Film Adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's Follies Is in the Works

According to reports, Stephen Sondheim and James Goldman's musical Follies is headed to the big screen in a new film adaptation by four-time Olivier Award winner Dominic Cooke. The film rights to the musical have been secured by David Heyman's Heyday Films and BBC Films.

Cooke directed the acclaimed 2017 revival of Follies at London's National Theatre. The production (which returned to the London stage earlier this year) was nominated for 10 Olivier Awards, winning two including Best Musical Revival. Cooke is also known for directing the film On Chesil Beach, starring Saoirse Ronan.

Follies, which features a score by Sondheim and a book by Goldman, premiered on Broadway in 1971 at the Winter Garden Theatre. The musical has since had two Broadway revivals in 2001 and 2011.

The story follows two couples — Buddy and Sally Durant Plummer, and Benjamin and Phyllis Rogers Stone — who attend a reunion at a crumbling Broadway theater, scheduled for demolition, where Sally and Phyllis were once showgirls in the Follies.