Dorothy Collins

[Sally Durant Plummer]

Posted: 7/21/14 at 3:20am

20 years ago, we lost an amazing performer and person. Dorthy Collins, known for her heart wrenching role as Sally in the original production of Stephen Sondheim's Follies, was one of my personal favorite voices in theatre. It seems a shame that she only did one Broadway show, although she was allegedly wonderful in a production of "Do I Hear A Waltz". Dorothy performed on television shows such as "Candid Camera" and "Your Hit Parade". Her acting was top-notch as well, proven by the vulnerability and pathos she executed during Follies. The nuance she brought to "In Buddy's Eyes" was particularly wonderful. My personal favorite moment was her ending scene with Buddy, as she says "Tomorrow? Dear God, it IS tomorrow." It brings me to tears even today.
In honor of her memory, here are my three particular favorites of her:

"Unchained Melody":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ynZ1k6LZeU

"It Might As Well be Spring":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNCaFwTZGIw

And her iconic torch song, "Losing My Mind":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZU9CE6N_Dck

As you can see, she "sings like an angel." A beautiful and classy women, who will always be missed.

[After Eight]

Posted: 7/21/14 at 6:53am

Yes, Dorothy Collins gave a beautiful performance in Follies, triumphing both in and over a difficult and often absurd part.

I also loved her on Your Hit Parade in those now long ago days. Loved Gisele Mackenzie, too!

On Candid Camera, she projected warmth and humor.

Simply put, she was just plain wonderful.

Thanks for the memories.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 7/21/14 at 7:47am

Collins's performance in the original production of Follies (which I saw 6 times) is seared into my memory, as a kind of benchmark of how an actress can make the audience not only understand the character, not only empathize with the character but also ache along with the character. She had what Judy Garland had, and very few performers can make themselves that vulnerable.

You don't see it very much in her earlier TV appearances--the set-ups on Your Hit Parade were usually kind of silly--but you can see glimpses of it in that "Unchained Melody" or this "Let Me Go, Lover":

http://youtu.be/FCDMcTCrWis

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 7/21/14 at 8:48am

Agree everything said above. I am old enough to have seen the original Follies. That was theater. Imagine todays audiences watching Follies in between texting and eating. This is the Broadway I grew up on and miss today.

[jemjeb2]

Posted: 7/21/14 at 9:33am

I too was fortunate to have seen Ms Collins in "Follies" during its Boston try out. One could have heard a pin drop during the devastating "Losing My Mind". Talk about an unforgetable theatrical moment! Maybe today you'd hear a few cell phones clicking, candy wrappers, etc
But I don't want to sound like the curmudgeon I probably am...

[CurtainsUpat8]

Posted: 7/21/14 at 12:14pm

I didn't see Dorothy Collins in Follies. I sure wish I had. I think her rendition of Losing My Mind on the Sondheim Tribute album with the crosswords on the cover is the definitive version. No one has sung it as well as that... at least not that I have heard.

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 7/21/14 at 2:46pm

I can see her being wonderful in DO I HEAR A WALTZ.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 7/21/14 at 2:47pm

She would have been great.

[Sally Durant Plummer]

Posted: 7/21/14 at 2:54pm

According to EVERYTHING WAS POSSIBLE, that was one of the things that got them interested in her for Sally.

Updated On: 7/21/14 at 02:54 PM

[lovebwy]

Posted: 7/21/14 at 2:59pm

I was an infant when she was doing Follies, but oh, how I wish I could have seen her. The videos of her performing Losing My Mind on Youtube are stunning. I don't think any modern actress could have the handle that she had on Sally. Vicki Clark and Bernadette were very good, but they were Vicki Clark and Bernadette, Dorothy Collins was Sally.

[brettarnett]

Posted: 7/21/14 at 4:35pm

I find it very interesting that she never made it to Broadway again. It seemed like a natural fit. She did a lot of stock work though.

I remember finding this site a few years ago. Great photos and an audio of her singing "Fifty Percent."

Edit: Make sure to check out all the different pages, each has a song with Dorothy singing.




Remembering Dorothy Collins Updated On: 7/21/14 at 04:35 PM

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 7/21/14 at 8:05pm

It's particularly amazing how Miss Collins shined in FOLLIES, considering she was shackled with a hideous pink dress for much of the evening, while Alexis Smith stalked the stage regally in scarlet.

I think I had to get a little older and see Collins a second time to realize FOLLIES is Sally's show. (Well, Sally's and Ben's.)

[MichelleCraig]

Posted: 7/21/14 at 8:22pm

I was lucky enough to see Dorothy Collins in FOLLIES at the Colonial Theatre in Boston during previews. I was 13 years old, but I "got it"... Let me tell you, the production design for the Loveland sequence made the magnificent last revival look like a summer stock production. I can still remember how magnificent that was!

Unfortunately, I went early on and heard Yvonne DeCarlo sing, "Boy Can That Boy Foxtrot" as "I'm Still Here" hadn't gone into the show yet.

However, Dorothy Collins was amazing and her "Losing My Mind" was heartbreaking even for a 13 year old heart.

