This was not my first time in the Belfast Opera House, and it was not my first time attending a musical. Still, it was my first time attending a Community Dress Rehearsal for the Follies, and especially in the company of a group from the NI Civil Service LGBT.

It had been a damp, overcast day, indeed, as I waited to receive my ticket outside the main doors, the rain, which had held off for half an hour, started ever so slightly.

But ticket in hand, I climbed the stairs to door C for Seat C5 in the Grand Circle.  Second row back from the front, a clear, uninterrupted view of the stage, and of some of the things taking place on the ground floor.

There were cameras on tripods, and people milling around as the theatre came to life.  Then my eyes were drawn to the boxes facing me, and the almost statuesque vision of a lady in a silver costume with feathers and a silver skullcap.  This was then repeated at Door C, five seats away from me, and in a box to my left and on the ground floor at the left and right of the stage.  Each was unique, with a different costume, but they still tied together – for me, the costumes of these lady statuesque dancers were almost the heyday of musicals -the period from the 1920s to the 1960s.  They shimmered, as did The Follies later.

I was lucky, and I knew it.  In the short time before the musical started, I was able to view the architecture around the stage and boxes – I even attempted to draw part of it.

Then it started, the stage set was right for the musical, not over the top, but scaled back to emphasise the story – that of a group of people who had lived and loved together in the theatre’s heyday, but now meeting for probably the last time to reminisce and try and relive that past.

All I can say about this production is that you must go and see it when you can – the actors covering the young storytellers and the mature actors looking back at themselves and then looking at themselves now, like the theatre, are perfect for their roles.  The singing is real, and you feel the story unfold with its ups and downs. The Follies is wonderful vehicle to transport out of today.

This is not a review, but a glimpse into what you have coming when you go and view a period and a profession which is different for a lot of us to comprehend.

Links:

• Summer Friends [2021] – Movie Review
• Belfast Opera House