{"id":4081,"date":"2012-02-20T00:07:18","date_gmt":"2012-02-20T05:07:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theatreaficionado.com\/?p=4081"},"modified":"2012-02-29T12:51:30","modified_gmt":"2012-02-29T17:51:30","slug":"merrily-we-roll-along-encores","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theatreaficionado.com\/?p=4081","title":{"rendered":"“Merrily We Roll Along” @ Encores!"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 1981, Merrily We Roll Along <\/em>opened and closed quickly, a devastating failure that became one for the record books. The day after it shuttered, the cast and crew assembled in the recording studio laying down a cracker jack original cast album that has created a generation of ardent fans of the show and score. In 1985, Stephen\u00a0Sondheim revisited the show with his new collaborator James Lapine, who subsequently revised\u00a0George Furth’s\u00a0book, creating a new version of the show that was to fix the problems with the original. As a result some songs have been dropped, some reshuffled and the narrative brought into better focus, musically.<\/p>\n

This resulting revision was what the City Center Encores! performed for its first show in the 2012 season (Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Pipe Dream <\/em>and Jule Styne and Leo Robin’s Gentlemen Prefer Blondes <\/em>are still to come), giving New Yorkers a rare glimpse into this greatly loved, greatly flawed gem that has, unlike the messy but fun Anyone Can Whistle, <\/em>proven to be a somewhat\u00a0workable musical. For one thing, Sondheim’s score, which features\u00a0\u00a0“Old Friends,” “Good Thing Going,” and “Opening Doors,”\u00a0is just spectacular, and is one of the best ever composed for a failed show.<\/p>\n

It’s the book,\u00a0loosely based on a Kaufman and Hart\u00a0play of the same title, which moves backwards in time\u00a0that lends itself to the most criticism. The musical starts in 1976 and works its way back to\u00a01957 (originally 1955, more on that later), with vignettes\u00a0filling in the narrative gaps established in the tense opening scene. One of the reasons the show is so fascinating is that the plot hinges almost entirely on dramatic irony for context, taking us from the cynical, jaded and embittered former friends to the young, idealists who met on a NYC rooftop the night of Sputnik. The narrative doesn’t quite satisfy, as it feels like a morality play without a clear\u00a0moral. But what Sondheim and Furth (and Lapine by extension)\u00a0created feels\u00a0like a fascinating experiment in form and structure, and while it doesn’t quite all gel as I’d like it, I’m so glad they created it. (If the narrative unfolded traditionally, it would be insufferable).<\/p>\n

The cast is absolutely superb. Colin Donnell brings leading man charisma, good looks and voice to Franklin Shepherd, the ambitious composer turned film producer. Lin-Manuel Miranda is captivating as his best friend, collaborator and conscience Charley Kringas, who delivers one of the score’s most fascinating numbers, “Franklin Shepherd, Inc.” which was an electrifying showstopper in Miranda’s hands. Rounding out the trip of friends is Celia Keenan-Bolger, whose incisive interpretation of Mary Flynn, the alcoholic writer with a torch for Frank, is a knock-out. Ms. Keenan-Bolger is at all times devastating and hilarious, dropping one liners with great humor and unyielding depth.<\/p>\n

As Frank’s wives, Betsy Wolfe and Elizabeth Stanley are also quite impressive. Stanley, in particular, is an sensation as Gussie Carnegie, the secretary turned Broadway chorus girl turned star turned has-been (in reverse order). Wolfe has a less flashy role, but sings beautifully and makes an incredible impression with the score’s\u00a0most famous number, “Not a Day Goes By.” Adam Grupper makes a great impression as the producer.<\/p>\n

Lapine directed the production, creating a clear and polished staging that works quite well and smoothens some of the rougher edges of the book, though I could have lived without the projections. I doubt we’ll see a better Merrily <\/em>for quite some time. I do wish that Lapine and Sondheim would go back and take another look at that final scene. The show ends with the stirring “Our Time,” but\u00a0the\u00a0lead-in dialogue is unsatisfying and the stakes not yet at a level to warrant the stirring anthem which closes the show. Originally the trio had known each other in high school,\u00a0but now they meet in this rooftop scene.\u00a0Now after some perfunctory dialogue, the writers have thrust these characters into an intimacy that is premature, ultimately stunting\u00a0the emotional potential of the scene.<\/p>\n

Another reason to rejoice: Jonathan Tunick was brought in to work on the orchestrations, combining his originals with the score’s revisions for the first time, created what is probably the definitive reading of the score. I only hope someone considers a cast album of this production, as we’re not likely to have it better any time soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 1981, Merrily We Roll Along opened and closed quickly, a devastating failure that became one for the record books. The day after it shuttered, the cast and crew assembled in the recording studio laying down a cracker jack original cast album that has created a generation of ardent fans of the show and score. … Continue reading “Merrily We Roll Along” @ Encores!<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1310,1308,1775,1306,1309,1305,1297,2004,1307,1208,1296,1617],"class_list":["post-4081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-betsy-wolfe","tag-cela-keenan-bolger","tag-city-center-encores","tag-colin-donnell","tag-elizabeth-stanley","tag-george-furth","tag-james-lapine","tag-jonathan-tunick","tag-lin-manuel-miranda","tag-merrily-we-roll-along","tag-rob-berman","tag-stephen-sondheim"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theatreaficionado.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theatreaficionado.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theatreaficionado.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theatreaficionado.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theatreaficionado.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4081"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.theatreaficionado.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4081\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4510,"href":"https:\/\/www.theatreaficionado.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4081\/revisions\/4510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theatreaficionado.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theatreaficionado.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theatreaficionado.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}