"Merrily We Roll Along" (1980) - Stephen Sondheim

[JKVideos]

Just saw Encore's version a few days ago, it's fantastic and it seems like problems or kinks the show had are gone-this seems like a great piece of work. It's truly heart renching and the leads are perfect/spot on...

[KeladrysLove]

I did this play as a freshmen in High School and i loved it so much, it was so much fun and amazing

[sacredlunatic]

It's a lot to ask of an audience: it's a sad musical, one where the joyful optimism of the end is tinged with the bitterness of the beginning

like most sondheim, it is not there to entertain and leave us pleased, it's their to make us think and feel

[autopolydidact]

My heart kind of breaks whenever I hear people talk about how it was a flop. All I experience is the richness and joy whenever I put the original cast recording through my headphones. And to know that it just died is tragic. For me it lives, and it will live whenever I sing the songs with the sound of the original running through my head.

[librlart]

I saw a production at a small 99 seat house in LA, and I thought it was fantastic. It occurred to me that it didn't seem like it would be as enjoyable in a big broadway house, however, and that was the first time I'd had that thought after a play. I think it's a more intimate story as opposed to a Broadway blockbuster.

[xxJonathanOMalleyxx]

I think one of the main problems was letting post-adolescents play the leads ..

Don't get me wrong, they were fantastic, no doubt; but it just didn't work.

Still, one of my favorite Sondheim-Scores (well, they all are in a way xD) and I agree, phenomenal orchestrations <3

[Bonni123456789]

@xxJonathanOMalleyxx age has nothing to do with being a lead. If a person is talented enough and strong enough, and has a good connection physically, mentally, emotionally to a song, the audience forgives any minor things like age, race, gender, etc. Its all about performance.

[xxJonathanOMalleyxx]

@Bonni123456789

Oh I don't mean that they were not talented enough, by god, I love Lonny Price and Ann Morrison on the Cast Recording (and Jim Walton could also be described as brilliant, if you want) but somehow I think they were actually too old at that point... I mean, Morrison was I believe 25 and after all the original intention was to cast teen-agers (and yes, I know that this obviously didn't work out either).

[xxJonathanOMalleyxx]

And I probably should have made myself clearer:

In MY opinion this was a problem - I'm quite certain that this aspect wasn't the main reason why people disliked the show, I believe that was to due the, well... bitter aftertaste it left (though I still love the themes and think, that it was better backwards... but again, that's just my opinion - which, I have to admit, is pretty stupid; still I rather like it.)

[kahlilnelson]

I so grew up on this, 'Franklin Shephard Inc.' and 'Now You Know'.

[AtLastOnTheGround]

My personal favs are this one, "Franklin Shepard Inc," "Not A Day Goes By," "Old Friends," "Like It Was," and "Our Time."

I really don't get why this was a flop. The plot did have some problems, but they fixed those for subsequent versions. The score is just brilliant.

[KaraokeKid22]

whats it about - what was wrong with the plot?

[AtLastOnTheGround]

The plot was just like the play it was based on -- Chronologically, it worked itself backwards, and it proved to be sort of stupid when it did that.

[winetourism]

With the right director and actors, this turns out to be a very effective way of telling a story - leaving the audience to think about how they may have gotten off 'the path.' Our talkbacks with the audience were filled with people expressing remorse and being affected by the storytelling - anything but 'stupid'

[conniedrag]

Ooh, I don't agree that the reverse chronology of Merrily was stupid. I saw it at the Donmar, and the feeling of youthful enthusiasm at the end, set against what you've seen is to come, is heartbreaking.

If it was done chronologically, the actual plot wouldn't amount to anything.