Playbill has confirmed that the National Theatre's revival of Stephen Sondheim and James Goldman's Follies will return to the National in 2019. Casting and dates will be announced at a later time.
Though not yet confirmed, it is expected that a cast album will be released in the coming months.
News of the production's return comes on the heels of two wins at London's Critics' Circle Theatre Awards, for Best Director (Dominic Cooke) and Best Designer (Vicki Mortimer).
Set in a decaying theatre on the eve of its demolishing, Follies centers on a reunion of former follies girls who reunite to relive their past, and rehash old wounds and regrets.
The production began previews August 22, 2017, and opened September 7, running through January 3, 2018. NTLive broadcast the revival to movie theatres worldwide beginning November 16.
The National's revival was the first fully staged London production to use the original Broadway version of the work; Follies' first London production in 1987 used a dramatically revised book and song list that presented a more hopeful story. Director Cooke also revisited early drafts of Goldman's book to restore dialogue and scenes unseen since the show's 1971 Broadway premiere, along with returning to the work's one-act structure.
READ: How NT Live Delivered a Follies Unlike Any Other We’ve Seen Before
Sondheim’s Tony Award-winning score, a mix of pastiche and complex, character-driven material features “I'm Still Here,” “Broadway Baby,” “Losing My Mind,” “The Right Girl,” and “Too Many Mornings.”
The National's revival starred four-time Olivier Award winner Imelda Staunton as Sally, Olivier and Obie winner Janie Dee as Phyllis, three-time Olivier winner Philip Quast as Ben, Peter Forbes as Buddy, and two-time Olivier winner Tracie Bennett as Carlotta Campion. Bill Deamer served as choreographer.
The cast also featured Di Botcher as Hattie Walker, Dawn Hope as Stella Deems, Geraldine Fitzgerald as Solange Lafitte, Josephine Barstow as Heidi Schiller, Norma Attallah as Emily Whitman, Billy Boyle as Theodore Whitman, Gary Raymond as Dimitri Weismann, Bruce Graham as Roscoe, Alex Young as Young Sally, Zizi Strallen as Young Phyllis, Adam Rhys-Charles as Young Ben, and Fred Haig as Young Buddy.
