Posted: 10/1/23 at 11:20am
I can't imagine a world where we don't get a recording of this. Maybe I'm projecting, but that's what I'm thinking!
Posted: 10/1/23 at 11:57am
I saw this last night and really, really enjoyed it. I agree with the others who say it’s leagues better than the filmed London production. My biggest hang up was with the character of Gussy. She’s simply in it too much for being as uninteresting a character as she is. She’s a broadly painted femme fatale with not much going on and she just takes up too much real estate in the book. I’d rather have more time with Beth. Any time we’re with the main trio is when the show truly soars. I liked Clarke, too; from my seat in the balcony she had the look and physicality of Julie Hagarty circa Airplane!
Posted: 10/1/23 at 3:00pm
I REALLY hope we get a recording. I saw this last weekend, and haven't stopped thinking about it since. It's truly such a great production with top notch performances from the three leads. The chemistry is just so real and believable.
Posted: 10/1/23 at 4:05pm
TheQuibbler said: "I saw this last night and really, really enjoyed it. I agree with the others who say it’s leagues better than the filmed London production. My biggest hang up was with the character of Gussy. She’s simply in it too much for being as uninteresting a character as she is. She’s a broadly painted femme fatale with not much going on and she just takes up too much real estate in the book. I’d rather have more time with Beth. Any time we’re with the main trio is when the show truly soars. I liked Clarke, too; from my seat in the balcony she had the look and physicality of Julie Hagarty circaAirplane!"
Gussie was my biggest issue as well. And no disrespect to Krystal Joy Brown, who did a great job at playing her. But I think the show, in its efforts to try and make Frank more likable, leans too hard on Gussie to be the real "villain" of the piece and it comes across as feeling very forced. They make Frank's fatal flaw "saying yes when he really meant no" to show that he's weak willed against the trappings of fame, and so they make Gussie the impetus for most of his bad decisions.
Posted: 10/1/23 at 5:59pm
i have booked this show for my 76th Birthday, Dec 21, and i will be flying in from Palm Springs just to see this and HERE WE ARE!!...i just watched the CBS SUNDAY MORNING interview with the leads and i decided to book this trip...i saw my very first Broadway production of a Sondheim musical when i saw the original production of COMPANY in 1970, when i was 22 years old!
Updated On: 10/1/23 at 05:59 PM
Posted: 10/1/23 at 7:34pm
broadwaybabywannabe2 said: "i have booked this show for my 76th Birthday, Dec 21, and i will be flying in from Palm Springs just to see this and HERE WE ARE!!...i just watched the CBS SUNDAY MORNING interview with the leads and i decided to book this trip...i saw my very first Broadway production of a Sondheim musical when i saw the original production of COMPANY in 1970, when i was 22 years old!"
76? wow good for you both Merrily and HWA what a Bday treat!
Updated On: 10/1/23 at 07:34 PM
Posted: 10/1/23 at 7:38pm
Oh I loved Gussie, and thought Krystal Joy Brown perfectly straddled serving you-know-what and making us feel for her. A really excellent performance.
Posted: 10/2/23 at 10:29am
I saw the show off-Broadway in January, and I walked away from that experience thinking Krystal Joy Brown should win the Tony for her performance. She had the audience in the palm of her hand and while, yes, she is a villain of the piece, she was just delectable. You see in the first scene, along with Mary, just how much she's lost and you spend the rest of the show investigating how she got there. When you see her, meek and unimportant in Opening Doors, it all sorta clicks. I found that she, similar to Groff, was able to imbue so much truth to Gussie that I (and everyone around me at NYTW) found it hard to root against her. She was living the same experience Frank was - so if we were giving him a pass, we had to give her a pass, too.
I saw the first preview a couple of weeks ago and found that this is no longer the case. It felt to me like the audience was not on her side. Maybe it's something to do with the loss of intimacy from NYTW to the massive Hudson, but something was off, and it wasn't Krystal's excellent performance. Every line she had, delivered to perfection, was met more or less with groans. And for the most part, I don't think Broadway audiences dislike her performance. I guess they are just looking for a true villain to a piece which has none. All of these characters act terribly at some point in the show, but Gussie is the flashiest and she is not a part of the core four friend group, so it's easy to isolate her and dislike her and view her as the reason that these friends have drifted apart.
