Any Chance of a Merrily revival any time soon?

John Doyle is staging an actor/musician MERRILY " at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park in March 2012." I'm not sure if he has done this production in the UK or whatever beforehand, certainly there is no commercial recording of it if so.

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/148174-John-Doyle-to-Stage-Actor-Musician-Revival-of-Merrily-We-Roll-Along-in-Cincinnati

There was a rumoured Roundabout production but it never eventuated, and maybe Lapine (who was rumoured to direct?) went with SONDHEIM ON SONDHEIM instead.

The upcoming Encores! concert in Feb next year directed by Lapine could transfer or gather interest..

If FOLLIES closes after a successful run in Late December/early January and there is interest in the John Doyle Merrily or Encores! Merrily it doesn't seem impossible that the Roundabout or others would be interested in a revival, IMO. (If Follies is a financial disaster could this reduce interest?)


If the show is workable (cf. Anyone Can Whistle, which I think the recent Encores! concert confirmed it was unsalvgable, if the naysayers on the forum weren't to be believed beforehand, and despite cast recordings suggesting otherwise), I feel like it should be the next Sondheim revived...

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Updated On: 7/5/11 at 07:05 AM

" 'John Doyle is staging an actor/musician MERRILY at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park in March 2012.' I'm not sure if he has done this production in the UK or whatever beforehand, certainly there is no commercial recording of it if so."

He directed a Merrily that opened at Watermill in January 2008. It was his final production as artistic director there.

I just can't fathom an actor/musician Merrily.

For whatever reason, Merrily has enjoyed a post-Broadway life based on its OBC recording, which is unusually traditional Broadway fare (at least for Sondheim -- I know, I know, there's all kinds of depths in it, but it seems like one of the more readily accessible Sondheim pieces). I agree that a lot will hinge on: 1) the reception for Follies; and 2) the outcome of the Encores! production. I doubt that there would be a new, start from scratch production, however.

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Of all the shows ill-suited to an actor/musician concept, Merrily is the ill-suited-est. Can't someone file an injunction or something and stop that man????

uncageg, amen to that.

I would have really liked to see Doyle's actor/musician take on "Barnum". Didn't that fall apart because it was impossible to cast? (ie: ten actors who sing, act, play musical instruments, and have circus abilities?)

and back on topic, I wouldn't be the least bit shocked if the Encores! production transfers.

Here's the problem with the actor-musician conceit: 1) if Charley Kringas can wail on an instrument, does he really need Franklin Shepard?; 2) If Mary Flynn is musical at all ("I don't perform except at dinner"), why isn't she part of the songwriting team instead of moping around the periphery?; 3) Despite his career in the show, Franklin Shepard is really one of Sondheim's least musical leading characters, and that's because he has disconnected from and commoditized his talent; to see him playing instruments during all the moments Sondheim/Furth/Lapine specifically had him offstage or not singing only undermines the story.

Yes, I know, suspension of disbelief, etc., but a show with a legendary structural challenge like Merrily needs to be clear and consistent in every way to get the story across the footlights. When the characters are specifically not musical, having the actors be musicians muddies the water. For example, when I saw Sister Act in London, the nuns all welcomed Delores to the convent by singing -- in three part harmony and counterpoint -- a song about how they got their calling, only to have to be taught to sing a few moments later. It's the biggest WTF moment I've had in the theater in years. I can only imagine Doyle's Merrily will join the pantheon of great theatrical WTFs.