Over the course of his storied career, composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim had quite a stunning list of successes and very few misses. His greatest fail, however, came in 1981 when, with creative partner Hal Prince directing, Merrily We Roll Along premiered on Broadway and promptly bombed, closing following abysmal reviews and just 16 performances. The show's flop is stuff of stage lore, the rare miss from one who's widely regarded as one of the great lyricists of all time.
Based on a 1930s play, the reworked musical follows three creative friends and the trials and turmoils of success (finding it, losing it, wanting it or not), unrequited love and the changing times over several decades. The catch is that the story is told in reverse, starting at the end and working backwards to reveal the journey of this unlikely trio, and in the original 1981 production, the head-scratching creative decision was made to cast the show with teenagers and young adults. The idea then was that as the show regresses into the past, the young actors in the role would make more sense; needless to say, the conceit didn't work. The music didn't work (a reprise before we've actually heard the song?). The plot was confusing (who's mad at who, now?).
There's a wonderful documentary, Best Worst Thing that Ever Could Have Happened..., chronicling the colossal miscalculations of that original production; it's streaming free on Hoopla, a service any Chicagoan with a library card can enjoy. The documentary would make a wonderful companion piece to the newly released, filmed version of the 2023 Broadway revival of Merrily starring Jonathan Groff, Daniel Radcliffe and Lindsay Mendez, a production that finally gets this special, bittersweet show right (made doubly bittersweet because Sondheim didn't live to see it finally work).
As an unabashed worshipper at the altar of Sondheim, I took myself on a special trip to New York in July 2024 to see this one-in-a-lifetime production for myself the week before it closed for good (a cast like that can't be in it for the long, long haul). Not yet on the planet when Merrily first premiered, I spent my life figuring it was my musical theater white whale, that I'd never get a chance to see this one rare miss from the greatest to ever do it; when the revival was announced, I knew I'd have to find a way to get there and see it for myself, and I was richly rewarded for my efforts. Pitch perfect casting paired with a vintage look and feel plus what are ultimately some of Sondheim's most memorable songs made for a night at the theater I almost still can't believe I got to witness (it's right up there with seeing Audra McDonald in Gypsy...).
The revival was directed by Maria Friedman, and she serves as the film version's director as well; an early card on screen informs us this particular performance was filmed in June 2024 (just a few weeks before I'd attend myself), and the film opens with Sondheim's original overture, an all but lost art in modern musical theater. It sets the stage for a truly special experience up close and personal with this typically insightful, cheeky and timely Sondhiem production. Groff is Franklin Shepard, a composer with big ambitious and a bigger ego; Radcliff is his creative partner, Charley Kringas, a lyricist and playwright with a strong sense of integrity and a wife and four kids to support; Mendez is Mary Flynn, a novelist-turned-critic pining for Frank from afar.
Even from my seat in the balcony last summer, these three well-known actors brought an unmistakable sense of energy and chemistry to the show; in Friedman's filmed version, one gets an up-front seat not only to their chemistry but their deeply committed performances. In intimate, copious close-ups, we witness every shift of an eyebrow, every turned corner of a mouth; it's the kind of connection to the performances only those in the front rows of a theater can typically enjoy, and in this filmed version, it democratizes that kind of connection to the work.
The flip side of that front-row seat, unfortunately, is that after a little while spent so up-close-and-personal, one starts to wonder about the bigger picture. I found myself more than once yearning for Friedman and cinematographer Sam Levy (His Three Daughters, curiously also a claustrophobic work...) to zoom out for a bit, to give us the full stage. Merrily is not a show with choreography or big sets, but nevertheless the filming treats it more like a play than a musical, opting for close or mid shots with wider ones quite infrequent. It's a miss only because, recalling my full view of the stage—which transforms from a chic Los Angeles estate to a television studio to a Manhattan rooftop and more—I longed for a fuller picture of this trio (and the large ensemble around them) embracing the space.
But this is a quibble over a gift we've been given; while Richard Linklater waits for time to pass to film his Boyhood-esque version that will age with actors Paul Mescal, Ben Platt and Beanie Feldstein in real time, Sondheim die-hards and newbies alike have this beautifully staged, worthy revival to enjoy on the big screen (and small, eventually), capturing as it does a moment in musical theater history.
Merrily We Roll Along is now playing in theaters.
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