REVIEWS
The Boston Globe
STAGE REVIEW
Flashy 'Follies' needs more Will to succeed
By Gina Perille, Globe Correspondent
| June 28, 2006
WALTHAM -- The Reagle Players pulled out all the
stops with their first production
of the summer, acquiring the original Broadway sets and costumes for ``The Will Rogers Follies" and
splashing the stage with lavish
décor from end to end .
Globe Living/Arts stories
A&E section
Latest
entertainment news
There is no shortage of cowboys, chorus girls,
charming children, fuzzy dogs, and
rope tricks. But what is missing is a connection between Scott Wahle's portrayal of the title character and
the swirl of action and emotion
around him.
The ``Follies" is as much a tribute to
Florenz Ziegfeld , master of the
Broadway revue, as it is to Will Rogers. The stage teem s with Ziegfeld girls -- and boys -- who faithfully re -
create Tommy Tune's 1991
choreography under the watchful eye of co-director Eileen Grace. The dancing is remarkably playful, while
executed with a mechanized precision that
contrasts with Rogers' s unique life .
Will Rogers was a multimedia star before the
term was invented. A rope-twirler
turned political satirist and comedian, Rogers was one of the best - known and best - loved
American figures of the early 1900 s. He
made his career on the stage (including with a long run in the
``Ziegfeld Follies" in New
York) , on screen, and in print .
With music by Cy Coleman and lyrics by Betty Comden
and Adolph Green , ``The Will
Rogers Follies" is an affectionate, if slow - moving, look at the events that led to Rogers' s success,
including his struggle to earn his
father's approval . In a nod to the fact that Mr. Ziegfeld -- who always insisted on the honorific
-- always got his way, the chronology
of Rogers's life is toyed with to generate a big closing number for the
first act . Even so, the show meanders
from Rogers's humble childhood in Oklahoma through his vaudeville days to the plane crash that ended
his life.
Wahle, Channel 4's morning newscaster, is at the
center of the action and cuts a
very likable figure, always comfortable in his folksy addresses to the audience. But when it is time for him to
show Rogers interacting with significant
figures in his life -- such as his wife or father -- Wahle wanders too far toward the `` aw, shucks" side
of things.
Rogers is known for his simple, delightful
quips. But Wahle seems more
comfortable orating than acting, which results in a lead portrayal that struggles to distinguish
itself from the eye-popping scenery and
acting behind it.
Sarah Pfisterer plays Betty Blake , Rogers' s
wife . The Reagle production takes
on a distinctly sophisticated air when she appears and sings ; the most notable is the Act 2 torch song ` `No
Man Left for Me," in which
Betty laments her husband's busy life. Harold ` `Jerry" Walker plays Will's father, Clem, with
a ridiculous but somehow workable squawk
to his speech and song. Dana Leigh Jackson has a thoroughly humorous
turn as Ziegfeld's favorite girl,
appearing in fewer and fewer items of clothing as the show continues.
The Reagle production is a visual success, to be
sure. But the Ziegfeld element,
however flashy, is supposed to support Wahle's star turn, not eclipse it . As it is, the Follies take the lead
while Will Rogers comes in a
neighborly second.
© Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company.
Home >
Arts &
Lifestyle
>
Arts & Culture News >
RSS Feed
’The Will Rogers Follies’ lights up
Reagle’s staircase
By David Brooks Andrews
Sunday, June 25, 2006
Will
Rogers isn’t a name you hear a lot these days. But in his time -- the 1920s and
’30s -- he was bigger than Shirley Temple, as he became the biggest moneymaker
in every aspect of show business he entered -- stage, radio and movies. He also
wrote a successful daily newspaper column.
The
first thing his name brings to mind is probably his famous quote, "I never
met a man I didn’t like." He met a lot of men in his life -- including
most of the world’s kings, queens and presidents -- and very few of them didn’t
like him. He became the voice of everyman.
