The 90's OB revival of MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG- Page 2

[bk]

Posted: 4/28/10 at 5:52pm

The problem with Merrily, aside from the backward storytelling, is that the book, especially at the beginning, is way too melodramatic for its own good - in fact, it's terrible, and almost worse in the revised version. By the time we get to the idealistic kids, as others have pointed out, we just are done with this group - I never understand those who are moved by this and I think they're seeing (or hearing) a show in their head that simply is not the show on view. Listening to the score alone it's possible to be seduced by the music and lyrics, but in the theater there is no way to be seduced by anything. This show has defeated everyone who's tried to do it, and that includes some pretty heavyweight creative people and actors.

The York production was okay - the recording, which I did, at least, sounds much better than it did in the theater (we used the reduced San Diego orchestrations for twelve, I think), and there are some wonderful performances preserved on the CD, so that's good.

Updated On: 4/28/10 at 05:52 PM

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 4/28/10 at 6:10pm

The problem with this particular story moving backwards is that there is no dramatic tension and no reveal. It never seems to lead anywhere (and if told in reverse, doesn't get much better). I do think a story can move backwards and have amazing tension while surprising the audience. The story of Merrily does neither. And as with Follies and Bounce/Road Show, the show is ultimately about very unlikeable and/or pathetic individuals. At least Follies and Merrily have scores worth salvaging.

[raker]

Posted: 4/28/10 at 11:53pm

The only Merrily We Roll Along I've seen was a college production, and I thought the show would probably work best with older actors.

I read the Kaufman and Hart play and liked it a lot. I thought the play was more involving because the main character was even more soulless than Franklin Shepard, and his betrayals were worse.

I like the story being told backward. We're shown, scene by scene, how a selfish, jaded man grew from a young, idealistic one. With the reverse storytelling, the show ends on an up note when the characters are young and exuberant, but it's sad too because we know what's to become of them.

[MrsSallyAdams]

Posted: 7/9/23 at 6:57am

Just saw the Blank Theater production in Chicago. It's performed on a tiny stage with no set or props. The stripped down version highlights the shows problems.

Frank often comes across as a Bobby. A cipher who doesn't know what he wants. Here he reminded me of Guido Contini. A jerk who women keep throwing themselves at. But where Guido had "the right girl" waiting for him at home, Frank chooses the worst of a bad batch. A manipulator who cuts him off from his clingy friends. Mary's such a mess that there's never a sense he "should have married her." But the others are messes too. So it seems he only ignored Mary because she's overweight.

Charlie's failing is that he lets Frank and the Producer hold him back. They insist that no one wants to sit through his political musical (And if "Bobby and Jackie and Jack" is any example I don't blame them.) But once he drops them and goes back to writing plays, we're told his work is a hit. He's so obnoxious that the question becomes why Frank holds on to him as long as he does. 

Charlie keeps insisting that Frank's real problem is that he gave up his artistic integrity. If only he'd stayed a mediocre composer instead of becoming a mediocre film producer! But I never buy that. (And, as Peter Filichia once pointed out, wealthy Broadway audiences don't care about "selling out." So women and bad friends are Frank's "downfall." But when they leave him he's still got money, a career and sex appeal. He'll be fine. 

Updated On: 7/9/23 at 06:57 AM

[Hey, Zelda!]

Posted: 7/9/23 at 2:35pm

MrsSallyAdams said: "So women and bad friends are Frank's "downfall." But when they leave him he's still got money, a career and sex appeal. He'll be fine."

“Here’s this wealthy playwright who has had repeated successes and earned enormous sums of money, has mistresses as well as a family, an expensive town house, a luxurious beach house and a yacht. The problem is: How did the poor son of a bitch get into this jam?”

–Herman J. Mankiewicz’s post-mortem on the original Kaufman-Hart play 

Updated On: 7/9/23 at 02:35 PM

[The Other One]

Posted: 7/9/23 at 6:00pm

newintown said: "Exactly, chewy - without the backwards progression, the story would be just another story. There are other pieces that play with sequence; Pinter's PASSION, for one. Doing these pieces, which were intrinsically created to be told in a non-forward way, would subtract from the piece, not add to it."

Pinter's Passion?  You mean Betrayal.  An interesting mistake because Sondheim, of course, later wrote a musical called Passion.