GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Cathy Foy plays Sally Durant Plummer in a scene from the Diamond Head Theatre production of "Follies." It is one of the finest performances of Foy's local stage career.
Accomplished cast
lifts dispiriting plot
"Follies" continues at 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 4 p.m. Sundays, through June 8 at Diamond Head Theatre. Tickets are $10 to $40. Call 733-0274
If every dark cloud has a silver lining, then Wisa D'Orso is the sterling in Diamond Head Theatre's expansive production of "Follies." It isn't that the rest of the cast lacks talent or that production values aren't up to DHT's usual high standards, but with the exception of D'Orso's two big numbers, "Follies" is such an extremely depressing look at the ravages of aging and the horrors of living an empty, loveless life that industrial-strength antidepressants should be sold at intermission.
D'Orso (as faded star Carlotta Campion) makes "I'm Still Here" a zesty expression of defiance. Campion is a survivor who takes life on her terms and who relishes each small victory, and D'Orso delivers the number with such complete success that composer Stephen Sondheim could have written it with her in mind.
D'Orso brings the same defiant effervescence to the one bright moment in Act 2. Carlotta brushes off a distraught Benjamin Stone with the observation that although men in general are pretty much interchangeable, the man who's waiting for her at home is 26 -- roughly half Ben's age and, we'll guess, 40 years younger than she is. For Carlotta, age is nothing but a number!
Except for D'Orso's big numbers, "Follies" is one dark and depressing "cloud" of a story.
The year is 1971. Dimitri Weissman, producer of the Weissman Follies from 1919 to 1941, has invited the surviving members of his extravaganzas to a reunion in the crumbling Weissman Theatre. The building is to be destroyed in the morning, and this is their last chance "to stumble through a song or two" on the stage where they once were stars.
At first it's like a high school reunion. Spouses are introduced. Performers trade stories about the days when they were young and beautiful, and tentatively work their way though their old song-and-dance routines. Then things get ugly.
Sally Durant Plummer (Cathy Foy) is there to see Ben Stone (Bob Frederick), who dumped her and married her roommate, Phyllis Rogers Stone (Devon Guard), during the war. Sally married Buddy Plummer (Peter Kamealoha Clark) on the rebound. Both couples have empty marriages. None have come to terms with the past, and Sally is attending the event over Buddy's objections.
It's all downhill as the four start reliving the days when Sally and Phyllis were beautiful young showgirls and Ben and Buddy used to wait for them after the show. By the time they've finished dissecting their loveless marriages, empty hearts and wasted lives, there's little reason to accept the final scene as anything other than a contrived "feel good" ending tacked on to a modern American tragedy.
Pop a pill or two, or order a double, and enjoy the performances. Foy, better known as a singer than an actor, gives a career-best performance as a fragile woman in love with an illusion -- it's a Scarlet O'Hara/ Ashley Wilkes relationship, but Sally lacks Scarlet's survival skills. Foy plays the role beautifully and sings "Loving My Mind" with a power and intensity that are absolutely chilling.
And who knew that Clark, who created such a brilliant character study of Colm Primrose earlier this year in "Sea Marks," was such a accomplished song-and-dance man? Clark establishes his credentials with "The Right Girl" but takes it deftly over the top in "The God-Why-Don't-You-Love-Me Blues." The song is a comic romp, but Clark reveals the pathos in it as well.
Guard makes a welcome return to the local stage as Phyllis. Sondheim may not have intended "Could I Leave You?" to be Phyllis' biggest number, but Guard makes it one of the most dramatic and acid-etched performances. Guard also shines in a comic interlude with James Berger Jr., in which Phyllis responds to Ben's pursuit of Sally by going after one of the waiters. Berger is a hoot in a role that suggests playwright James Goldman's low opinion of 20-something men.
Frederick plays perfectly as a man who has achieved wealth and social success only to discover too late that he lacks the capacity to love.
There are strong secondary performances as well. Nanilisa Pascua (as Stella Deems) makes "Who's That Woman?" a striking musical number and a stunning comment on the impact of aging, and Lisa Konove (Solange La Fitte) stands out in a comic role as a stereotypical French singer.
Kirsten Dixon, Candes Meijide Gentry, Terry Howell and Jimi V. Wheeler, as the youthful versions of the two couples, are perfectly cast and beautifully synchronized with their elders in scenes that show how the youthful friendships and love affairs went so terribly wrong.
This is the type of musical extravaganza that DHT artistic director John Rampage does so well, and with Rampage as director/choreographer, the big production numbers fill the stage with colorful costumes and movement. Musical director Donald Yap does justice to the Sondheim score throughout; Wally White's dilapidated theater set is a perfect ruin; and Karen G. Wolfe (costume design), Bill Doherty (headpieces) and Kathleen Kamakaiwi (makeup and hair) share credit for the gorgeous costumes.
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