Is Follies Bound for the Silver Screen? | Playbill

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News Is Follies Bound for the Silver Screen? Just as the film of "Sweeney Todd" is about to open in cinemas nationwide, comes word that another Stephen Sondheim musical may be headed for the silver screen.

The New York Times reports that a film version of Follies, the Sondheim musical that features a book by James Goldman, is currently in development. Attached to the project are Academy Award-winning director Sam Mendes and Emmy-winning writer Aaron Sorkin, who is currently represented on Broadway with The Farnsworth Invention. Neither casting nor a time table for the film has been announced, although Sondheim told the Times he would be willing to allow his score to be altered for a film. Sondheim also suggested that Company would make the stage-to-screen leap well. Follies concerns a group of former "Follies" stars who return to the site of their former glory, the Weismann Theatre, which is about to be demolished. Old wounds resurface as two Follies stars (Phyllis and Sally) and their husbands (Benjamin and Buddy) reassess their lives and what could have been.

Follies, with songs by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Goldman, was originally directed by Harold Prince on Broadway in 1971. Since then, it has received a legendary star-filled concert at Lincoln Center in 1985, a Roundabout revival on Broadway directed by Matthew Warchus in 2001, a City Center Encores! production in 2007 and numerous regional mountings, including a Paper Mill Playhouse engagement that featured Donna McKechnie and the late Ann Miller.

Among the show's many song titles are "Beautiful Girls," "Don't Look at Me," "Waiting for the Girls Upstairs," "Rain on the Roof," "Ah, Paris!," "Broadway Baby," "The Road You Didn't Take," "Bolero d'Amour," "In Buddy's Eyes," "Who's That Woman?," "I'm Still Here," "Too Many Mornings," "The Right Girl," "One More Kiss," "Could I Leave You?," "Loveland," "You're Gonna Love Tomorrow," "Love Will See Us Through," "The God-Why-Don't-You-Love-Me Blues," "Losing My Mind," "The Story of Lucie and Jessie" and "Live, Laugh, Love."

 
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