Though MERRILY is a traditionally-constructed score (but from back to front), there is also a network of motives that unify the score. Most obviously, THE HILLS OF TOMORROW appears in the opening notes of GOOD THING GOING, the chorus of BOBBY, JACKIE AND JACK, and the tune Frank composes ("Who wants to live in New York?")in OPENING DOORS. MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG introduces a latin rhythm which appears throughout RICH AND HAPPY and the 'babble' scene, THE BLOB. OUR TIME appears as a fragment in RICH and HAPPY. OLD FRIENDS (conceptually a reprise through chronologically the first time we hear it) serves as intro to LIKE IT WAS and it appears briefly in IT'S A HIT. The section of FRANKLIN SHEPARD, INC that starts with the lyric, "And the telephones blink..." is the same melody of the verse intro to NOW YOU KNOW ("So we'll do a new show, so you'll meet a new dame..." and, later, "...It's a month at the most...") and is in part a variation on MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG. The buzzing 16th-note motif throughout FRANKLIN SHEPARD, INC also appears briefly in OLD FRIENDS ("...well, what's the point of demands you can meet?"), serves as a slowed-down accompaniment to THE BLOB and surfaces again in OPENING DOORS. The trio section of OLD FRIENDS ("Good friends point out your lies...") contains a vamp which underscores the introduction to OPENING DOORS.
Without a doubt it's a very cleverly assembled score. But, personally, I feel it pales before the great scores of his middle period (COMPANY through SWEENEY TODD), as does every score from MERRILY onward. They simply do not compare in terms of musical invention, dramatic power, memorability, poetry and emotional appeal.
Updated On: 7/7/04 at 03:33 PM
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