Monday, July 27, 2009

TIMELESS SPIRAL—"I'm Still Here" x 6

In the final act of Stephen Sondheim's Follies, the leading characters' emotional troubles are reflected as a string of vaudeville-style numbers before returning to the theatre for the end of the reunion party. The plum supporting role of Carlotta Campion, the seen-it-all ex-Follies girl who sings the showstopping "I'm Still Here," was created by Yvonne De Carlo in 1971, and has subsequently often been given to a celebrated veteran performer. What follows are some of my favorites.

Yvonne DeCarlo from the 1979 Follies television special:



Yvonne DeCarlo on David Frost:



Eartha Kitt at the Olivier Awards during her run in Follies in the late 1980s:



Eartha Kitt at a 1986 Canadian Concert, Redux and Even More Relevant:



Shirley MacLaine from Postcards From The Edge:



Carol Burnett at the 1985 Lincoln Center "Follies in Concert."