FOLLIES Announces Initial Broadway Casting and Dates

 

Bernadette Peters, Jan Maxwell, Danny Burstein and Ron Raines will reprise their roles in the Broadway transfer of the Kennedy Center’s acclaimed production of James Goldman and Stephen Sondheim’s FOLLIES, directed by Eric Schaeffer, with choreography by Warren Carlyle and music direction by James Moore.

FOLLIES will begin previews on Sunday, August 7, 2011 and opens on Monday, September 12, 2011 at the Marquis Theatre (1535 Broadway).  Tickets go on sale through www.Ticketmaster.com online or at 877-250-2929, and in person at the Marquis Theatre box office on Tuesday, July 5.

With a 28 piece orchestra, FOLLIES will feature a cast of 41 and star two-time Tony Award-winner Bernadette Peters as Sally Durant Plummer, four-time Tony Award nominee Jan Maxwell as Phyllis Rogers Stone, two-time Tony Award nominee Danny Burstein as Buddy Plummer and three-time Emmy Award nominee Ron Raines as Benjamin Stone. Other members of the Broadway company will be announced shortly.

FOLLIES features scenic design by Derek McLane, costume design by Gregg Barnes, lighting design by Natasha Katz, sound design by Kai Harada and the original orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick.

When former members of the “Weismann Follies” reunite on the eve of their theater’s demolition, two couples remember their past and face the harsher realities of the present. Reminiscing of their younger selves and the years gone by, the crumbling theater brings back memories for both couples of good times and bad. FOLLIES echoes the songs, exuberance and romance of the vaudeville days between the two World Wars. The score features some of Stephen Sondheim’s best-known songs, including “Broadway Baby,” “I’m Still Here,” “Too Many Mornings,” “Could I Leave You?” and “Losing My Mind.”

FOLLIES – featuring a book by James Goldman and a score by Stephen Sondheim – was originally produced on Broadway by Harold Prince with orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick. It opened on April 4, 1971 at the Winter Garden Theatre where it ran for 522 performances and received seven Tony Awards, including Best Original Score. FOLLIES played a limited engagement at the Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater opening on May 7 and closing with sold-out houses on June 19, 2011.