DMTC present ‘Follies’ on New Year’s Eve

The Davis Musical Theatre Company announces the opening of the Stephen Sondheim-James Goldman musical “Follies” with a special New Year’s Eve Gala.

The show is directed and musically directed by Steve Isaacson with choreography by Jacob Montoya. The special holiday evening, which begins at 7:45 p.m., will include the preview of “Follies”; a catered buffet dinner from Ludy’s Catering (including a full turkey dinner, London broil carving station, salads, pasta alfredo, pasta marinara and desserts). Champagne and sparkling cider will be available for toasts, and guests may dance to music from a disc jockey.

The price is $50 per person.

The show contains some language and is recommended for theatergoers age 13 and older. All performances are at the DMTC Performing Arts Center, 607 Peña Drive. Tickets may be purchased online at dmtc.org or by calling 530-756-3682.

“I have directed this show twice before and it is one of my favorites,” Isaacson said. “The power of the characters and Sondheim’s themes of making choices is overwhelming. I am sure everyone will leave deeply moved by what they have witnessed!”

“Follies” concerns a group of former follies stars who return to the site of their former glory, the Weismann Theatre, which is about to be demolished. Old wounds resurface as stars Phyllis (Allison Lizzi) and Sally (Lenore Sebastian) along with their husbands, Benjamin (John Haine) and Buddy (Rand Martin), reassess their lives and what could have been as they come face-to-face with the ghosts of their young selves (Turtle Akona as Young Ben, Tomas Eredia as Young Buddy, Caitland Martin as Young Sally and Michele Guerrieri as Young Phyllis).

Among the show’s songs are “Beautiful Girls,” “Don’t Look at Me,” “Waiting for the Girls Upstairs,” “Rain on the Roof,” “Ah, Paris!,” “Broadway Baby,” “The Road You Didn’t Take,” “In Buddy’s Eyes,” “Who’s That Woman?,” “I’m Still Here,” “Too Many Mornings,” “The Right Girl,” “One More Kiss,” “Could I Leave You?,” “Loveland,” “You’re Gonna Love Tomorrow,” “Love Will See Us Through,” “The God-Why-Don’t-You-Love-Me Blues,” “Losing My Mind,” “The Story of Lucie and Jessie” and “Live, Laugh, Love.”

Follies was originally co-directed by Harold Prince and Michael Bennett on Broadway in 1971. Since then, it has received a legendary star-filled concert at Lincoln Center in 1985 as well as a revival in 2011 on Broadway and in Los Angeles in 2012.

The script by Sondheim and Goldman makes a cinematic, nightmarish hallucination of past and present blended together, employing lush era musical theater pastiche and a deft eye for storytelling to tell not only the story of Ben, Phyllis, Sally and Buddy, but also the story of how the promise of America between the world wars disintegrated into memory.