I think almost everyone finds that remakes and redos of things they've seen the originals of are lacking in various ways.
I've never been satisfied with any recording of "Follies" other than the original. I had the score LP with me on my first overseas tour of duty. When I bought my first component stereo system, it was "Follies" that was played on it the first time.
I cannot imagine ever being satisfied with any performance that doesn't equal or surpass what I can hear on that cast recording.
That said, I don't think any of the screaming, cheering fans at revivals/revisals deserve rebuke or disdain. They've never seen the original. That they are listeing to and loving a Sondheim score performed live should be more reason for celebration rather than censure.
Most people never get to see the original Broadway production of anything. If one were to insist upon equal/better treatment of the material, no revival/revisal would "ever" be done. And that would be tragic.
Spot on. I will say, though, that if the production is at all professional, I almost always have found something interesting and different about it, even if it doesn't match up with the original.
There were several moments in the Roundabout
Follies that I thought were wonderful and searing (Joan Roberts, the original Laurie in Oklahoma, singing "One More Kiss," the Ben/Sally ghost embrace, Judith Ivey's haunting "Losing My Mind," and damned if the final exit didn't have me bawling both times I saw it), but it's a hard show to make work.
Sometimes, with revivals, I sometimes think the less the director knows, the better. I've seen a bunch of productions of
Company, and the two best ones were ones where the director got the hell out of the way of the production and just presented the story without apology (For my money, Sam Mendes's concept was an abomination that made the show more dated than it had any right being). The best Bobby I ever saw was in an amateur production, played by an actor who hadn't been on stage in over a decade, but who absolutely nailed the character.
I've also had the thrill of seeing several classic performers reprise their songs decades later (Pam Myers with "Another Hundred People," Donna McKechnie with "Music and the Mirror," Priscilla Lopez with "Nothing," and Comden & Green with most of their club act), and I will treasure those memories till the day I die.
