Editing Follies (section)

==Background==
After the failure of ''[[Do I Hear a Waltz?]]'' (1965), for which he had written the lyrics to [[Richard Rodgers]]'s music, [[Stephen Sondheim]] decided that he would henceforth work only on projects where he could write both the music and lyrics himself. He asked author and playwright [[James Goldman]] to join him as [[bookwriter]] for a new musical. Inspired by a ''[[The New York Times|New York Times]]'' article about a gathering of former [[Ziegfeld Girls]], they decided upon a story about ex-[[Showgirl|showgirls]].<ref name=chapin>Chapin, pp. xxii–xxvi, 7</ref>

Originally titled ''The Girls Upstairs'', the musical was to be produced by [[David Merrick]] and [[Leland Hayward]] in late 1967, but the plans ultimately fell through, and [[Stuart Ostrow]] became the producer, with [[Joseph Hardy (director)|Joseph Hardy]] as director. These plans also did not work out,<ref>Citron, Stephen. [https://books.google.com/books?id=AWaZ1LAFAZEC&pg=PA160 ''Sondheim and Lloyd-Webber: The New Musical'', "Chapter: Prince and Company"]. ''Sondheim and Lloyd-Webber: The New Musical'', Oxford University Press US, 2001, {{ISBN|0-19-509601-0}}, pp.159-160</ref> and finally [[Harold Prince]], who had worked previously with Sondheim, became the producer and director. He had agreed to work on ''The Girls Upstairs'' if Sondheim agreed to work on ''[[Company (musical)|Company]]''; [[Michael Bennett (theater)|Michael Bennett]], the young choreographer of ''Company'', was also brought onto the project. It was Prince who changed the title to ''Follies''; he was "intrigued by the psychology of a reunion of old chorus dancers and loved the play on the word 'follies{{'"}}.<ref name=chapin/>