MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG Reviews — Page 6

Here tonight and she’s out too. Jamila is excellent (at intermission now).

I am mostly unfamiliar with Merrily. I have heard a few songs but never the full song book and I know very little about the story.

I can see how this got poor original reviews. It needs perfect directing a the perfect lead to carry Frank.

This show got both.

Phillyguy said: "Do they do stage door? What about Sat matinee? I wonder if I should stay after the show this afternoon or come back tonight."

They didn't stage door a couple of weeks ago after the matinee- but it was also a monsoon.

From what I hear, Daniel does, Lindsey doesn't, and no word on Jonathan.

Lindsay is still out for both Saturday shows.

Daniel stage doors almost every evening, except when there is sickness in the cast, Jonathan pretty rarely as he stays for guests, and Lindsay almost never.

Updated On: 10/28/23 at 02:28 PM

Just a tad less obscene. The $799 includes the service fee.

Prices are generally insane through year's end, but better options are plentiful on most dates in the new year. I just purchased a dress circle center seat for mid-January for $209 with fees. That's about $30 more than I paid in the original Broadway presale for the same seat, but at this point, I'll take it.

helso1 said: "Hi! Just after some advice if possible. I’m visiting in December from the UK and looking for tickets in the $252 range. I just wondered which people think would be the best seats to take for two of us, from the screenshot below.



Many thanks for any help.



Helen"

I paid $180 for first row balcony center and I thought the view was excellent. I swapped seats with family for the second half in center orchestra and I could see advantages of both. If I were to choose again, I think front balcony is definitely worth it.

Jamila Sabares-Klemm on as Mary Flynn for the matinee today.

I got a balcony ticket for February for 92 dollars. At that time there were Wednesday matinees for 72. This was using a 20 dollar off coupon code.

No slip for Lindsay at tonight’s show, super happy! Was going to be bummed to miss her.

Is Lindsay leaving Merrily? It was announced she will be a season regular on a new television series from Ryan Murphy today. Does that explain why she went missing for a week?

Article

Updated On: 11/4/23 at 01:39 AM

Caught this again recently, and I loved it even more the second time. Leana Rae Concepcion was on as Beth, and I much preferred her to Katie Rose Clarke - she just have a much stronger performance (both vocally and from an acting standpoint). When I saw this the first time, I was not a huge fan of Krystal Joy Brown's Gussie, but something about the performance worked so much better for me the second time - I could sense the sadness, desperation, and insecurity beneath that strong facade. It's a very grounded and real performance. The perfect trifecta that is Groff, Radcliffe, and Medez has gotten even more perfect. The chemistry between the three of them is so genuine, and watching the deterioration of their friendship backwards is heartbreaking yet still hopeful which is the point of the show. This is easily one of the best things on Broadway right now, and I'm so glad this production has been so lovingly embraced by critics and audiences alike.

Jesse Green's review of the revival in the New York Times has nagged at me, because I don't think I agree about his assessment of Frank.

“Merrily” is thus no longer, as it seemed in 1981, the story of the gradual, almost inevitable dimming of youth’s sweet illusions but rather the story of their falsity in the first place. Frank is only devoted to Mary and Charley when he doesn’t have access to anyone more useful. To think he turned into that monster is a mistake: He always was one, as Sondheim clearly understood. 'That’s what everyone does,' Mary sings once the three-way friendship has collapsed. 'Blames the way it is/on the way it was/On the way it never ever was.'"

Let's set aside my annoyance with the inevitable comparison to the 1981 original version that only a few people like Jarethan actually saw. Merrily hasn't been that show for a long time. Green supports his arguments both with true statements (Frank's friendship with Mary and Charley is increasingly one-sided, although they cling to it) and with a quote from "Like It Was" that makes his strongest case.

But was Frank a "monster" the whole time? He's ambitious, absolutely. He's less concerned with the purity of art for its own sake, certainly when he's poor and then when he takes a huge financial hit in the divorce. He's drawn to the glitz and glamour (and money) of success. What's worse, and this is not emphasized in the revival, he has no relationship with his teenage son. Frank, in the original version of the show, is just a sellout, in the parlance of multiple generations of artists and fans.

But in "Franklin Shepard Inc.," Charley is the first to acknowledge that Frank's business acumen has helped make him and his growing family rich. "But he makes a lot of money, and a lot of it for me - Right?" Charley sings, tossing off a line about his "little sailboat." His gripe with Frank is that, while Frank is good with money, he's squandering his gifts in his preoccupation with it. Other people "do [the money thing] better," but no one does music better than Frank. That's what he is upset about, that Frank is leaving him so he can do things he isn't as good at. Charley ends up just fine. After the breakup, he writes a Pulitzer Prize-winning play that is apparently doing well on Broadway. Charley has the artistic and (apparent) financial success that he had with Frank, while Frank is "celebrating" a lousy movie with hangers-on and wondering how did he get to be here.

The story of Frank isn't that of a jerk who was always a jerk and just ended up a rich jerk. Who would care? It's a poignant story of a hopeful, talented young man who makes rational - but often selfish - decisions that lead him to a sad, empty life despite his material success. Jonathan Groff's skill at showing that in the opening and closing scenes is what makes the show hit so hard and why it's such a terrific revival.