Reagle
Players is staging the big, sparkling musical version of his life, "The
Will Rogers Follies." It first played on Broadway in the early 1990s, but
in many ways it feels like it’s straight out of his time period and immerses us
in it. The book is by Peter Stone, the music by Cy Coleman and the lyrics by
Betty Comden and Adolph Green.
The
show’s basic concept is based on the fact that Rogers starred in the Ziegfeld
Follies for 2,500 performances over six years. And so we see his life through
the lens of a Ziegfeld show with beautiful, leggy chorus-line dancers, elegant
costumes, vaudeville scenes, and lots of jokes. In many ways, the show is as
much about the Ziegfeld style of entertainment as it is about Will Rogers
himself.
There
are plenty of things that swing in this show. No doubt the cutest are the
beaded tails that the women dancers, dressed as cows, swing in rhythm against
the floor in the blockbuster opening number "Will-a-Mania."
The
sexiest thing swinging is Dana Leigh Jackson’s hips as she plays Ziegfeld’s
Favorite, a dancer who serves as a very visible prop mistress, scene changer
and come-on girl, adding lots of pizzazz to the show.
One
of the most amazing things that swings is Scott Wahle’s rope as he plays Will
Rogers. Actually, there’s one thing more amazing, but that’s best left for you
to see for yourself. Rogers took the rope skills he learned on his father’s
ranch in Oklahoma to a Wild West Show that played around the world and
eventually to Ziegfeld’s Follies. Wahle makes rope spinning look easy, which it
isn’t. Just as he makes pounding out a rhythm on his thighs as if they were a
drum look easy or keeping up with the female dancers during a very snappy number
in which they let their hands do the dancing while sitting on one of the many
steps that make up the stage.
They
also do some pretty amazing things with their legs as they tap dance up and
down the stairs, swinging them as if they are the arms of a clock while lying
on their backs on one of the steps that lights up, and later kicking them high
and straight as an arrow. Eileen Grace, who co-directed the show with Robert
Eagle, did a remarkable job of recreating the original Broadway choreography
and keeping her dancers all on the same beat and their movements crisp. The
male dancers are as remarkable as the women, and they all sing well, too.
Rogers
is not the easiest part to play, since he’s pretty much an icon without a lot
of struggle or action to shape his character, other than sitting on the top of
the world and telling jokes that are a little corny for today’s sensibilities.
But it would be hard to think of a better person to play the role than Wahle,
because of his wonderfully intuitive rapport with audiences. He often talks
directly to the audience with a friendly Midwestern down-home twang.
Sarah
Pfisterer brings great warmth and humanity to the evening as Betty Blake, who
becomes Rogers’ wife in spite of her distrust of show business. Pfisterer has
so much natural warmth herself and she lets it flow through one of the few
roles in the show that is a fleshed-out human being with real concerns and
needs. She sings with a beautiful, pure liquid voice making it seem effortless.
It’s a rare chance to hear her sing a wonderfully sultry song atop a piano, as
she demonstrates her voice’s incredible versatility.
In
some ways the show feels a bit dated. You have to set aside your more
enlightened views of women for a couple of hours. And biography is tough to
stage, because we already know the outcome. So the dancing and gorgeous
costumes -- the Broadway originals, now owned by Reagle -- become as much of a
hit as Rogers himself.
One
of the things that’s remarkably fresh about the show is its attitude toward
Rogers’ death, as well as the death of his father and one of his young sons. He
and the musical treat them all with the same wry, gentle humor that he treats
everything else. He died in a plane crash while flying with Wiley Post in
Alaska at the age of 55.
Betty
Blake, who has some of the best lines, says to him before he heads off for the
trip, "If you get yourself killed, I’ll never talk to you again." And
she didn’t, except delightfully so in this musical.
"The Will Rogers Follies"
Reviewed by Tony Annicone
The first show of Reagle Players 38th season is "The Will
Rogers Follies". The
show is a lavish, dance filled and
melodic look at the life of America's great star, Will Rogers as the famed
Broadway impresario Florenz
Ziegfeld might have told it.
