The necessary truth about “fully staged productions” of Follies in Australia

Is the Victorian Opera’s upcoming production of Stephen Sondheim and James Goldman’s Follies ‘Australia’s first ever fully staged production’ as the company claim? No, it is most certainly not. Geoffrey Williams corrects the public record.

When the Victorian Opera (VO) announced that they were presenting “Australia’s first ever fully staged production of Stephen Sondheim and James Goldman’s most glamorous musical” Follies at the grand old Palais Theatre in February 2025, there were more than just a few raised eyebrows among members of Australia’s celebrated non-professional musical theatre community.

What?! “The first ever fully staged production” of Follies? Hardly! Was I losing my mind? I, for one, was a 15-year-old boy in the audience of the Festival Theatre Company’s Australian Premiere of Follies at the Camberwell Civic Centre in 1979, and I’m still here … so I was particularly confused. And then, over the next few weeks, frankly, really annoyed.

My immediate response was to comment on the VO’s Facebook page, correcting the error. A little later, after a flurry of text messages and Messenger exchanges, a number of other commentators joined the conversation, also pointing out that while the VO’s keenly anticipated production was not only incredibly welcome and (arguably), the highlight of Melbourne’s 2025 Musical Theatre calendar, it was not the first fully staged production of Follies in Australia.

And that, I assumed, was that. But as the days passed by, I became more and more annoyed. Was I just being a reactionary old drama queen, yapping at the heels of a big professional opera company? Well, no, because I live in Darwin and couldn’t care less about whatever it is that the VO is up to. Did it really matter that the history of non-professional musical theatre in Melbourne in particular, had been re-written by marketing people who may possibly not even have been born in 1979? Yes, it does – very much – because erasing lives and achievements from history of any kind is a dark and dangerous pastime.

One morning, unable to stop thinking about the injustice and the quintessential lie of the matter, I started to write this article. The most important reason I could not leave it alone is because Follies is about memories … ghosts … shadows … unfulfilled dreams and potential … devastating mental health challenges … and the girls upstairs. It is a treacherously difficult musical to stage, just as much as it is a masterpiece of introspection – reasons that many have claimed are why it has never been a popular piece in the commercial repertoire.

Far from being “glamorous”, it is a searing, painful examination of the collapse of ambition, love, and the ensuing life-altering regrets. Follies is also unique in our precious world of musical theatre, because it is often performed without an interval. Unheard of! I can only imagine how heart-broken Mr Sondheim would have been at the time to witness the end of the musical’s life on stage – in much the same way that I can only imagine his joy when a letter arrived from the incredibly determined team at Melbourne’s Festival Theatre Company expressing their desperation to be able to present their fully staged production of his beloved Follies as their 25^th Anniversary production.

Then there is the VO’s own historical chronology. The current VO was founded in 2005 by the Victorian Government as a replacement for the Victoria State Opera (VSO). Founded in Melbourne in 1962 by Leonard Spira, the old VSO’s strategy was a move into the grand opera repertoire by the then ‘amateur’ Gilbert and Sullivan-oriented Victorian Light Opera Company. So, might it be that the VO’s own ghosts of the ‘amateur’ as opposed to ‘professional’ paradox is informing the marketing of their first fully staged [professional] production of Follies in Australia?

Are the previous fully staged productions not good or important enough for the VO to qualify by the measure of some mysterious standard? Or is this simply a case of obscenely ego and vanity-driven ‘pro-washing’? Whatever the case, I decided I would have none of it.

Ironically, or not, I didn’t need to look very hard to find evidence of what was actually Australia’s first fully staged production of Follies. In the program for their 2008 semi-staged production, Jeanne Pratt’s AC The Production Company published the late, great, theatre historian Frank van Straten’s AM, essay[1) on the musical’s performance history.

“After its 522 performances on Broadway, Follies played a week in St Louis and a lacklustre ten-week run in Los Angeles. And that, it seemed, was that. Not quite. Follies eventually resurfaced, but not in San Francisco or London – it was here, in Melbourne – and it almost didn’t happen!

The highly regarded Festival Theatre Company had recently staged the first Melbourne production of Applause. Festival stalwart Rex Callahan recalls: ‘We were so overwhelmed by the number of very talented women who had auditioned that we resolved to find a show that had plenty of good female roles. Follies was that show.’ Even though Music Theatre International had ignored their application for rights, Festival’s Follies went into pre-production early in 1978.

