Sunday, December 4th marked the date of NDP’s annual Father’s Follies. Father’s Follies is a musical put on every year by the fathers of NDP’s students. This musical is unique because the fathers participating wear uniforms and costumes. These uniforms may or may not actually be their daughter’s uniform, because of slight size differences, but look exactly like what the NDP girls wear right down to the “too long” shorts and “crunched down” saddle shoe backs. The fathers sing, dance and get the whole crowd roaring with laughter.
Each year the musical takes on a new theme. This year the theme was “Love Train.” “Love Train” is a popular song with lyrics saying, “Don’t you know that it’s time to get on board, And let this train keep on riding, riding on through.” These lyrics showed through as “Harry Potter” took a few “NDP students” on the ride of their lives. Harry and the girls rode back through the history of NDP to experience the lives of students in the 60s, 70s and 80s. The topics in the musical ranged from reminiscing about last year’s “Toy Story” to an explanation of the destroyed materials in the Time Capsule. NDP’s own Mr. Pomplon paid a surprise visit in the musical to the fathers dressed as students who continued to swoon over him and fall all over the stage floor. Although he was not in the musical, Mr. Lopez was also a character and donned a rather large hat. The outfits this year were exemplary and portrayed characters like The Village People, Go-Go dancers, Hippies, Elvis and the Beatles. While many girls claimed to be embarrassed out of their minds, they were all surely amused.
Behind the scenes, a group of fathers get together to put up the large marquis that says, “Father’s Follies presents…Love Train.” This marquis is made of several pieces and takes slightly over an hour to assemble and disassemble. The pieces are fit together with screws and held into the wall by two clamps. The fathers bring in several ladders, tools and snacks, then get to work carefully placing each piece in its spot. When asked what the toughest part of putting the marquis up was, David Young said, “The toughest part is knowing that after all the work and man power it takes to pull the marquis out of storage, clean it, make repairs, put it up it and test lighting, it has to be taken down and put away within days of construction, all after working our day jobs and countless nights of practice (Most of us our pretty tired).” The fathers do this before and after the musical each year, on their own time, but it pays off when their daughters walk in awed at the size and grandeur of it.
Following the theme of this year’s musical, it’s interesting to look at the past of the Father’s Follies. The first “Father’s Follies” was referred to as the Father-Daughter dinner. The very first Father-Daughter dinner was at LeClerc Hall on the Charles Street campus on March 6, 1955. During this dinner there were a guest speaker and an orchestra playing. In 1966, there was a father-daughter basketball game with a father-daughter dinner the following Sunday. 1971 is the first time that skits were interwoven into the Father-Daughter Dinner. Some of the skits were comical ideas of the relationship between parents and their daughter, while others made fun of NDP’s gym meet. Although the costumes weren’t as extravagant as they are today, the fathers wore wigs and uniforms that looked similar to NDP’s gym tunic. In 1972, the father in charge of the Follies was Mr. William W. Cahill, Jr. In the 1972 edition of “The Gateway,” he was quoted as saying, “I have no definite format plans so far, but my committee and I are planning for the fathers to entertain their daughters in some skits.” He continued, “… it is a time when fathers realize that their little girls are not little girls anymore.” This is very similar to the idea that goes into planning the follies today.
The Follies ended with a touching rendition of “Just a Dream” by Nelly rewritten with lyrics geared toward the father-daughter relationship. Fathers escorted their daughters on stage and, after handing them a red rose, continued to sing the song. Father’s Follies is one of the many NDP traditions that is loved by all and will hopefully remain around for all at NDP for years to come. With one of the largest casts this year, there is certainly a bright future for our fathers. Any daughter who attended the Follies and dinner this year can attest to the fact that “Love Train” was a stunning success. Congratulations to all the fathers who participated![slideshow id=9]