Entertainment

Only score’s of note

In the right hands, “Follies” is a punch in the gut — set to a fantastic score. Stephen Sondheim and James Goldman’s 1971 musical juxtaposes past and present, reality and fantasy. It can go from a soul-baring solo to an over-the-top number in a flash. And instead of feel-good catharsis, it delivers regret and disillusion.

But the revival that opened last night is in the shaky mitts of journeyman director Eric Schaeffer and a tentative cast led by Bernadette Peters, Jan Maxwell and soap-opera star Ron Raines. Rather than a seamless whole, the show feels like barely connected musical numbers of varying quality.

The story centers on alums from the company of a Ziegfeld-like impresario who reunite at their old theater. Among them are former showgirls Sally (Peters) and Phyllis (Maxwell), and their respective husbands, Buddy (Danny Burstein) and Ben (Raines).

Because the older characters are literally shadowed by their younger selves, we see our lead quartet in the bitter, frustrated present of 1971, and as hopeful 20-somethings three decades earlier.

Too bad the leads come up short. Maxwell renders “Could I Leave You?” with patrician rage, but in “The Story of Lucy and Jessie,” she can’t keep up with Warren Carlyle’s choreography and Sondheim’s tongue-twisting lyrics.

Peters, meanwhile, suggests a degree of mental imbalance in Sally, but sounds wobbly — though this adds uncomfortable poignancy to “Losing My Mind.”

The other former showgirls have less depth, but they do get brilliant specialty numbers that pastiche the golden-age styles of Romberg, Gershwin and Porter, while bearing Sondheim’s unmistakable stamp.

Rising to the top is British star Elaine Paige, who displays unexpected comic self-awareness as Carlotta, the aging diva trumpeting the up-yours anthem “I’m Still Here.” The sturdy Jayne Houdyshell channels a hopeful showbiz kid on “Broadway Baby,” and Terri White’s crooning of “Who’s That Woman” is like warm butterscotch trickling over ice cream.

These all work as so many tasty bonbons, but “Follies” demands more: a real vision of theater.

It won’t come from Schaeffer, whose few ideas aren’t even brought to full fruition. The ghostly chorus girls haunting the theater in Gregg Barnes’ fantastical outfits are a nice touch, but they’re underused. And when the fantasy-driven “Loveland” sequence hijacks the second act, it should transport us to a different realm, not a gigantic potpourri from Laura Ashley.

Oh well: At least those glorious songs are still here.

elisabeth.vincentelli
@nypost.com