Thoughts on MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG's original framing device

I know there are literally oodles of threads discussing the multiple incarnations and their pros and cons, but I was specifically interested on peoples' thoughts on this aspect.

For those of you who saw the original version and any of the revisions, did you prefer it with or without the graduation frame? I think it's so chilling and effective on the OBC and wish the current licensed version included it even as an optional thing.

Have the authors ever given a reason why it's never been used again?

Updated On: 4/20/15 at 11:27 PM

I guess that's a valid concern. I think it could probably be overcome if they tried however.

Even if "The Hills Of Tomorrow" only appeared at the end. Better than not at all.

I will always believe that the best version of the show as a whole was the final Broadway version. Yes, I wish "Growing Up" and "The Blob" were part of the product, but the version in which they appear is still inferior to the final Broadway product. They tried so hard to make the show work and I think they succeeded in the show on paper: the libretto and score were phenomenal by the time they opened (The first few previews were VERY rocky - laughable, even). The cast was astounding. If only Hal Prince had done his part. With better concept and costume designs (definitely NOT performing the show like a high school production and charge top Broadway prices - that surely turned many audience members off) the show could have been a hit. And to this day "It's A Hit" is full of irony never intended.

The framing device is the only was to make the show feel like a whole. Without it there is no plot of intention, it is simply dramatic irony. When you end with Frank's realization in the reprise of "Hills of Tomorrow" the character actually makes growth. Without it, it's just an unlikable character destroying his life and estranging his far more likable friends. And not even the most stunning rendition of "Growing Up" can redeem him.

I'm actually in the minuscule to nonexistent camp that thinks that the show actually works. I find the book structure to be fascinating and a strangely compelling way to write a show. I actually find that the main problem with the show is the dialogue itself. George Furth is just a bad playwright in my book, and has no clue how to write natural sounding dialogue. Better than the musical is the Kaufman and Hart play, where the dialogue is anything but awful.

There are some epic one-liners from Mary which make me laugh every time: "What do you really do? I really drink." and "I had to borrow this dress from the guy upstairs"- in that book.

But I'm with Mr Kringas on the framing device. I think that through the juxtaposition of the young and the old the show earns huge poignancy. I agree with Sally 100% about the best version.

Nowadays I get the feeling that people chop the show around because they want to be seen as the guys who "fixed" Merrily.

Can I propose something crazy? Not doing the show backwards, but slightly rearranged?

Here's the order as I see it:

overture

the hills of tomorrow/ graduation speech

merrily we roll along

(then we flashback to the 1950s and watch the characters go from just starting in the business to frank's divorce)

opening doors

bobby and Jackie and jack

(some scene between Frank and Beth showing their booming relationship)

not a day goes by

The blob/ good thing going

Gussie's good thing going/ it's a hit

(some scene between Gussie and Frank where she makes her move on opening night and Beth catches Frank in a compromising position)/ Growing Up

not a day goes by reprise

Now you know

- intermission -

(we then flash forward to the present day, just before the graduation)

that frank/ rich and happy (call me crazy but I like these two songs together: one showing what frank's become and the other showng what he could have been. Plus by fast forwarding in the middle, after growing with the characters you get all these questions: how did Frank end up with Gussie? When did mary become a lush, where is charlie? It sets up the rest of the act):

Old Friends

growing up

like it was

franklin Shepard inc

(we're now present day in a somewhat nowhere space. I thought this would be a great place for a scene between a grown up Frank jr and Frank. Which then leads into flashing back to:)

our time (also, I love the encores version of the scene before this with the three meeting for the first time... Just had to get that out there.)

We then flash back to the present: the graduation (which I always thought was Frank jr's class). As Frank finishes his speech, and the chorus sings the hills of tomorrow, we'd see Frank on the roof where it all began, as mary and charlie appear from the shadows.

Yes, the device of a show going completely backwards is lost. But in my opinion it's a device which alienates more than it helps. Plus, in its place we get the chance to see the characters grow instead of recede, we still answer the question of what happened to screw everything up, and by jumping back and forth a bit in the second half, we still get our time as a finale and that Frank as something of an opening. We see the promise they had vs. what they became. And honestly, isn't that the point?

I know no one woule ever sign off on this as a version (I dub it roll along we merrily), but in the space of my imagination, its a great solution to a troubled show.

I saw the original production three times, including the first preview. The show was about more than Frank, Charley, and Mary. It was also about how this country changed from Sputnik and Camelot to the present. Now it's basically just about Frank, Charley, and Mary. I also miss "The Hills of Tomorrow" and the high school graduation scenes. The final scene was devastating.

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Icecreambenjamin, I didn't see the original production (because I was born 11 years after it closed) but I thought the cast was young people (around college age) playing adults getting younger. And that's what didn't work. The only production I've seen is the one from England late in 2013 that was shown in musicals, which I thought was a very good production. The main three were a little older than I would have liked but I thought they were terrific and even if they didn't look young enough at the end, I think they captured the spirit of youth. I like the song "The Hills of Tomorrow" and the framing device seems kind of necessary from a dramatic standpoint. The show without it shows such a dismal and depressing future. But I love the score.