Is MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG Better Knowing the Plot or Not?
Is MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG Better Knowing the Plot or Not?
#1Is MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG Better Knowing the Plot or Not?
Posted: 9/9/17 at 11:53pm
I'm seeing Merrily We Roll Along on Tuesday. I've never seen it, and though I've been listening to a cast recording a little (the Encores! one), I haven't picked up the plot. Wondering if y'all have opinions on whether this show is better seen already knowing the plot, or if it's easy enough to follow?
Feel completely free to include spoilers in this thread; spoilers don't bother me, and I'm obviously still considering reading a plot summary.
Alex Kulak2
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/11/16
#2Is MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG Better Knowing the Plot or Not?
Posted: 9/9/17 at 11:59pm
I feel as a general rule, the less you know going into a show, the better experience you'll have. Really, the only thing you need to know about the show that might confuse you otherwise is that the show's structure is reverse-linear: It starts at the end, and goes back until it hits the beginning at the end.
#3Is MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG Better Knowing the Plot or Not?
Posted: 9/10/17 at 2:30am
there's not really that much plot. all you need to know is each scene precedes the one you've seen before it.
#4Is MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG Better Knowing the Plot or Not?
Posted: 9/10/17 at 4:00am
Thanks folks! I'm definitely better off knowing that time flows backwards.
#5Is MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG Better Knowing the Plot or Not?
Posted: 9/10/17 at 6:39am
I saw the original way back when. It was confusing but that really had to do with the direction. I believe that through the years that issue has been solved and the Maria Friedman production is a winner. Looking forward to going myself in a few weeks.
#6Is MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG Better Knowing the Plot or Not?
Posted: 9/10/17 at 7:26pm
Capeguy, a friend of mine saw this Maria Friedman production in the West End and says it was fantastic, so I bet you're right that they've solved the confusion aspect.
Speed
Broadway Star Joined: 7/12/03
#7Is MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG Better Knowing the Plot or Not?
Posted: 9/10/17 at 8:08pm
I knew nothing but a few songs when I went to see it at Gallery Players in 2004ish and I cried at the end. You don't need to know the plot going in. I think it'd ruin it for you. The excitement comes from finding out at the end how they were when they were young. So moving.
#8Is MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG Better Knowing the Plot or Not?
Posted: 9/10/17 at 10:56pm
You won't have any trouble following the plot. As others have said, there isn't much. And IMO what there is is pure cliché. And unless the direction is totally incompetent, you don't even need to know beforehand that the scenes go backwards in time; it's clear when watching the show.
What might help to know in advance is that Sondheim's score also goes in "reverse", i.e., you will hear a shortened version of a song--what would be "reprise" in any other show--first and then hear the entire song later in the evening (which is earlier in the plot). Again, this isn't confusing, but knowing what the score is doing may increase your enjoyment of it.
#9Is MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG Better Knowing the Plot or Not?
Posted: 9/10/17 at 11:31pm
What might help to know in advance is that Sondheim's score also goes in "reverse", i.e., you will hear a shortened version of a song--what would be "reprise" in any other show--first and then hear the entire song later in the evening (which is earlier in the plot).
Thank you, GavestonPS! That's fascinating and I bet it would have taken me a while to figure it out -- maybe not until thinking about the show afterwards. I'm glad to know it in advance.
#10Is MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG Better Knowing the Plot or Not?
Posted: 9/10/17 at 11:40pm
I'm going to say differ and say that as with most Sondheim musicals the score is too rich and dense to simply go in cold and it's good to familiarize yourself with the score. In particular, Franklin Shephard Inc. is a classic rant song that I think you need to hear a couple of times before you get all the layers of rage and hurt behind the song.
Platypus
Featured Actor Joined: 11/13/07
#11Is MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG Better Knowing the Plot or Not?
Posted: 9/10/17 at 11:58pm
I had the pleasure of seeing the West End production and I found it very easy to follow. I went in completely blind - all I really knew about the show was the name and that it has been rarely produced in North America since it initially flopped. I was visiting from Toronto and wanted to see something that I wasn't likely to have the opportunity to see at home. I'm like Alex, I find that I enjoy a show more if I know very little of it going in, and for Merrily, that worked for me.
#12Is MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG Better Knowing the Plot or Not?
Posted: 9/11/17 at 9:27pm
poisonivy2, I just listened to Franklin Shephard Inc. a few times in a row. Thank you. I've also listened to the whole thing a few times. I have some sense of the score.
#13Is MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG Better Knowing the Plot or Not?
Posted: 9/12/17 at 1:24am
poisonivy2 said: "I'm going to say differ and say that as with most Sondheim musicals the score is too rich and dense to simply go in cold and it's good to familiarize yourself with the score. In particular, Franklin Shephard Inc. is a classic rant song that I think you need to hear a couple of times before you get all the layers of rage and hurt behind the song."
I saw the original production twice before they even recorded the OBCR. "Franklin Shephard, Inc." stopped the show both times. Sondheim knows exactly how to land a comedy number.
