FOLLIES
John Cooper Studio Theatre, 41 Monkgate, York
The year: 1971.
The place: the remnants of the iconic theatre that was once home to the famous Weismann Follies.
The occasion: a first and last reunion of the people who worked, loved and lived there in its glory days between the wars – the night before the building is set for demolition.
And you have an invitation to join the party!
Set against a backdrop of bittersweet nostalgia, the Follies showgirls of a bygone era drink, laugh, "lie about themselves a little" and perform the show-stopping numbers that once made them famous.
Stephen Sondheim's stunning musical focuses on two married couples – and we have three fantastic performers making their Pick Me Up debuts: Tracey Rea as Sally, Glynn Mills as her husband Buddy, and David Radford as Ben, husband of Phyllis, played by Pick Me Up regular Susannah Baines, whose roles have included Mrs Lovett in Sweeney Todd, Rose in Gypsy, and the Witch in Into The Woods.
The four central characters met when Sally and Phyllis were gorgeous Weismann showgirls back in the day – and the boys were their double dates, always "waiting for the girls upstairs".
Sally married Buddy, but was in love with Ben, who married Phyllis ... and the reunion throws them right back into their complicated love quadrangle!
Director Robert Readman has assembled a terrific supporting cast to play all the wonderful veterans of the Follies and the ghosts of their younger selves.
Pick Me Up Theatre have won rave reviews for previous productions of Stephen Sondheim’s shows – Into The Woods at the Grand Opera House in 2014 and a summer season in 2016 featuring Assassins and Sweeney Todd.
Audiences who attended the Sondheim summer season at 41 Monkgate will know the effect these pieces make when you’re up close and personal with the performers!
So Dimitri Weismann invites you to join Pick Me Up for the Follies reunion – and enjoy some of Sondheim's most memorable songs including Losing My Mind, I'm Still Here and Broadway Baby.
6 - 14 July 2018
Book by
James Goldman
Music and lyrics by
Stephen Sondheim
Directed by
Robert Readman
Musical director
Barbara Chan
Piano
Sam Johnson
Lighting and sound
Adam Moore
CAST
CREATIVES
Sally Durant Plummer
Tracey Rea
Young Sally
Emma Louise Dickinson
Phyllis Rogers Stone
Susannah Baines
Young Phyllis
Gemma Louise Keane
Benjamin Stone
David Radford
Young Ben
Sam Hird
Buddy Plummer
Glynn Mills
Young Buddy
Adam Price
Carlotta Campion
Sandy Nicholson
Stella Deems
Juliet Waters
Max Deems
Bill Laverick
Hattie Walker
Beryl Nairn
Young Hattie
Flo Poskitt
Solange LaFitte
Sonia Skelton
Young Solange
Alex Mather
Emily Whitman
Maggie Smales
Young Emily
Emily Chattle
Theodore Whitman
Noel Stabler
Young Theodore
Robert Fisher
Heidi Schiller
Ruth Russell
Young Heidi
Kirsty Hughes
Dimitri Weismann
Mark Hird
“Sally”
Iona Kaye
“Margie”
Amelia Cook
Weismann's Assistant
David Todd
Kevin
Finn East