YMMV / Follies

• Alternate Character Interpretation: Phylis, especially after the UK rewrites replaced her "Loveland" number. The original states that Phylis is internally torn between a longing to be free and sexually desirable but poor and unloved (Juicy Lucy) or being rich and pampered and financially secured but emotionally dead due to being trapped in a loveless marriage (Dressy Jesse). The UK version of the play provides a completely different take on Phylis, one that is based upon the idea that Phylis has spent her entire life trying to be whatever it is her man wants her to be ("Ah But Underneath") and that her angst comes from knowing that, having spent her entire life being what everyone else wants her to be, that Phylis fears that she is a fraud and no one knew the real her, if there ever was a real Phylis beyond the facade she put on for those around her.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Carlotta Champion and "I'm Still Here". The song itself is a fine showcase for a solo singer, especially an older woman.
• Just Here for Godzilla: It is perfectly valid to tune in purely to hear Sondheim's homage to the bygone genre of the Ziegfield Follies, to which the squabbles of two unhappy married couples are mere interruptions.
• Narm: The main quartet's group nervous breakdown which introduces the "Loveland" sequence can occasionally come off as this. While it starts with corresponding arguments between the older couples and the younger couples respectively, it eventually degenerates into the older couples arguing with their younger selves and the "Loveland" introduction suddenly comes out of nowhere. In short, unless all the actors involved are performing it perfectly, the whole thing can seem more than a little ridiculous.
  • Similarly, Ben's breakdown during "Live, Laugh, Love". Again, unless the actor playing Ben is utterly convincing in seemingly forgetting his lines and resists the urge to go over the top about it, it can easily come off as just plain silly.
  • "I'm Still Here" is an example In-Universe - the song was cut from the Follies because the audience would laugh at the performance instead of be moved by the sad story the song was telling.
• Tear Jerker: One More Kiss which is sung by Heidi and her Ghost is painful when one hears the lyrics as the lovers depart at a ball never to see each other again, the aged in the old woman's voice reflects the tragic nature of regret.
  • Losing My Mind might be one of the most well remembered songs, but boy when the right actress for Sally makes the song just heartbreaking.
    • One great example Joanna Riding brought it up to 11, she presents Losing My Mind with hard anger, also we see Sally as a Broken Bird she still to go off key and at the end removes her wig to display how different she has become.
  • In the final scene we are presented with Sally who has finally realised that Ben never wanted her and she has pined for him for 30 years, to the point that she has been in Mental Hospitals due to her behavior and the Original Broadway Production has her saying this:
    Sally: I'm 49 that's all I am, I should have died that first time.