Callahan continues: ‘In desperation we phoned New York in March 1979, only to be told that the rights had been withdrawn just the day before, for two years, pending a London production. As it turned out, that production by Cameron Mackintosh didn’t open until 1987! ‘What was to be done? Enthusiasm was high, and Follies was the perfect show for us at that time, particularly as it was to be our 25th production. We had three choices: to schedule another show; to bring forward the next scheduled production, George M!; or to fight it. Several drinks later, that was the decision!

Our first thought was to identify the British company and seek their permission for ours to go ahead. On Friday 30 March 1979, with precious time slipping away, we called our London Representative, Rex Taylor Craig, who managed to glean some information that led us to Carlin Music Publishing in New York. In the meantime, our President wrote a desperate letter to Music Theatre International. It began: “Now firstly, you should know that I am writing this letter on my knees!” It went on to seek their assistance in obtaining permission, if necessary, from the London company; otherwise, to whom should we write? Mr Sondheim? Mr Goldman? The President …?

The next problem was to get the letter there because Australia was in the middle of a postal strike. Fortunately, one of our company members, Lesley Abotomey, was flying to the US, so she took the letter with her and posted it to New York from her first stop in San Francisco. By phone, the head of Carlin’s explained that they only held the music rights and that we would have to find out who held the Grand Rights. He supplied the phone number of Sondheim’s agent, Flora Roberts, and our secretary phoned her. It turned out that Sondheim had retained the Grand Rights to Follies. Things were beginning to look up.

Then, early in April 1979, a telegram arrived: FOLLIES PRODUCTION APPROVED. LETTER FOLLOWING. Mr Sondheim himself had spoken! And so, the first [fully staged] Australian production of Follies opened (to a standing ovation) at the Camberwell Civic Theatre on 7 September 1979. The cast included Marie-Therese Byrne (Sally Durant Plummer), Eric Donnison (Benjamin Stone), Bev McKern (Phyllis Rogers Stone), Barry Quin (Buddy Plummer), Val Lehman (Carlotta Campion), Donald Cant (Young Ben), Jim Murphy (Dimitri Weissman), and Bruce McBrien (Major Domo). Rex Callahan was the Director; Jean McQuarrie was the Musical Director (of a 22-piece orchestra); Ronne Arnold was the Choreographer; Terry Ryan was the Costume Designer; Rex Callahan and Terry Ryan were the Scenic Designers; and David Murray was the Lighting Designer.

Follies would enjoy a second fully staged production by CLOC Musical Theatre, which ran from 17 October–1 November 1986, at the Alexander Theatre, Monash University, Clayton. [2]. David Wilson was the Director; Kirk Skinner was the Musical Director (of a 29-piece orchestra); Mary Charleston was the Choreographer; Graham McGuffie and Laurie Lane were credited as Set Designers and Scenic Artists; and Graham McGuffie was the Lighting Designer.

The cast included Fay Brown (Sally Durant Plummer), Clive Hearne (Benjamin Stone), Bev McKern (repeating her triumphant turn as Phyllis Rogers Stone), Chris Bradtke (Buddy Plummer), Glen Leo (Carlotta Campion), Geoff Upfill (Dimitri Weissman), and Horrie Leek (Major Domo).

In his piece “Amateurs carry the musical day” published in The Age on 29 October 1986, Australian film director Richard Franklin wrote at length about CLOC’s production of Follies, but also made several important observations about the creative strength, fearlessness, determination, ambition, and unbridled passion of the members of Melbourne’s ‘amateur’ musical theatre companies.

“Melbourne’s Follies is the most expensive amateur production ever mounted here. It is being done full scale, with full orchestra, sets, costumes, and as much glitter as can be mustered for the budget of around $60,000.00 [over $152,000.00 in today’s value]. This might sound modest, but bear in mind none of the participants is being paid. Melbourne’s amateur musical performers occasionally work in the professional arena, but more often have conventional day jobs. It is only at night [and on weekends] that they put on their tap shoes for the months of part-time rehearsal needed for only a few nights in front of the footlights. Such is the interest in this production, that more than 150 performers auditioned.

Follies is here – alive and high kicking at the Alexander Theatre. It should be seen if only for the sake of seeing what our [commercial] musical entrepreneurs are depriving us of. But in spite of them, the musical may just survive as an art form in Australia, thanks to our amateurs.”

