Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Maria Friedman and company miraculously unlock MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG through the lens of regret and self-examination

• By drediman
• December 17, 2022
• No Comments

It’s certainly no secret that Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s Merrily We Roll Along has had a storied but problematic history. Since its infamous Broadway premiere in 1981, the musical has been tinkered with ad nauseam, alas to minimal effect. The musical now arrives Off-Broadway at New York Theatre Workshop – starrily cast and miraculously unlocked – as the fall season’s hottest ticket (the revival has already been announced to make the jump to the Great White Way next fall). Like the George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart play of the same name on which it’s based, the musical version chronicles the shifting relationships between a trio of friends over the course of three decades, but in reverse chronological order from jaded cynicism and bitterness to unalloyed youthful possibility and hope.

I had first seen Maria Friedman’s celebrated staging in the West End (where it transferred after a successful initial run at the tiny but industrious Menier Chocolate Factory in London) and was surprised at how well the material actually works with little – if any – additional alterations (essentially the 1994 draft of the musical is used). What has changed? First and foremost, Friedman’s production trusts the material. What she does is merely uncover what was already there, the main shift in perspective being that, in her hands, the work’s reverse chronological framework now registers less like a theatrical gimmick but instead as the lens through which we view the protagonist’s regret and active self-examination. As such, the production seems largely to take place in in Franklin’s mind as he peels the layers to investigate how he got “there from here”. Friedman has coaxed her deluxe cast to approach Sondheim’s sparkling score (vibrantly animated by Jonathan Tunick’s original orchestrations, albeit an downsized abreviation of it) the same way they would a piece of dramatic text, mining the inherent humanity of the songs – the hurt, the joy – to reveal characters of uncommon depth. Indeed, many scenes in the revival are devastating in their acutely observant depiction of the moments, both big and small, that painfully evolve us (one of the only obvious missteps being the unearned placement of “Not a Day Goes By”, one of the show’s most beautiful ballads, sung distraughtly by Katie Rose Clarke).

For the production’s New York premiere, Friedman has assembled a sensational and immensely likable cast led by Jonathan Groff, Daniel Radcliffe, and Lindsay Mendez. As Franklin Shepard, the show’s magnetic yet polarizing protagonist, Groff brings an innate boy-next-door charisma to a character that’s frankly (pun intended) not very likable. Radcliffe is affecting and understated as Charley, and his delivery of the show-stopping “Franklin Shepard, Inc.” is as harrowing as it is manic. As for Mendez, she imbues Mary’s downward spiral with heartbreaking self-determination. Although they’re individually very different types of performers, together their chemistry is palpable and each is convincing as both embittered middle-aged adults facing dead-ends, as well as starry-eyed youths about to embark on the journey of life.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG
Broadway, Musical
New York Theatre Workshop
2 hours, 30 minutes (with one intermission)
Through January 22