Am I the only one excited about Merrily????? — Page 3

Just picked up our tickets in long beach, CA. The show is 20 percent sold.

Saw this in London in June, an amazing night of musical theatre. Perfect in every way

---

I loved it. I'd seen Merrily about 15 years ago, and this new production made me see it in a whole new light.

---

I had a great time. Saw it in Times Square and the theater had said they'd even sold out for quite a while now but there were entire rows of empty seats which was odd.

I thoroughly enjoyed the production, but there were a few things that kept me from "loving" it. The little boys British accent was laughable. And as much as I adores Jenna Russell, I honest to God thought she was playing it as a lesbian her attraction to Frank was so nonexistent in this, I really did wonder about it. Please, somebody tell me I'm not alone in thinking this. Lol

And usually the ending of the show just has me sobbing, but my eyes didn't even water up tonight. I can't place my finger on exactly why, though.

Updated On: 10/23/13 at 10:34 PM

Can someone help me out with the very last scene? SPOILER ALERT - When Frank removes his jacket and is holding a script in his hands, which prior scene or time period was this meant to evoke? I couldn't place it.

Thanks!

I can't believe you didn't see Jenna's attraction to Frank, Jordan. My entire group was floored and we all ached for her.

I've never been a fan of MERRILY. I've never been able to find the glimmer of genius everyone else seems to find. Until tonight.

Marie Friedman has done a masterful job with this work. It still doesn't succeed. I doubt it ever will. Frank is just such a scumbag. But the cast... Especially Jenna Russell... wow.

---

I mostly loved it. Beth's accent was really atrocious, though once I pretended she was Jessica Hamby I liked her a lot better. And it was the version where Gussie throws the iodine which was a surprise!

What made me crazy was that thing at the beginning. Nothing irritates me more than showing me scenes of what I'm about to see in ten minutes, instead of just showing me what I paid to see in the first place. And one of them said the moments in the show couldn't be just snapshots and the next person said the moments in the show were just snapshots and then at one point we had to listen to what people in Australia like to do to have fun... It was truly unnecessary. It should have played before it started or at intermission. I thought it was treading over-trod ground for people who knew the show and was pretty spoilerific if you were seeing it for the first time.

I went with two friends who didn't know the show at all. One liked it and one didn't. The one who didn't said at intermission, "It's just so... depressing."

To the others that posted after me - can you help me out with that last scene?

Was he having a revelation in 70's Hollywood after remembering how it all started in '58?

Honestly, I've never seen it with that device. I got it in that it was tying the end to the beginning but I don't know what that screenplay(?) was supposed to be.

Maria Friedman said in an interview it's supposed to be the script for "Take A Left".

---

I thought Jenna Russell was the best out of the three (very good) leads. Her performance was devastating. The whole cast was pretty wonderful to me. The chemistry between the leads really held the piece together I think. I had accepted that the accents were going to be terrible so they didn't bother me too much.

As for the show, I'm very familiar with it, but I've never seen it done. It is still one of my favorite Sondheim shows but I think there are problems inherent in the structure that it will never overcome. It's not even the characters' un-likeablity in beginning, but that the character development of each fills out from top-to-bottom. It's extremely interesting to analyze (because I think the writing is brilliant) but not exactly satisfying. It's so goddamn depressing, but I don't mind that necessarily. I'm going to wait to see a live production, hopefully this one will eventually transfer (with a different set) because I really liked the direction. All that being disjointedly said, the last scene was just so fantastic and pretty perfect musical theatre.

(Oh and this post really doesn't need to be longer, but I read the end as it going back to the 70s, because didn't he have the script in the opening number as well? Or am I imagining that?)

Updated On: 10/24/13 at 12:07 AM

I saw it tonight and I thought it was wonderful! I saw it in Tampa Florida and the theatre was about 60 percent full! That's more than I had expected! I really hope they put this on DVD sometime in the near future.