Ziegfeld was the showman of the early twentieth century who was know for "glorifying
the American girl". He used
leggy chorines dressed-to-the-nines in elegantly beaded costumes
descending staircases with
graceful abandon. The plot of the
show also includes the inspirational life story and homespun philosophy
of America's most beloved humorist
and political satirist. Throw in more than a few Ziegfeld spectacles,
tuneful songs, lavish
dances, leggy showgirls, a love
interest, sweet faced youngsters (the Rogers brood), an entire pink
costumed number with dozens of
girls seductively draped
across a giant staircase and a Ziegfeld sized lace wedding veil
filling the entire stage.
Beautifully directed by Robert
Eagle and Eileen Grace, the cast delivers the goods in this topnotch
entertainment extravaganza that
takes you back to the good
old days. And the audience of today enjoys it because Will Roger's
philosophy espouses respect and
confidence in your fellow man which is sadly lacking in today's world and this audience gives this
show the well deserved
standing ovation it so richly
deserves.
The
script by Peter Stone was inspired by the words of Will & Betty
Rogers and two of the songs "Never Met A Man" and "Give a Man Enough Rope"
are parables from Rogers own mouth while Cy Coleman wrote the music and Betty Comden and Adolph Green wrote the
lyrics. Robert and Eileen cast the show superbly. Eileen also recreates Tommy Tune's original choreography for
the show and Reagle Players also obtained the original set and costumes for this show, too.
The staircase is the whole width
of the stage and is ten steps high while the lavish Follies costumes
are magnificent and breathtaking.
The musical director Paul
Katz does an excellent job with all the numbers and his orchestra sounds
great, too. All the ingredients
for this are mixed together wonderfully and the lighting by David Wilson
not only on the stage but on the
stairway is topnotch with
every color imaginable. The splendid mixture of comedy and pathos is the sign of a well
done show.
The cast is lead by Scott Wahle, CBS4's weekday news anchorman. His
portrayal of Will Rogers is
not only humorous but heartfelt,
too. The first act is fun filled spectacle while the second act captures
the warmth and poignancy of this well loved man. Scott is dynamite in this role whether
he is spinning his rope or telling his homespun tales. His songs include "Give a Man
Enough Rope", "So
Long Pa", "Look Around" (a song about ecology) and "Never Met a Man I Didn't Like". The show
stopping number in this show is the song and dance number Scott does with the chorus girls called
"Favorite Son" where they turn their heads, hands, arms and
legs in perfect unison. Another
gorgeous Follies number is the jewel dance by the girls while
Scott sings "Presents for Mrs.
Rogers". The accomplishments of Will Rogers as a multimedia sensation include his
daily newspaper column, 365 times a year, performing a weekly radio show as well as starring in motion pictures becoming
the highest earning performer of
his day. Scott captures the
essence of this extraordinary man and gives a spectacular
performance while doing so.
Broadway's Sarah Pfisterer plays Betty
Blake Rogers, Will's long suffering
wife who endures show biz to be
with the man she loves.The beautiful blond haired Sarah's gorgeous voice
can be heard in the pretty
ballads "My Unknown Someone" and "My Big Mistake" but it
is "No Man Left for Me", the torch song which she sings in the second act that will astound you with her
powerful delivery. She also does
"Big Time" with Scott and Ari Shaps, Zoe Virant, Leo Hattabaugh and Sam
Blumenfeld, the four talented youngsters who play their children in the show. Sarah prowess shines through in this role as
she advances from ingenue lead to a more adult one.(Sarah won the
IRNE award last year for playing
Julie in "Carousel"
and Maria in "The Sound of Music".) Reprising Z's Favorite, her starring role on the First National tour for this show
is Dana Leigh Jackson. She also played the role for Reagle Players in 1997 and made her Broadway debut in this show in
1991. Her character is the
leading dancer of the show who Mr. Ziegfeld is having a fling with and she appears in
almost every scene. Dana Leigh is a statuesque blonde who is not only gorgeous but a
fabulous dancer, too. She taps,
does ballet, does a split as well as many other dances excellently. Dana
Leigh leads the chorus in the
opening number, "Willamania" and she gets the audience in the spirit
of the lavish spectacle to
follow. (Haven't seen Dana in almost 20 years when we performed in summer stock at Theatre by the Sea in "The Unsinkable Molly
Brown" together and just found out she is married to Mark Davidson and they have an 8 year old
son, Jeffrey Chace.) The person with some of the funniest one liners in the show is Harold Walker who plays Clem Rogers,
Will's father. The character is a curmudgeon who truly loves his son but doesn't show it till
Act 2 in a poignant scene after the stock market crash. Harold as Clem also comments on how
cheap Ziegfeld is by having him
play many different roles in the show which leads to many. The dancing girls and wranglers do a bang
up job in the show as does Joanne Wilon and he canine friends and Chris McDaniel, the expert
roper who does many tricks with
his rope. So for a musical extravaganza that the whole family will enjoy,
be sure to catch "The Will
Rogers Follies" at
Reagle Players. Tell them Tony sent you and you will meet you show you will definitely like.