All that to say, everyone in this cast (besides Katie Rose Clarke, who I found gave an odd, lost, disjointed, bewildering performance) is giving a career best. How lucky we are to witness this show being handled with such expert care.
Posted: 10/2/23 at 2:28pm
TheQuibbler said: "I saw this last night and really, really enjoyed it. I agree with the others who say it’s leagues better than the filmed London production. My biggest hang up was with the character of Gussy. She’s simply in it too much for being as uninteresting a character as she is. She’s a broadly painted femme fatale..."
Costumed in one scene in this production in a black gown with a silver spider web pattern that gathers at her center so we don't miss the point... a truly unfortunate costume. Krystal Joy Brown gets my respect for performing in it with dignity.
Posted: 10/2/23 at 6:14pm
Saw the show this weekend. Absolutely loved it. I'll post my full thoughts when it officially opens.
Posted: 10/2/23 at 8:41pm
IMO Gussie gets the least interesting and most skippable songs in the show
Posted: 10/2/23 at 9:20pm
Today’s panel at Variety breakfast was great. These three are so charming together. It’s clear they have great respect for each other.
It is so hard for an ensemble cast to feel like equals, when one actor is a multimillionaire, movie star. Credit to Daniel. He was the biggest star at the event with a crowd of fans and photographers waiting outside - yet, inside the room he was just another actor.
Posted: 10/3/23 at 12:18am
What stresses out Daniel Radcliffe about ''Merrily'' ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VN8BEQ7LQPc
Posted: 10/3/23 at 6:06am
broadwaybabywannabe2 said: "i have booked this show for my 76th Birthday, Dec 21, and i will be flying in from Palm Springs just to see this and HERE WE ARE!!"
I love this. 😊 Our 70s really are our new 50s. My mother is flying to NY for the first time next year at the age of 72 and we're both super excited about it. We'd love to add Merrily to our list of shows to see, but I fear it may be beyond our budget.
Posted: 10/4/23 at 2:36am
Saw it tonight and just adored it! Maria Friedman has created magic on that stage.
I loved a lot of the updates she'd made since London. The staging for Old Friends, Not a Day Goes By, and Gussie's Opening Number stand out in particular. The dynamism of the Old Friends staging/choregraphy made it easily my favorite moment of the show. I noticed a lot of the costumes and sets were changed as well. Curious if anyone with a better memory than me could compile a list of all the changes.
This cast is just brilliant. Groff is the perfect Frank. An absolute asshole on a macro scale and someone you can easily root for on the micro scale, if that makes sense. Radcliffe and Mendez are fantastic as well. Franklin Shepard Inc was awesome! Mendez does a great job of making Mary feel like a real person while also leaning into her outrageousness and abrasiveness. I did like Jenna Russel's performance in the London version. But, she definitely felt more like a caricature. I would agree that the weak spot was Katie Rose Clarke. Something just wasn't clicking there in a way that's hard to explain. Not a Day Goes By just wasn't the showstopper it should be. There's nothing that was so wrong with her, but also not enough that was right. Reg Rogers was a solid Joe as well.
As I just wrote, I really loved the main trio. But, I think the performance that's sticking with me the most right now is actually Krystal Joy Brown. I found her delectable as Gussie. I don't think I ever rooted for her. But, I definitely have a lot of sympathy for her. She just feels so empty and so lost. But, she searches for fulfillment in all the wrong places. Brown really nailed the grandeur of the persona of Gussie Carnegie while also anchoring it in that emptiness.
I also staged doored. Radcliffe was the only cast member at all to come sign (which was a bit disappointing, but of course within their rights). But, he was an absolute sweetheart who signed for and took pictures with everyone. Loved that they had the area just for people with tickets. It was one of the craziest stage doors I've seen though (outside of the ticket-holder area). Big crowd of fans and dealers waiting for him and a bunch of people came over to see what the ruckus was. I definitely ended up in the background of some photos and videos taken by randos walking by surprised to find Harry Potter signing playbills on the sidewalk at 11 pm.