[collinsfollower]

Posted: 8/29/14 at 4:29pm

Thanks for your kind words on the talent of Dorothy Collins. I sure wish I had had the chance to see her in the 1971 production of "Follies". I love listening to the soundboard recording of that show and hearing the dialogue as well. The remix CD recently done is an incredible improvement over the OBC CD. It is a shame that she did not make it back to Broadway. She did an incredible amount of summer stock beginning in 1957 in St. Louis with "The Wizard of Oz". If you are interested, check out my tribute website to Dorothy and look at the listing of summer stock she was involved in. I am amazed at people who say they wish she had done more stage work...she did. I have several other sound board recordings of her in summer stock and it is so good to listen to her live. Again, thanks for your comments.

Collinsfollower

[Sally Durant Plummer]

Posted: 8/29/14 at 4:47pm

Thank you for those amazing words. I love when people recognize her enormous talent.

Updated On: 8/29/14 at 04:47 PM

[justoldbill]

Posted: 8/29/14 at 9:00pm

I saw FOLLIES four times, including the New York closing. I think they had to start "Losing My Mind" four times because of the audience tumult. Four years later, she was singing at a club in the West 70's somewhere. After her set, I mentioned the closing night and she pulled up a chair and we talked for about fifteen minutes about the show and Sondheim (I was in town then to see PACIFIC OVERTURES- another closing) and of the summer stock production of MY FAIR LADY I had seen her in in the 60's. She was exceedingly nice and gracious and fun and it remains one of my nicest memories.

[theeatah]

Posted: 8/30/14 at 11:42am

Yes, it's a pity that FOLLIES didn't open up a Broadway career for her, though I think her voice went into decline pretty steeply afterwards. There's a 1977 recording of the Man I Love on YT. She doesn't sound bad but her voice was much deeper and I think she lost her soprano range (there's also a recording of a stock return to FOLLIES from around the same time, which attests to that).

I think I read that as well as DO I HEAR A WALTZ, she was up for the Lincoln Center SOUTH PACIFIC - what a dream it would be to have Collins on the cast recording rather than Florence Henderson with her two distinct and non-complimentary voices.

[lovebwy]

Posted: 8/30/14 at 3:12pm

The problem with Bernadette Peters version of Losing My Mind (onstage anyway) was she had a habit of crying through the song. With an inordinate amount of sniffling. Some nights were worse than others. But she should not have been crying at all. At that point, we've transcended into Loveland. We were watching human follies, now were watching THE Follies. She needed to be understated and in control like Collins was in every version I've seen her do.

I enjoyed Peters in the role, but that was something the director should have put his foot down over, in my opinion.

[chrisampm2]

Posted: 8/30/14 at 3:34pm

Lovebwy, I imagine the director might disagree with you. In that production, it seemed to me, the characters were suffering a group delusion. They were still the same characters, now trapped in Loveland. Neither Sally nor any of the others were under any obligation to act exactly like performers in THE Follies.

[The Other One]

Posted: 8/30/14 at 3:40pm

Peters cries. A lot. Not just in FOLLIES. And the director of that revival encouraged a heavy-handed approach. Elaine Page's angry "I'm Still Here" was a far more frustrating case in point.

I saw the original production twice. Dorothy's performance remains not only the definitive Sally but one of the greatest performances I have ever seen. I would like to go back to 1971 and 1972 just to see her again.

[lovebwy]

Posted: 8/30/14 at 3:50pm

chrisampm2 I guess it's a matter of interpretation, but I think it would be better to see them all as performers in the Loveland scenes, which would tend to make Ben's breakdown more unexpected and powerful when it happens.

I agree too that Elaine Paige's I'm Still Here was all wrong. It was fun to hear her belt but she didn't seem to understand a word of what she was singing. (When she could remember the lyrics, that is).


Peters cries Updated On: 8/30/14 at 03:50 PM

[Musical Master]

Posted: 8/30/14 at 5:55pm

Dorothy was a really special lady who is not forgotten amongst the theater and television world. I'll bet her "Losing My Mind" was something to behold on stage.

[collinsfollower]

Posted: 8/30/14 at 6:25pm

In addition to her daughter's site...remembering dorothy collins....check out www.collinstribute for a look at all of the various summer stock Dorothy did since her debut in 1957...and she kept going until her retirement in 1980.

[collinsfollower]

Posted: 8/30/14 at 6:30pm

Dorothy did do the musical "Do I Hear A Waltz"...in 1966 at the Paper Mill Playhouse with her then husband Ron Holgate and again in 1967 at the St. Louis MUNY with Enzo Stuarti. Would love to get my hands on a sound board recording.

Updated On: 8/30/14 at 06:30 PM

[MomofOZ]

Posted: 9/12/14 at 3:35pm

I had to respond to the subject of Bernadette crying. My mother had zero patience for anyone who has tears streaming down their face while singing. You can not sing while crying.... it is physically impossible when you're feeling something so strongly enough to cry over. And therefore, anyone who cries while singing comes across as fake. One of the many things my mother (Dorothy Collins) taught me on performing. :)