The Others

 

OK, I’m not going to tell the plot of the Nicole Kidman film, “The Others.” Like that film, though, a ghost story is involved.

In recent blogs, I have focused on the principals and painted broad-stroke sketches of Sally, Phyllis, Ben and Buddy. In older blogs, I framed the discussion of the piece as a whole, looking at major dramatic structures girding this musical. Follies is powerful in its breadth and depth. We have the memories in the theater as the ghosts and these living memories materialize when they are emotionally summoned. This surreal world colors the story and characters.

But we also have the others – the other real people – the former follies girls, their husbands, and all those who participate in this reunion at the Weissman Theatre. In other words, we have the supporting characters in the story. These ladies and gentlemen deepen the story of Follies and serve as dramatic foils to the principals. What’s even better is that these individuals are rich characters in and of themselves. They help drive home the point that remembering is not, in and of itself, a dangerous and destructive exercise, but can be one of joy and reflection. This point differs from what I have stressed in past blogs, with the flawed remembering of our principals.

If done in context and done honestly, remembering helps deepen who we are and allows us to experience satisfaction in remembering the past. Follies chorus girls of yesteryear come back to relish the memory that they were the toast of Broadway as the Weissman girls. Their lives have taken them in different directions, and in many cases, away from the life of the theater. Nonetheless, they can come back to this night with joy, excitement and anticipation of reliving their youth for this one last kiss.

I really like these broads. Some are sweet, others dignified, others ballsy, but all are excited to be in this theater for this reunion. When they reunite, they relive the past by singing and remembering their great moments on stage. In nearly every case, these ‘memory numbers’ are sung with pride, joy, and contentment. As much as Sally remembers the past incorrectly, Ben tries not to remember, Buddy is forced to remember, and Phyllis knows she must remember, the others remember with abandon. Isn’t that the point of a reunion? The others embrace the past for they have not forgotten or distorted it. It really is one last chance to be with those that remember you as you really were.

Let’s take a look at some of them. There is Carlotta Campion, a slightly older contemporary of Sally and Phyllis, who, unlike her fellow follies girls, made her way out of the showgirl chorus line and has had somewhat successful show business life. She’s brash and straightforward and has no illusions of where she has been and what she wants out of show business and out of life, especially if it is a young man. Sexy, candid, and direct, she is one dame that is not deluded. Her “I’m Still Here” is one of the best songs about show business around.

There are married show business couples at this reunion. These performers met in the theater and their lives have centered on the stage. Seventy-ish Emily Whitman is quite a bit older than Carlotta, Sally and Phyllis. She met her ‘doughboy’ husband, Theodore, after the Great War and performed with him as a husband and wife team in the Weissman Follies, and they were known for their patter song, “Rain on the Roof.”

Vincent and Vanessa were the featured ballroom couple of the Weissman Follies. They married and now run a ballroom dance studio. When dancing at the reunion with the other couples, they are transported into a memory of dancing together on the Weissman Theatre stage and summon their younger selves to join them in the “Bolero d’Amour.”

And we also meet the Deems – Stella and Max. Stella was a former headliner in a Follies tap number. She met her husband Max and they became a theater comedy team in the 1940’s, eventually leaving show business for a simpler life. Funny and brash, she is a real broad who shoots from the hip, and though she’s not in the theater anymore, there’s no question that she was. It would come as no surprise that she rallies her fellow chorines at this reunion into trying recreate her signature number, “Who’s that Woman?”

Of course there are the older chorus girls – those that are now well into their 60’s, 70’s and even 80. The charming and vivacious Solange La Fitte is chic and fashionable, and loves to be the center of attention. She has gone on to a successful career in cosmetics, but no one can forget her ‘ooh-la-la’ number, “Ah, Paris” – a song that evokes the spirit of the 1920’s Parisian cabaret acts of the Lido or Les Folies Bergère. A fellow contemporary is Hattie Walker, but Hattie is quite different from Solange. Down-to-earth, obviously tough, and utterly no-nonsense, she is the one that looks the least likely now to have ever been a Weissman girl. Nonetheless, you can see that show girl appear in her when she sings one of the all-time favorites from Follies, “Broadway Baby.”

The grand dame of the night is former operetta ingénue Heidi Schiller. At 80, she is regal and delicate, but there is no doubt that she was the star that served as a muse to such operetta geniuses as Franz Lehar and Sigmund Romberg. Her rendition of “One Last Kiss” with her younger self underlines the reckoning that takes place when time has passed.

Older men come back to this reunion too. Dimitri Weissman, the former producer and impresario, organizes this event and posits the reason and hopes for the evening. The ever lovable Roscoe – the Dick Powell tenor of the Follies – is here too to chime in the evening. Willie Wheeler gives us one of his trademark cartwheels. The husbands of the Weissman girls are here to support and honor their wives.

So what do all these characters have in common? They come to this night to cherish who they were. They accept who they were, who they are, and their journey in life. Unlike the principals, they have integrated their past into their present. This night is a joy, not a nightmare. The actors playing ‘the others’ must suffuse the story with their points of view to make Follies work. Their presence is needed to foil and balance the journey of Ben, Buddy, Sally, and Phyllis, and ensure that Follies is more than a screed.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Have a safe and wonderful holiday.

 

For additional information about the production itself, go to The Arlington Players website: www.thearlingtonplayers.org.

If you have questions for the director, feel free to respond to the blog or email him at folliesdirector@gmail.com. Responses to the blog may be posted publicly; email correspondence will be private.