Am I the only one excited about Merrily????? — Page 4

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Updated On: 10/24/13 at 12:51 AM

I hope they release it on DVD.

Just got home from the screening in San Francisco. I am a sucker for this show.

I really loved the way the opening was staged.

I thought Cousin Oliver did a great job as Frankie!

"I'm still surprised to see how large and pivotal of a role Gussie is." Yes, and we had an unusually good Gussie in this production -- the best I've seen, and the best member of the cast in my opinion. She played her elegant and classy, a refreshing change from the usual over-the-top floozy. Josefina Gabrielle has matured impressively since playing opposite Hugh Jackman in Oklahoma!

Charley never sang any of "Not a Day Goes By," in any version. FRANK ended up singing the Act I rendition in the original production, but that was a desperation move due to the inadequacy of the original Beth. In all productions since then it has belonged to Beth (even in the reunion concert of the original cast -- though it went to the original Beth understudy, Liz Callaway).

I thought this was a good production, well directed by Maria Friedman, and I'm glad that the "official" video of this show will be of a production of this quality. But I didn't find it the mindblowingly perfect rendition some have -- there were niggling but damaging details that detracted, like the unit set that didn't quite cover all the required locations, the occasional wobbly accent, the most-reduced (and emptiest-sounding) orchestrations for this show yet, and yet another "idea" for the final curtain that just kind of fizzled. I must have seen that staged a dozen different ways by now -- to my mind the best is the Kennedy Center solution, just have them link pinkies on the button of "Our Time," and stop there. Curtain. In fact, in general the Kennedy Center production remains my own gold standard for this show (and Encores had the best orchestrations). But this was a high-quality production, and I'm glad so many London theatergoers have enjoyed it so much.

First time seeing "Merrily." Theater about 90% full in Ft. Lauderdale. Really enjoyed how several songs were reprised throughout the show, but had totally different meanings due to context of the characters and point during timeline of plot ("Not a Day Goes By" and "Good Thing Going").

Not sure I thought Franklin was such a jerk. He had some professional opportunities given to him that he would be foolish to refuse. It's not his fault that his female friend had a crush on him for 20 years and drank herself silly. He wouldn't have stopped Charley from finding another writing partner if a project meant so much to him. In short, people's priorities change as they mature and responsibilities are taken on. The three could have remained best friends had they wanted to.

Central Illinois - theatre was 1/3 full. I had never seen Merrily in any form. I didn't really care for this production. It wasn't the implausible and varying accents (Was Beth's mother from Ireland?) or the set or most of the performances.

I just think the show is problematic. While the interminable preview (complete with scene and moment spoilers) claimed they'd "solved the problem" - they didn't. None of the characters - except maybe Gussie - are likeable enough in the beginning that I care how they got there. The chorus between scenes tries to get you interested and the chorus asks the right questions - but I didn't really care about "why" or "how". So each revelation is nice and clever and I appreciate the art - but it didn't move me. I am wondering whether that is due to seeing a film, instead of seeing performers on stage live. The live theatre might have invested me more by having those people really singing and acting to me - but film with close-ups and long shots and two shots - just didn't get me interested.

I like the music. I sort of liked the unit set and what they did with it. I thought Gussie was really good - there was a real sense of her character throughout. I liked "Mary" at the beginning, but she grew tiresome to me. And I didn't get the "love" she was supposed to have for Franklin - she just looked like a lovesick teenager. Charlie was incredible with Franklin Shepard Inc. but that was about it for him. He was a nonentity for much of the rest of the show. His "anger" about the option sale was just odd to me. (Question: we don't see Charlie sign the option contract and I got the sense that Franklin was going to forge Charlie's name on it - and that was part of Charlie's anger and potentially even resentment of the money he would earn) I can't decide if I didn't like Franklin because of the performance or the character. I did sense a little frustration at the end of the first scene from him about where he had ended up and that he didn't want to be a "villain", but not that much to make me care. And as he got younger - that raising the voice just didn't work. A person I was with said he became a "dork" - and thus neither of us found him charming.

And the show never answers why these people are friends - old friends - best friends. That might have made the evening satisfying to leave you with the sense of youth and hope and the future but knowing it wasn't really going to work out. I get that is what the show is going for - but it didn't succeed for me.

Conversely, the ending of the Last Five Years does work for me - I feel the exhilaration of Cathy and remorse of Jamie. Also, while Cathy starts out depressed as all get out - that generates sympathy. Then Jamie comes on all youthful and energetic and potentially charming. In this production of Merrily - Franklin starts out egotistical and we see that no one likes him. We see him cheating on his wife. Mary is just a bitter drunk. And Charlie is not even there. (And the lines about the new Charlie Kringas play were delivered so quickly that the importance of "Charlie" was muted).

So, I admire the concept - the songs are very nice (except for the deliberately bad "Broadway" song to open Act II). But, I don't think I'll ever be a fan of the show.

I liked it...but was a bit underwhelmed. Certainly better than I had thought with all of the "problems" I've always heard about over the years. My biggest disappointment was that the best parts are in Act 1, and Act 2 just sort of glides along with the backwards inevitability that makes the show a little dull.

Side note: costuming on Mary was poor. She looked pregnant through the whole show.

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I just got an email from Fandango asking me to rate my experience of seeing Merrily. In it, they mentioned an upcoming DVD release. I wonder if that's really happening.

Updated On: 10/24/13 at 11:04 AM

We loved it in Long Beach. I would have been happier without the spoilers in the pre-show. I also wish we could have had a shot or two of the pit band, and a little more views of the audience.

I could easily watch it again. In fact, it would probably be even better with a second viewing.

ggersten, I agree with much of your assessment, but especially about the camera work. Far too many close-ups took much of the theatricality out of it. I don't know how to fix that, since I'm not sure a stationary camera looking at the entire stage would work (probably would be too static), but I felt I was missing the whole-ness (for lack of a better word, and I know, that's not even a word) of the performance.

I've seen the show several times (original in previews with the paper pool!, Arena Stage, Kennedy Center, Signature Theatre) and every time I really, really want it to work "this time." I love the score so much. And every time, I'm really, really disappointed. But I'll go back the next time, hoping for the best.

Saw it at the AMC Tysons. The theatre was a bit more than half full, which pleased me as I thought I'd be all alone. I saw Company at the AFI Silver, which I thought would be full, and there were a dozen of us in a huge theatre...ah well. Also, they had problems getting the program started, so we didn't see any previews. After reading this thread, I think I'm glad.

I'm so sad I missed it on the big screen! I guess I"ll have to download it?

I saw it in Roseville, CA (near Sacramento). There were 19 people in the theatre, which was surprisingly good considering there were only 7 in the same theatre for the 24 hour musical movie. I, too, was really annoyed at the backstage talk for the first 20 minutes. If I didn't know the show I would have been even more annoyed at all the spoilers. If they had cut that out, and cut out the intermission, the movie would have lasted about 2 hours and 20 minutes, which seems like an OK length for a movie. I didn't see either Memphis or Company in a theatre. Did they have an intermission? Did they have the backstage stuff at the beginning? Couldn't these movies just be shown without an intermission? Or do you need the intermission to capture the theatre experience?
One other quibble: Did anyone else notice that in the first song, and in random places in the rest of the show, that the sound was not synched correctly? In the first song I couldn't watch anyone's lips because the sound was so far off.
Overall I loved the show, but I always have liked it, especially the score as others have said. The leads all impressed me. My understanding of the script that Frank is holding at the beginning and the end was the script for Take A Left, which he was holding when he walked up to the roof just before Our Time, having just read it I believe.