United Kingdom Sondheim, Follies: Company of Follies and Orchestra of Northern Ireland Opera / Greg Arrowsmith (conductor), Grand Opera House, Belfast, 13.9.2025. (RB)
This glittering new production of Follies from Northern Ireland Opera features a host of West End stars together with home-grown talent from across the island of Ireland. Northern Ireland Opera have a strong track record with Sondheim given their previous productions of Sweeney Todd and Into the Woods. This new production features outstanding song and dance numbers and winningly brings Sondheim’s masterpiece to life. This is the first time Follies has been staged in either Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland.
The plot centres around a Broadway theatre in 1971 which is scheduled for demolition. The theatre was previously home to a revue known as the Ziegfield Follies. The evening follows a reunion of the Weismann Girls who performed in the period between the two World Wars. The four principal cast members together with some of the former showgirls perform old numbers from the 1920s and 1930s accompanied by the ghosts of their younger selves. Sondheim’s score is a pastiche of musical styles with echoes of Franz Lehár, Irving Berlin, George Gershwin and Jerome Kern as well as Vaudeville and vintage showtunes from Broadway.
Cameron Menzies’s split-level set was dark and spare, consisting of a stairway, a few chairs, a mirrored globe and other bric-a-brac. It conjured up perfectly the dank and dilapidated theatre where the action takes place. The female cast members all wore colourful and eye-catching costumes that were appropriate for the period. Jake Wiltshire’s clever use of lighting underscored the theatrical nature of the big set piece numbers and kept the audience’s attention on where it needed to be. In the zany fantastical Loveland section in the second act, the dark theatre backdrop was replaced with florid pink pastel drawings and outrageous camp outfits for the cast.
Menzies did an excellent job integrating the various elements of the drama. The interactions between the main participants and their younger ghosts were skilfully choreographed. The four main characters were given space to explore difficult and painful emotions while the big set piece numbers had all the razzle dazzle of Broadway.
Anna-Jane Casey, Annette McLaughlin, Mark Dugdale and Alasdair Harvey were all impressive in the four main roles. All four were excellent in navigating the complex and difficult dynamics in their respective relationships. Casey’s rendition of ‘Losing my Mind’ was one of the highlights of the evening and soulfully conjured up a sense of loss, shattered dreams and heartbreak. She joined forces with Harvey to give a luminous performance of ‘Too Many Mornings’ at the end of the first act. Dugdale brought a wonderful rambunctious energy to the vaudeville routine in the Loveland section which he performed with wit and brio. McLaughlin captured the sophisticated, spiky and sharp-witted Phyllis to perfection. I particularly enjoyed her performance of ‘The Story of Lucy and Jessie’ with the back-up male dancers. I wondered if there was scope to mine a little more of the very painful feelings Sondheim was exploring in this musical. While the drama worked well on its own terms, I would have liked to see a little more of the emotional vulnerability of the characters.
The rest of the cast were firing on all cylinders and did a terrific job in the big set piece show numbers. The ‘Rain on the Roof’/’Ah, Paris!’/’Broadway Baby’ montage gathered in pace and momentum culminating in Allison Hardman’s brassy and spirited performance of ‘Broadway Baby’. Jacqueline Dankworth brought a raw emotional honesty to ‘I’m Still Here’ and really packed a punch in the final section of the song. Lesley Garrett and Petra Wells (who played Heidi and Young Heidi respectively) both gave a radiant, gorgeous performance of ‘One More Kiss’. The coup de théâtre was ‘Who’s That Woman’ which involved all the showgirls and their younger selves joining forces to perform a big tap dance routine. Despite the age gap, there was no holding back from any of the performers and it succeeded in bringing the house down.
Greg Arrowsmith and the Orchestra of Northern Ireland Opera did a magnificent job bringing the Sondheim/Tunick score to life. They adapted to the different musical styles of the score moving seamlessly from Jazz and Blues to dance music to light operetta to soulful touch songs. The sensual saxophone solos in ‘Losing my Mind’ were particularly impressive. In this work the music is pivotal in propelling the action forward and Arrowsmith and the orchestra provided excellent support to the singers with well-timed entries. My only quibble was around the balance of sound as there were a couple of occasions where the orchestra drowned out the singers.
This production is another triumph for Northern Ireland Opera. Bravo to all the performers and to the production team!
Click here to read a conversation about the production with the Artistic Director of Northern Ireland Opera, Cameron Menzies, the Musical Director, Greg Arrowsmith, and Anna-Jane Casey (‘Sally Durant Plummer’)
Robert Beattie
Featured Image: Petra Wells (Young Heidi) and Lesley Garrett (Heidi Schiller) @ Neil Harrison Photography
Production:
Director – Cameron Menzies
Set design – Niall McKeever
Costume Co-design – Gillian Lennox
Lighting design – Jake Wiltshire
Sound design – Andy Graham
Choreographer – Jennifer Rooney
Cast:
Sally Durant Plummer – Anna-Jane Casey
Phyllis Rogers Stone – Annette McLaughlin
Buddy Plummer – Mark Dugdale
Benjamin Stone – Alasdair Harvey
Young Salle – Brigid Shine
Young Phyllis – Anna Violet
Young Buddy – Recce McGowan
Young Ben – Chris Kane
Carlotta Campion – Jacqueline Dankworth
Stella Deems – Pippa Winslow
Hattie Walker – Allison Harding
Solange la Fitte – Rachel Stanley
Emily Whitman – Christina Nelson
Theodore Whitman – Richard Croxford
Heidi Schiller – Lesley Garrett
Young Heidi – Petra Wells
Dimitri Weismann – Marty Maguire
Roscoe – Darren Franklin
Dee Dee West – Colette Lennon Dougal
Sandra Crane – Orla Mullan
Margie – Maeve Byrne