MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG

Director: Maria Friedman
Starring: Jonathan Groff, Daniel Radcliffe, Lindsay Menzdez, Katie Rose Clarke, Krystal Joy Brown, Corey Mach, Coby Getzug, Talia Robinson

Stephen Sondheim’s musical Merrily We Roll Along premiered on Broadway in 1981 and was a big flop. It was revived on Broadway in 2023 and was a huge success winning Tonys for Best Revival of Musical and for stars Jonathan Groff and Daniel Radcliffe. It was filmed and now the pro-shot is in theaters for a limited engagement. Merrily We Roll Along opened at the Hudson Theater and was filmed over the course of three performances with four to five cameras under the direction of Maria Friedman who also directed the stage musical. It opens with Jonathan Groff as Frank Shepard who is celebrating the opening night of a new movie he’s worked on. He’s surrounded by friends all celebrating his success. His best friend, Mary (Lindsay Mendez), is there and her drunken behavior speaks volumes about the state of their friendship. Their old friend Charley Kringas (Daniel Radcliffe) is not there as he and Frank had a falling out. Also absent it Frank’s son who he hasn’t spoken to in years. The party should be a celebration, but Stephen Sondheim’s intricate music and lyrics inform the audience that Frank’s success has come at the cost of his family and friends. Merrily takes place over the course of twenty years but is told backwards in its timeline to showcase the dissolution of this once beautiful friendship. In theaters for a limited engagement

Here’s my review