50 Favourite Musicals: 11: MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG (1981) (Stephen Sondheim)

The 50 shows that have stood out down the years and, as we get up among the paint cards, the shows that have become the cast recording of my life:

First performed: 1981, Alvin Theatre, NY

First seen by me: 1983, Bloomsbury Theatre, London

Productions seen: four
  
Score: Stephen Sondheim

Book: George Furth

Plot: Franklin Shepard is a successful composer and film producer but as he looks back over his 20 year career he can see how step-by-step his aspirations were lost along with his two best friends Charley Kingkas and Mary Flynn.

Five memorable numbers: MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG, OUR TIME. NOT A DAY GOES BY, GOOD THING GOING, OUR TIME

One show had to just lose out on the top 10 - how ironic it had to be MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG.  After their previous show SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FEET STREET won eight Tony Awards and nine Drama Desk Awards, the partnership of composer Stephen Sondheim and producer / director Hal Prince were expected to come up with another smash hit.  But it was not to be... MERRILY lasted a mere 44 performances after a troubled rehearsal period where the original leading man and choreographer where replaced and audiences walked out, confused by the back-to-front plotline.  Prince's concept of a cast of teenage performers, all in sweatshirts and jeans, backfired and the resultant failure had a lasting effect on it's devastated young cast as well as Sondheim and Prince who would not work together again on a new work for 22 years.  The odd thing is that the seemingly revolutionary plot-twist of having the story told backwards originated in 1934 in a play of the same name by George S Kaufman and Moss Hart, which had also closed losing money - albeit with more performances.  It was neglected at Awards time too, MERRILY received a single Tony nomination for Best Musical Score - which lost to Maury Yeston's NINE.  The palpable sadness of that original production has remained, especially as that cast's recording of the score has kept the show alive down the years - remarkable considering they recorded it the day after they closed.  Since then MERRILY has gone on to be reclaimed as one of Sondheim's most remarkable scores - particularly as the usual criticism thrown at him that he is too cerebral to be emotional is made ridiculous by songs such as NOT A DAY GOES BY and GOOD THING GOING which are tear-triggers of the highest magnitude.  Sondheim's score ripples with great songs whose tunes appear throughout the show in different guises so you can track them seemingly down the years as Charley, Frank and Mary's lives change and grow apart.

I was lucky enough to see MERRILY's European premiere when the Guildhall School's production transferred to the small Bloomsbury Theatre two months after it was first staged at the school.  Ian Judge's wonderful production swept me away and made the show instantly one of my favourites.  Over the years as it's status has grown with every UK and US revival, Sondheim has revisited the score and added new numbers for Frank and Gussie, the musical star he marries, but for me the original score is the one I return to.  After the 1983 Guildhall show I had to wait 17 years until another London production at the Donmar.  Michael Grandage's production featured career-defining performances from Samantha Spiro as Mary, Daniel Evans as Charley and Julian Ovenden as Frank and won three Olivier Awards for Best Musical, Best Actress and Best Actor for Evans; sadly no West End transfer occurred.  That happened three years later when Maria Friedman's production at the Menier Chocolate Factory transferred to the Pinter Theatre for a few months.  While happy that this remarkable show was finally seen in a proper West End house I was less enthusiastic by Friedman's garish and broad production - it did however win the Olivier for Best Musical Revival. The latest news on MERRILY is that Richard Linklater has announced he will make a film of it with the absurd idea of filming it over 20 years so the characters can be seen to age properly... one is tempted to think of Olivier's line to Dustin Hoffman while he was holding up filming doing his Method shenanigans "Why don't you try acting?".

A much more poignant and telling film take on MERRILY is Lonny Price's wonderful documentary BEST WORST THING THAT EVER COULD HAVE HAPPENED from 2016.  Initially a film about the making of MERRILY and the impact of it's failure on it's young cast, Price - who was the original Charley - had remembered ABC News filming all of the audition and rehearsals for a segment in one of their news programme but when they were informed they had an investment in MERRILY they stopped the filming and put out a statement that the footage was destroyed.  However the original videotapes were finally tracked down and Price utilizes the footage to recreate the excitement of the young cast turn to bewilderment at it's failure to work despite Sondheim and Prince's best efforts.  The bigger themes of looking back to see what you gave up to live your dreams - or giving up your dreams to live - are as palpable as MERRILY itself - do hunt it out...

Dvd/150: DINNER AT EIGHT (George Cukor, 1933)

Made the year after MGM's similarly all-star GRAND HOTEL but far more enjoyable!

Based on George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber's play, George Cukor's deft direction melds the different styles of the cast into a seamless treasure.

Ailing Lionel Barrymore secretly faces financial ruin but his snobbish wife Billie Burke insists on hosting a dinner for a British lord. Barrymore's former amour, actress Marie Dressler needs to sell her stock in his company and competitor Wallace Beery is eager to buy them to shut the business down.  However his scheming wife Jean Harlow is determined he won't ruin her chance of entering society.

Burke invites drunken actor John Barrymore - art imitating life - unaware that her daughter is his lover.  But when his agent Lee Tracy makes him face reality, everything changes for the worse.

Stars and supporting cast deliver 100% but Harlow is iridescent in her satin and fur.

Shelf or charity shop? Whoever heard of a society dinner in a charity shop??

3 unhappy experiences...

What a week - last Tuesday while running for the train I tripped on the last step up onto the platform, did a staggering 2 step run then went down bang. 5 days later my knees are still plastered up. And stinging. That's the last I run for a damn train to work.

Thursday saw Owen and I at the National Theatre to see the 30s comedy ONCE IN A LIFETIME which stars David Suchet, Victoria Hamilton and Adrian Scarborough. 

I must admit to being disappointed in the production. It's a perfectly fine play for the Lyttleton Theatre which has been given the full Olivier Theatre treatment and it rattles about the stage like a pea in a pod. It also mirrors one of George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart's criticisms of Hollywood - the original play is given the full Big Production overhaul with unnecessary big sets and interpolated song and dance numbers which only hold up the gags. 

The play still delivers some fine jabs at the insanity of the Dream Factory but there is some dodgy pacing which needs to be tightened up before the opening night. The set hopefully will be tightened up too. After the second scene the stage manager walked onto the stage and asked if we could all go into the foyer while they fixed the revolving drum which had got stuck! Ten minutes later we trooped back to our seats and the play resumed. Needless to say the massive staircase which rose out of the stage got the biggest hand of the evening!

Then on Friday showing the Devil works in threes... Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel at Shepherds Bush Empire. The win triple of indifferent act, vile crowd and bad venue. It was Owen I felt sorry for... 30 years to see a favoured artist only to be greeted with negligible sound, boozed-up punters and a charisma by-pass act. The one song I was looking forward to hearing COME UP AND SEE ME (MAKE ME SMILE) was of course lengthened further than necessary for the hand clapped call and response version.... yawn.

Roll on this week!