Merrily We Roll Along - Broadway Pro Shot
If you haven't heard of Merrily We Roll Along before now, how on earth have you stumbled on this blog lol. Merrily has a complex and often troubled history. The brainchild of musical theater legends Stephen Sondheim and Hal Prince, based on the play of the same name by Kaufman and Hart, the show originally opened in 1981 and closed after only 16 performances. The score has long been heralded by musical theater fans, but pretty much everyone agreed that the show itself just didn't work. The piece moves backwards in time and explores how our lives can head down wildly different tracks (often with compromised, cynical results) than we ever imagined or intended. Specifically, the show follows three "Old Friends" - composer Frank, playwright Charlie, and novelist Mary. At the beginning of the play we see jaded, "sell out" Frank giving an incredibly depressing address to the graduating class of his alma mater. One of the students asks "How did you get to ...