There’s no escaping nostalgia: The 1987 London version of Follies

The Follies that opened in London’s West End in 1987 was very different from the 1971 Broadway original – James Goldman had completely rewritten his book and Stephen Sondheim had replaced or changed several of his songs. But although the West End production ran longer than the one in New York and won every important theatre award in Britain, the 1987 version has not been produced or revived anywhere as later productions all went back to the original book. This article provides a detailed comparison between the two libretti and analyses changes in character, plot and structure in order to judge how far the claims that the London show was ‘more optimistic’ and ‘less surreal’ are justifiable. It also investigates whether some of the rewrites that bring the London Follies closer to a traditional book musical may have been instigated and necessitated by the show’s original reception in New York as well as by the reputation the 1971 staging had gained throughout the years. The original production, swiftly hailed as ‘legendary’, still is an inevitable reference point for every new mounting of Follies while the London version is usually seen as no more than another folly on the thorny path to a workable version of this musical classic. Such a comparative evaluation is partly due to the very same nostalgia that the show exposes as both foolish and dangerous.