Am I the only one excited about Merrily????? — Page 6

So we all think the script he is holding at the end is "Take a Left" and he's back in present day rethinking where he's at?

Absolutely! That's the reason why he changes, while Charlie and Mary do not.

GavestonPS - you wrote that you "despise Beth in all versions". Including this one? I was quite taken with her. I felt her pain. I wanted to hold her hand.

Yes, definitely including this one. To me, Beth is never sufficiently developed to hold stage with the other principals. She just a generic soprano and that's the least interesting creature in musical theater.

But any mother who drags away her screaming child to punish his father loses my sympathy. I don't care what her justification is.

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Gaveston, I didn't think the masks were to clue the audience into who they all were. I thought it was just a staging choice. I laughed when they pulled the the second chart out.

Sorry, Phyll, I was being facetious. If the Brits don't recognize the Kennedys by name, they certainly aren't going to know them by sight.

And I agree about the family-tree chart. It was very funny and then stayed out of the way when it wasn't needed. It was the rolling tray (which looked like a modern synthesizer when they rolled it out) full of paper masks that got in the way.

Updated On: 10/26/13 at 06:31 PM

But any mother who drags away her screaming child to punish his father loses my sympathy. I don't care what her justification is.

I didn't see her actions as punishment. From her perspective, the wrong that had been done to her was so great that she no longer knew the man standing in front of her. This stranger may be good to her child or perhaps he would not be; she didn't trust her intuition at the moment to know one way or another. I think that what we saw was a mother's instinct to protect her child.

We're not given any indication of how long this lasted. If she fought his right to see his child for some significant period of time, she'd lose my support. We're shown that she eventually came around because of the son's visit in the first scene, but we don't know if it took a court order to pry him out of her hands. From the perspective of the show, I wish Franklin and Beth's relationship hadn't ended in the courtroom.

Thanks for the conversation. I've enjoyed reliving the show and appreciate your insight.

So Im sure this has been asked, but since there are several different versions of the show, what version is currently licensed? In addition, if anyone could roughly reccount the changes to me that would be cool too.

Missthemountains, I believe the final revised version, which essentially is what Encores and this filmed production did (albeit there always seem to be some changes) is what's licensed. I know in the past there has been some upset when people have used elements of the original (like the, apparently, excellent Donmar production which I believe re-incorporated the high school graduation framework.)

As for changes--it's pretty easy to see the major changes (ie the songs) but I won't even try listing all of the changes, simply too much dialogue and lyrics have been re-written.

The filmed production is now available on Digital Theatre!

http://www.digitaltheatre.com/production/details/merrily-we-roll-along-stephen-sondheim

Will it become available on DVD. Is there a chance of a cast recording of this cast?

Being re screened in US theatres on the 23rd Dec

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