Washington Post - Recommended
"...Blessed with some crackling performances — especially by a broodingly luminous Jan Maxwell as a leggy ex-showgirl licking her wounds, and by Danny Burstein playing a hapless onetime stage-door Johnny — the luxe treatment of Stephen Sondheim and James Goldman’s landmark ’70s musical of shattered midlife illusions has its share of startling delights. Chief among them: the show’s final 20 minutes, when we ascend with the main characters into an ironic vaudeville dreamscape of assorted neuroses — the most intoxicating articulation of the musical’s “Loveland” sequence that I’ve ever seen."
Baltimore Sun - Highly Recommended
"...The vibrant cast, directed with a generally effective touch by Eric Schaeffer, can really dig into the material. Many of the participants seem to convey rich chapters of autobiography just by the way they make their entrances at the start of the show, how they go about taking “one more glimpse of the past.”"
New York Times - Recommended
"...And more than in any “Follies” I have seen (and I’ve seen seven or eight versions), the “Loveland” section becomes the show’s apotheosis and its necessary fulfillment. Suddenly, hitherto flat characters spring into three pulsing dimensions. It would have been better, of course, had these folks been more fully realized from the beginning. But in this version, at least, you become newly aware of the singular psychological uses that Mr. Sondheim can make of seemingly threadbare song forms. Pastiche? Heck. These are full-blown works of psychoanalysis."
DCist - Recommended
"...The casting may not be pitch perfect, but Schaeffer's Follies succeeds because it wreaks havoc on the emotions -- as we watch beloved characters spiral downward, it's hard not to be awash in feelings of our own regrets and missed opportunities. It's not just an old theater that gets haunted here."
MetroWeekly - Highly Recommended
"...Schaeffer is on solid footing more often than not, though, and when the show itself makes a psychotic break from reality in Act 2's ''Loveland'' section – dissolving into a full-blown Weismann Follies-style sequence to confront the demons torturing Phyllis, Ben, Sally and Buddy, it is a jaw-dropping testament to the talent that went into creating Follies four decades ago and the talent that has gone into bringing it once again to magnificent life."
Washington City Paper - Recommended
"...It’s been nearly three decades since Bernadette Peters sang blithely, on Broadway in Sunday in the Park With George, about how fun it would be to be a Follies girl. Now she finally is one, a showstopper in Jungle Red and the unmistakable star of Follies from the instant of her first entrance."
The Georgetowner - Highly Recommended
"...Here are some things you don’t forget: Bernadette Peters in full voice, heart and diva singing “Losing My Mind”, one of a series of “Follies” sung by the principals. You won’t forget Maxwell at all as Phyllis, her yearnings, her bitterness—listen to the whip lash belts in “Could I Leave You?”— her fantastic tall, elegant looks. Lavin knocks “Broadway Baby”—a secondary theme here—out of the park, and Terri White does the same for “Who’s That Woman”. Janis Paige, playing the incandescent and forever fabulous Carlotta, does something wicked to the “I’m Still Here” number, often sung defiantly. She makes it a come-on by a woman used to being looked at on that screen, on that stage, when the lights go up or off."
TheaterMania - Somewhat Recommended
"...As great as these ladies are, they're matched here by their leading men, an all-too-rarity in Follies' productions. Burstein is simply a revelation as Buddy, because there appears to be no acting going on -- and nowhere does his connection with the character feel more evident than in the blistering "Buddy's Blues." Raines' magnificent baritone allows him to do full justice to Ben's numbers -- and his end-of-show-breakdown is almost terrifying in its realness."
Curtain Up - Highly Recommended
"...With its enormous cast, elaborate sets, and eclectic appeal, Follies is produced far less frequently than many of Stephen Sondheim's other musicals. That makes the Kennedy Center's new production, running through June 19 only, a special treat. "
DCTheatreScene - Highly Recommended
It’s not the air-conditioning causing goose bumps at the Eisenhower Theater. Instead, chills of pleasure are induced by director Eric Schaeffer’s deluxe, star-packed production of Follies, Stephen Sondheim and James Goldman’s milestone 1971 musical about spectacle and specters from a distant past—a past that may not have been entirely real.