"The Will Rogers Follies" (22 June - 1 July)
REAGLE PLAYERS
Waltham High School, 617 Lexington Street, WALTHAM MA
1 (781) 891-5600
From: "will stackman"
profwlll@yahoo.com
Subject: Quicktake - "Will Rogers' Follies" by Peter
Stone; music - Cy Coleman; lyrics
- Comden & Green
Date: Sat, June 24, 12:12 AM
Quicktake on WILL ROGERS' FOLLIES
To open their
season, the Reagle Players
have gone back to an earlier
success, "The Will Rogers Follies," which combines Peter Stones
fictional biography of the
legendary cowboy comedian
with Cy Coleman, Betty Compton and Adolf Green's tribute to the equally
legendary Ziegfield Follies, one
of the pinnacles of the Broadway
revue. The production is again directed by Robert Eagle, choreographed this time by Eileen Grace,
who's just become the company's
Associate Producer. She was the show's dance captain for its Broadway run
and recreates the work of
its original choreographer,
Tommy Tune. Grace is currently a director/choreographer at Radio City
Music Hall, among her several
achievements. The spectacular
numbers which are the show's claim to fame are seen in all their complexity on the touring
version of Tony Walton's set with
Willa Kim's costumes. Music direction for this production is handled with
his usual consummate skill
by IRNE winner, Paul Katz.
This time, the
title role is taken by IRNE
winner, Scott Wahle, seen on
Channel 4 News, who captures the folksie essence of Rogers. Fellow IRNE
winner, Broadway light Sarah
Pfisterer is back as Betty
Blake, Roger's wife, who has the show's best ballads. Veteran Reagle character man Harold
Walker comes on strong as Rogers'
outspoken father, Clem. From the original cast, showgirl Dana Leigh
Jackson sings, vamps, and
dances the central role of
Z's favorite, a foil for the leading man. The four Rogers' kids are Sam
Blumenfeld, Leo Hattabaugh, Ari
Shaps, and Zoe Varant.. The show
also features two touring veterans, Joanne Wilson's trained
dogs--all rescued from the
pound--and Chris Daniel as The Roper, who add to its showbiz air.
And behind all
the glitz is the timeless wisdom
of Will Rogers, who "never
met a man he didn't like." A star of vaudeville, silent & talking pictures, a radio pioneer, and
a syndicated newspaper
columnist, the Cherokee Kid was a true American hero for the common man through the '20s and the early
'30s. "Will Roger's Follies" keeps coming back--the Company
in Norwell just did a smaller
version--not because of its
gaudy trimming and implied naughtiness, but because the tradition of speaking truth to power
needs to be constantly renewed, now
as much as ever.
Reagle's next production is
"Throughly Modern
Millie" in mid-July. Before then, they're hosting a special preview
of the latest touring edition of
"Cats" on July 7-8,
at their regular ticket prices--available on their website-- with
free parking as always.
"Will Rogers' Follies" by
Stone, Coleman, Comden &
Green, June 22 - July 1
Reagle Players at Robinson Theatre
Waltham HS, (781) 891 - 5600 Reagle Players
