only had it been one of the first songs written, but its evolution paralleled the evolution of The Girls Upstairs into Follies. Steve felt it; of all the songs, this was the one he seemed most anxious about. By Monday afternoon it was in presentable enough shape to be run for Hal, Steve, and Jim Goldman. Halfway through,
It was easy to sense Hal’s producer-versus-director conflict on a daily basis. One day when Ingram Ash, the head of the show’s advertising agency, brought down a series of photographs and layouts for Hal’s approval, he tried to talk Hal into leasing the large half-block billboard above the marquee of the Winter Garden Theater, where the show would play in New York. Ash had a rendering of how it might look, but Hal rejected it as an extravagant expense. Everyone on the support team thought he should take the plunge, but he saw it through the prudent producer’s eyes and didn’t want to take it on. (He was eventually talked into it.)
On the second day, Michael began work on staging the Prologue. Hal would sit in whenever he could, since what they were creating was a kind of mosaic—people arriving at this ghost-filled theater for the party, greeting each other, sensing the ghosts, hearing bits and pieces of shows from the past. The Prologue was to change three times before the New York opening, each version fascinating in its own right. It had been decided that there would be no overture. The house curtain would be down as the audience filed in. Once the house lights dimmed, the curtain was to rise on the half-lit set of the crumbling Weismann Theater after some flashes of lightning. The Prologue set the ambiance of the scene before anyone arrived for the party. We would discover—in some way yet to be determined—the ghosts of showgirls haunting the theater, lurking in the shadows, ready to do the show, only the show wasn’t happening anymore. It was to include specific memories from the days of the Follies, although what memories those were or how they would be manifested had yet to be decided. Slowly, the reality of the present would become apparent and the ghost figures would recede into the background, only to appear again when conjured up by the events of the play. The characters would begin to arrive, and each would react differently to the surroundings, as usually happens at reunions, only this time, the feelings would be verbalized and, in some instances, physicalized. When Solange LaFitte (Fifi D’Orsay) arrives, for example, she hears her old applause echoing in the past, and she brightens to its sound. Hattie Walker (Ethel Shutta), ever the pragmatist, enters directly with her black-and-white ghost figure shadowing her every move. The wheelchair-bound Heidi Schiller (Justine Johnston) is greeted by the swirling movement of her “waltz.” We could get glimpses into the people they were today before we learned about who they had been in the days of the Follies. When Stella Deems (Mary McCarty) is announced by the Major-Domo of the party by her maiden name, she has no reaction; her husband reaches out to remind her of her previous life. John Berkman, the arranger of the dance music, sat at the piano and created the arrangement as Michael worked, basing everything on elements and variations of the songs in the show. It was moody, atmospheric, and eerie. Each day more characters were introduced, the staging got more specific, and the music related more to the characters. Sometimes the ghost figures would take over and influence the music with specific references to the past. On the day when Michael finally got to the end of the Prologue, Hal said, “Oh, well, good. It’s an opening.” And Michael replied, “And what do you know? I don’t have a clutch in my stomach.”
Another focus early in the week was “Waiting for the Girls Upstairs.” In some ways this song was the key to the whole show. Not only had it been one of the first songs written, but its evolution paralleled the evolution of The Girls Upstairs into Follies. Steve felt it; of all the songs, this was the one he seemed most anxious about. By Monday afternoon it was in presentable enough shape to be run for Hal, Steve, and Jim Goldman. Halfway through,
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