In his review of CLOC’s Follies “Dreams of youth and realities of middle age” published in The Australian on 21 October 1986, Dennis Davison wrote:

“Follies is a large-scale musical with 29 characters, dancers, showgirls, 15 musical numbers, lavish costumes, and several extravagant sets. Set designers Graham McGuffie and Laurie Lane transformed the Alexander’s wide-open stage with a replica proscenium arch, complete with marble columns, and then provided a stage-within-the-stage for the ‘Loveland’ scenes. Mirrors, flashing lights, gauze drapes and dazzling backdrops were expertly contrived to suggest the glamour of showbiz, or at least the affectionate parody of it.”

In September 1994, the Miranda Musical Theatre Company presented a fully staged production of Follies, but there is, regrettably, no other information that I am aware of about their production other than it being listed on their website as a part of the company’s production history.[3]

It is worth returning to Mr Franklin’s observation about the extent to which Australian audiences had the opportunity to see musicals that our commercial entrepreneurs were too box office shy to risk staging. Franklin wrote: “It should be seen if only for the sake of seeing what our [commercial] musical entrepreneurs are depriving us of. But in spite of them, the musical may just survive as an art form in Australia, thanks to our amateurs.” In the case of Follies in particular, the show was what can only be described as a commercial disaster when it premiered on Broadway. When it closed, it had returned only $35,000.00 of its original $700,000.00 cost. Variety called the production a “total financial failure, with a cumulative loss of $792,000.00.”[4]

For commercial entrepreneurs, Follies became the ideal musical for concert performances. In concert, the gargantuan production requirements were eliminated, and there would never be any difficulty finding musical theatre performers who would be prepared to crawl over broken glass for the opportunity to perform its magnificent score. The various concert versions in Australia and internationally have been interspersed with productions internationally, including the fully staged production that ran at the Forum Theatre, Wythenshawe, England, from 30 April 1985, and Cameron Mackintosh’s London production that played in the West End at the Shaftesbury Theatre from 21 July 1987–4 February 1989, closing after 644 performances.

There is no doubt that the VO’s Follies will be the first fully staged “professional” production in Australia, but given the astonishing and consistently ‘professional’ standard of ‘non-professional’ musical theatre companies in Australia, it would be a tough call for the VO to be seen to be attempting to rise above the stature of previous fully staged productions, simply because the artists involved in their production are being paid. Nor, one would hope, might the company be suggesting that their Australian taxpayer and philanthropically funded production budget might inform a more luxurious and spectacular production?[5]

Today, it is more often the widely accepted rule, rather than the exception, that productions staged by non-professional musical theatre companies are described as “better than”, or certainly “as good as” professional productions of the same shows. And we all know only too well, that the fact that artists are being paid rarely means that the standard of the production is any superior to the productions where the artists are not being paid.

I can appreciate the VO’s possible reluctance to disappear down the ‘professional’ versus the ‘non-professional’ rabbit hole, but this prime example of – let’s call it ‘pro-washing’ – is completely unacceptable and does an immense disservice to the Festival Theatre Company visionaries who, against seemingly insurmountable odds, brought Follies to Australian audiences in all its fully staged glory, with none other than Stephen Sondheim’s permission, first.

— Geoffrey Williams

1.     I have re-typed a scanned copy of Frank’s essay, and I am grateful to Festival Theatre Company royalty – Lesley Abotomey and Rex Callahan – who provided me with valuable updated information, memories, diary notes and clarifications that did not appear in Frank’s original published piece, which I have updated for this article.

2.     https://www.cloc.org.au/follies.html

3.     https://www.mirandamusicaltheatrecompany.com.au/shows

4.     Chapin, T. The Official Masterworks Broadway Site. (Archived but extensively referenced online.)

5.     Earlier this week, I contacted the VO by telephone and email requesting clarification of their promotion of Follies as being the first fully staged production in Australia. At the time of publication, I had not received a response from the company.

Hero image credit: Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library. (1971). Scene from the stage production Follies. Retrieved from https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/b863d907-d32a-f15a-e040-e00a18067a40

The Victorian Opera’s first fully staged professional production of Follies in Australia runs from 1–6 February 2025 at the Palais Theatre, St Kilda. You can book tickets here: https://www.ticketmaster.com.au/artist/852845