Anyways, it was a very special night and I need to find a time to go back!
Posted: 10/4/23 at 9:40am
TheQuibbler said: "I saw this last night and really, really enjoyed it. I agree with the others who say it’s leagues better than the filmed London production. My biggest hang up was with the character of Gussy. She’s simply in it too much for being as uninteresting a character as she is. She’s a broadly painted femme fatale with not much going on and she just takes up too much real estate in the book. I’d rather have more time with Beth. Any time we’re with the main trio is when the show truly soars. I liked Clarke, too; from my seat in the balcony she had the look and physicality of Julie Hagarty circaAirplane!"
The character of Gussie just doesn't make any sense. If there is a through line to her it hasn't been found by either the actress or the director here, though I hesitate to criticize them. As written, or perhaps as she has morphed during revision after revision, she doesn't seem to have one.
Posted: 10/4/23 at 12:22pm
I think the thing with Gussie is that her worldview isn't necessarily wrong, just a little ruthless, and if you take Growing Up out of the scene, I think it's a valid perspective that probably a lot of people have, but when it's played against the dynamic of Frank and his friends and their approaches to life/art, it seems a little heartless. If Gussie were a main character I think her story arc could actually be kind of tragic (trying to "make it" in a tough industry, marrying up to gain access to better opportunities while leaving a man that loved her for someone she could love, finding out she's too old to play a part she originated, etc). She can be sympathetic, but the show just isn't interested in exploring that dynamic of her, and it seems like they just plugged her into spots to be a pivotal point of Frank's downfall in regards to his friendships.
Posted: 10/4/23 at 12:30pm
"She can be sympathetic, but the show just isn't interested in exploring that dynamic of her, and it seems like they just plugged her into spots to be a pivotal point of Frank's downfall in regards to his friendships."
Perfectly stated! Thank you.
Posted: 10/5/23 at 12:41pm
I went ahead and took out a second mortgage in order to afford a ticket to this - not really, but almost - because these prices are totally out of control.
That said, the production is absolutely magnificent in pretty much every single way.
Does anyone know - did someone other than George Furth work on the book to this? He is the only one credited in the program, but I saw both the Roundabout production as well as the City Center production, and I do not recall the book being so sharp, focused, and funny. In fact, there seem to be plot points in this production that were not in the others. Gussie's role seems hugely expanded as well. Maybe I am not remembering correctly, but the book to this seems superior in every way to the previous productions.
Posted: 10/5/23 at 2:40pm
jkcohen626 said: "Saw it tonight and just adored it! Maria Friedman has created magic on that stage.
I would agree that the weak spot was Katie Rose Clarke. Something just wasn't clicking there in a way that's hard to explain. Not a Day Goes By just wasn't the showstopper it should be. There's nothing that was so wrong with her, but also not enough that was right. Reg Rogers was a solid Joe as well.
When I saw this in Boston 5 or so years ago, both times the actor singing Not a Day Goes By did a gorgeous job, and also got very quiet applause. Reflecting on it, I concluded that it was due to the story being told in reverse. You hardly knew her character when she sang that song, so it was hard to appreciate the depth of emotion she was experiencing.
Probably a wrong conclusion, but it has always made sense to me.
Posted: 10/5/23 at 7:10pm
100% agree. IMHO “Not a Day Goes By” is one of Sondheim’s best songs but to be sung by a character we’ve only just met and know little about diminishes the impact of the lyric.
Posted: 10/5/23 at 7:25pm
By the way, in case this was not previously mentioned, the entire Chocolate Factory production from London is posted on YouTube. It is almost exactly the same production that is currently on Broadway but with a different cast. Same set, same direction, and it looks like an official video, not a bootleg. Worth a watch.
Posted: 10/7/23 at 8:30am
Opening night is Tuesday? Tickets are available for that night and either tomorrow is sold out or there's no performance scheduled.
Posted: 10/7/23 at 8:47am
Tomorrow is the invited opening with after-party, and Tuesday is the press opening.
Updated On: 10/7/23 at 08:47 AM
Posted: 10/7/23 at 9:56am
The press is not invited until Tuesday evening?
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