When it debuted in 1971, Stephen Sondheim and James Goldman’s Tony Award-winning musical Follies had one of the biggest budgets of any Broadway production. Its cast was huge with nearly 50 performers, including ghost characters of the central figures’ younger selves.
Nothing about it screamed “average.” But everything about it screamed Vegas.
Not to be confused with the extravagant revue Les Folies Bergère that ran at the Tropicana for decades, Follies unravels the story of the fictitious Weismann Theatre, where the Weismann Follies took place some 30 years prior. On the eve of the theater’s demolition, two leading showgirls and their “stage door Johnnies”—essentially male groupies—reunite with the rest of the cast for one last party, one last performance and one last chance to confront the ghosts of their pasts.
The 53-year-old Follies is steeped in Las Vegas lore, from the showgirls and the impending implosions to the feathers and the rhinestones. But it’s also a show that’s never been brought to Vegas—until now.
Next month, nonprofit arts organization Metropolis Theatricals Las Vegas will resurrect Follies at Aliante Casino & Hotel for a six-show run with a 45-member cast, a 30-piece orchestra and 23 Las Vegas showgirls, 12 of whom are legendary performers from historic productions at the Dunes, the Moulin Rouge, Stardust and the Tropicana.
Tom Michel and David Robinson, creators of the former Vegas and Nevada Room supper clubs, will produce and direct the Sondheim-scored production, offering a Follies that hits closer to home than ever before.
“It’s a love letter to the talent in this community. It’s also a love letter to Vegas and to the history of Vegas,” says Michel, who manages Metropolis Theatricals with Robinson.
“In probably almost all the other [Follies] productions, they didn’t have access to Las Vegas showgirls—it’s other actresses that would play the parts. We have these incredible women in this town. Why would we not want them back onstage when we can be as true to it as we possibly can?”
The musical will place historic dancers back into the spotlight like Anna Bailey, Las Vegas’ first Black showgirl, who performed at the Moulin Rouge and on the Strip, as well as showgirl and philanthropist Cindy Doumani, whose family built the historic La Concha Motel and El Morocco, and managed the Tropicana.
Returns like those have been the most emotional by far. “The very first rehearsals, when all of the legendaries were in the rehearsal room again and starting to warm up and work on the number, there were a lot of tears,” Michel says. “It was like, ‘Oh my God, we’re back.’”
For singer Michelle Johnson, who regularly performs at Myron’s at the Smith Center and stars as Sally in Follies, sharing a stage with original showgirls isn’t just a privilege—it’s a time capsule experience.
“Just them walking in the room, it’s like a snapshot of history,” she says. “When that music hits, those 81, 91, 97-year-old women stand up and all of a sudden you can see the showgirl in their body. They all still can stand completely erect, their arms go out, and you can visualize the feathers.”
The 97-year-old Bailey, who moved to Las Vegas in 1955 to dance at the Moulin Rouge, admits the shock of being back onstage has lingered. She likens it to a movie, adding that none of her friends know she’s performing in Follies yet. It’ll serve as a worthwhile surprise.
“You’d never think that this would happen, dancing so many years ago. And that’s what they say, we all came back home,” Bailey says. “This is a really exciting time for me. Just wish for me that I don’t disappoint anybody, and I’ll do a good job. I can still kick but I don’t know how high!”
This Follies production is a respectful homage to legends of showbusiness and a torch-passing to the next generation. Famed local crooner Clint Holmes and comedian Rich Little will both make appearances, alongside some experienced Broadway performers and some local stars like Skye Dee Miles and Johnson, who recognizes she wouldn’t be on the stage if not for the Black trailblazers that came before. Johnson is one of the first Black women to portray the character Sally in an adaptation of Follies.
“We don’t do a lot of musical theater here like this,” Johnson says. “We have Super Summer Theatre and we have some smaller theaters, but not on this level unless you’re in something that’s touring and stops by Reynolds [Hall]. We miss that, the big casts and the big moments.”
Michel says 75 performers, including the orchestra, will be onstage by the end of the show. “We’ve jokingly said after doing Follies, you can kind of do any show because this one is so big and so complex,” he says. That scale of production is exactly what he hopes to replicate moving forward with Metropolis Theatricals.
A project of this size wouldn’t have been possible if not for Metropolis’ partnerships with the UNLV College of Fine Arts, the Showgirl Legacy Foundation, the Neon Museum, the Liberace Mansion and the JOI Jazz Orchestra. And given the age range of the legendary cast, this Follies revival is as rare as they come.
“This is going to really showcase the depth and the quality of talent on so many levels of what is in this community,” Michel says. “And people across the country and the world will start to pay attention to Vegas for some of the bigger theater things Vegas produces. If you can do Follies, you can do anything.”
FOLLIES April 11-14, times vary, $100-$150. Access Showroom at Aliante Casino, showgirlscomehome.com.
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