I'll go further and say nobody alive or dead knows better how to set a word on a note than Sondheim. I've seen FOLLIES, SWEENEY TODD, MERRILY, INTO THE WOODS, SUNDAY IN THE PARK, and PASSION without advance access to the score and loved every musical setting despite the complex lyrics. (That said, of course it's also a pleasure to memorize a Sondheim score and then go back and see the show again.)
#14Is MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG Better Knowing the Plot or Not?
Posted: 9/13/17 at 9:02pm
Hey y'all, thanks for the advice on this thread. It was perfect. I followed the plot with no problem. I wouldn't have realized the backwards time flow right away so it was great that you told me. And I was glad I had heard FSI extra times in advance. BWW boards FTW.
#15Is MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG Better Knowing the Plot or Not?
Posted: 9/13/17 at 10:01pm
rcwr said: "Hey y'all, thanks for the advice on this thread. It was perfect. I followed the plot with no problem. I wouldn't have realized the backwardstime flow right away so it was great that you told me. And I was glad I had heard FSI extra times in advance. BWW boardsFTW."
Glad you enjoyed the show! I'd also listen to the OBCR because it includes the framing device of having Frank do two commencement speeches. The one at the beginning is a cynical and bitter speech until they launch into "Hills of Tomorrow." When you hear Frank's speech at the end and his heartfelt thanks of his "best friend Charlie Kringas" and they sing "Hills of Tomorrow" again it really makes an emotional impact.
I can see why they now end the song with "Our Time" because it's one of the most beautiful anthems Stephen Sondheim wrote but the original structure of the musical IMO is more chilling.
#16Is MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG Better Knowing the Plot or Not?
Posted: 9/13/17 at 10:10pm
poisonivy2: I'd also listen to the OBCR
Adding it to my list of music to purchase.
poisonivy2: I can see why they now end the song with "Our Time" because it's one of the most beautiful anthems Stephen Sondheim wrote but the original structure of the musical IMO is more chilling.
MORE chilling? I'm not sure I could handle any more! I already pretty much had to be muttering to myself about multiverses with this ending in order to not give up on humanity! As in, okay, yes, this openheartedness and possibility that all chipped down into bitter pain and resentment MIGHT take that route, but hey, the last scene we see is them openhearted and warm, so maybe in one universe there's a version of them that goes from here and does remember to turn left....
(Pardon me, I read a lot of sci fi for work.)
MrsSallyAdams
Broadway Star Joined: 11/12/13
#17Is MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG Better Knowing the Plot or Not?
Posted: 9/14/17 at 1:50pm
I'd listened to the cast albums many times but the filmed Maria Friedman production told me a different story than expected.
One one hand you get the story of
a charismatic man who seduces and abandons people. He wastes his talents in pursuit of easy fame.
Maria's production game me:
a handsome, empty man with mediocre talents who gets built up by parasitic friends. Charlie and Mary project their own lusts and dreams on the cipher like Frank , then drop him when he can't live up to them. I find "Franks songs" mediocre so the fact that he's moved to producing is something to celebrate. Instead his friends whine that he's "wasted his talent" when the really mean he's no longer paying attention to them.
"Frankie, you know... no one wants you happier than I do... you know"
#18Is MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG Better Knowing the Plot or Not?
Posted: 9/14/17 at 4:38pm
I'm going to see it tonight and I haven't listened to any of the recordings. I'm excited that I happened to be in Boston while it was playing! Really looking forward to it.
stage-n-screen
Swing Joined: 3/2/17
#19Is MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG Better Knowing the Plot or Not?
Posted: 9/14/17 at 6:17pm
MrsSally you hit on what was to me the most eye-opening and compelling aspect of Maria Friedman's production (which I also so on film but am excited to see live next weekend) - a far more sympathetic portrayal of Frank against the portrayal of Charley, Mary and indeed everyone around him, as manipulating him to serve their goals/wants. Interestingly, your recounting the plot as if it were being told "forward" makes it sound less poignant than it actually was when seen backwards (or, at least than I found it to be). Here's how I'd pitch the story it backwards (or is it forwards?):
A seemingly successful but emotionally empty film producer and former Broadway composer is facing a potential flop without the support of his two oldest friends – a drunken and bitter woman hopelessly in love with him for whom he has never returned the feelings, and his former partner who can't forgive him for moving on to bigger and better things. However, as years go by in reverse, we see Frank's life is really just the product their manipulation and his desire to please them (and a few key others); Mary to keep a romantic relationship with him possible (Divorce? Nothing to be sad about – oh, and by the way – "Over here! Hello!" ), and Charley, who keeps Frank chained to him (and resents his success) because he knows that he's really nothing special on his own. As the years go by, we see the toll of Frank's decisions (and his friends' manipulations) gradually lifted, with his empty uncertainty replaced by (preceded by?) confidence, then youthful ambition, and finally, and poignantly, by boundless idealism, optimism and naivete, finding the most reward in seeing the future (Sputnik), and knowing he has two friends to share it with.
Updated On: 9/14/17 at 06:17 PM
#20Is MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG Better Knowing the Plot or Not?
Posted: 9/14/17 at 6:19pm
The OBCR is a must-own. Not only are the performances great, but the orchestrations will send you to the moon and back!
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