Posted: 10/10/23 at 3:47pm
We are SO cute, already getting excited about Merrily winning Tonys for Best Musical Revival and all 3 leads now.
Posted: 10/10/23 at 3:50pm
But was that tinkering with the script or just casting someone who is likeable? I still don’t get what makes THIS production work. I watched the filmed version and felt very “meh” as well as when I saw the Encores run. But hey happy for all the good reviews!
I think the only thing standing in its way is time *drum hit* because Cabaret is bound to be the fresh hot ticket of the spring and have all the buzz. Something Here Lies Loves was properly hoping for.
Posted: 10/10/23 at 4:18pm
Is Mendez going to campaign as lead or featured? I think Kelli O'Hara is going to be difficult to beat in leading.
Posted: 10/10/23 at 4:21pm
QueenAlice said: "Is Mendez going to campaign as lead or featured? I think Kelli O'Hara is going to be difficult to beat in leading."
I’d have to imagine she’ll be supporting
Posted: 10/10/23 at 4:53pm
Wow! These are thrilling reviews.
I saw it over the weekend and it’s as good as all these critics say it is.
Maybe the best revival ever!
Posted: 10/10/23 at 4:53pm
QueenAlice said: "Is Mendez going to campaign as lead or featured? I think Kelli O'Hara is going to be difficult to beat in leading."
Oh MAN I forgot about Brian D'Arcy James being a lead actor contender alongside Groff and Redmayne. He's sensational and that's a very showy role. What a great season it's shaping up to be thusfar.
Posted: 10/10/23 at 5:03pm
While I wasn’t alive yet when the original production flopped, the people around me at the theatre who did see it all said that this is the version is what they’ve been waiting over 40 years for! I hope we at least get a cast recording. This production was just sheer perfection! It’s gonna be really hard to choose between this and Cabaret!
Posted: 10/10/23 at 5:09pm
D'Arcy James and O'Hara and DOW&R will have the "snob appeal" cache of the season (and I do not mean that in a negative way) . However Groff and MERRILY will be one of the biggest "Underdog/Comeback Kid" stories in decades -- and I predict the show will get MUCH love during Awards season. I imagine Mendez will be positioned in Leading (as they already have 2 Featured Actress roles in contention).
Posted: 10/10/23 at 6:13pm
Variety: ‘Merrily We Roll Along’ Review: Daniel Radcliffe, Jonathan Groff and Lindsay Mendez Lead a Broadway Revival That’s More Art Than Commerce
https://variety.com/2023/legit/reviews/merrily-we-roll-along-review-broadway-daniel-radcliffe-jonathan-groff-lindsay-mendez-1235750477/
Posted: 10/10/23 at 6:14pm
NYP: 4 stars out of 4
‘Merrily We Roll Along’ review: Infamous Sondheim flop is a smash
https://nypost.com/2023/10/10/merrily-we-roll-along-review-radcliffe-groff-and-mendez-soar-on-broadway/
Posted: 10/10/23 at 6:15pm
TimeOut: 4 out of 5 stars
https://www.timeout.com/newyork/theater/merrily-we-roll-along-broadway-review-revival-sondheim-groff-radcliffe-mendez
"although Sondheim’s virtuosic score is also among his most immediately accessible, this is a show that benefits from knowing it in advance. We meet the three friends at their worst—when Frank is a philandering sell-out, Charley is mired in bitterness and Mary is a mean, hopeless drunk—and must invest in them on faith. That’s one reason Friedman’s version works so well: She has trained her eye on just the right stars. Groff, Radcliffe and Mendez are so appealing as performers that they moot the pinched negativity of their characters’ first appearances. All three deliver exceptional work."
Posted: 10/10/23 at 7:26pm
With these raves, do you think they will extend the run through June/July? Or is there something slated for the Hudson already?
Posted: 10/10/23 at 7:27pm
Forgive me if this has already been discussed here or elsewhere (and please guide me there), but does anyone have tips on more affordable tickets to this show? I’m losing the lottery daily, as I did off-broadway as well. The standard prices for this show are almost offensive.
Posted: 10/10/23 at 8:17pm
KitKatBoy24 said: "Forgive me if this has already been discussed here or elsewhere (and please guide me there), but does anyone have tips on more affordable tickets to this show? I’m losing the lottery daily, as I did off-broadway as well. The standard prices for this show are almost offensive."
See if TodayTix has anything. Sometimes, they will have some deals. TBH, the prices I paid were not outrageous, but still pretty high. I would just go with whatever price you are comfortable with. This production was just sheer perfection and cannot be missed! It's a hot ticket right now so don't wait!
Posted: 10/10/23 at 8:22pm
KitKatBoy24 said: "Forgive me if this has already been discussed here or elsewhere (and please guide me there), but does anyone have tips on more affordable tickets to this show? I’m losing the lottery daily, as I did off-broadway as well. The standard prices for this show are almost offensive."
Todaytix has tickets for about $100 for February and March of next year. That's what I intend to get. :)
Posted: 10/10/23 at 9:16pm
ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "Jarethan said: "i see Charlie as a featured role, star or not."
Charley has never felt like a star role to me in the revised version of MERRILY. Lonny Price might have felt like more of a star because of my previously-hypothesized issues about the Frank problems in the original version. The way I see it, MERRILY is about Frank; Charley & Mary are important supporting parts, but they don't drive the story. Charley's biggest moment of the show is also in the first half hour. (For awards purposes I suppose you could argue that Mendez belongs in either Featured or Lead.)
The only reason why DR is billed first is because he's, well, DR. And without him it wouldn't be grossing nearly as well."
100% agree. We’re Mendez to win, it would be for a great featured role. Groff / Frank is the star of the show.
Posted: 10/10/23 at 10:36pm
I would die happy if this production was filmed for future broadcast on Great Performances.
Posted: 10/10/23 at 10:50pm
Jonathan Groff should be up for Leading, and Daniel Radcliffe and Lindsay Mendez in Featured.at the Tonys. Not that the Tonys care what the Outer Critics or Drama Desk do, but Groff won for Leading in an Off-Broadway Musical at Outer Critics and Mendez won for Featured in an Off-Broadway Musical. Plus, Groff was nominated for Leading at the Drama Desk, and Radcliffe, for Featured.'
The N.Y. Times seems pretty clear on this, too. Jesse Green says Groff gives the ''inarguably central performance.'' And the subhead for his rave review cites ''Jonathan Groff, supported by Linday Mendez and Daniel Radcliffe.''
It all comes down to what the show and the Tony committee does. First, will ''Merrily'' petition the Tonys to put Radcliffe, who's above the title, in Featured? There are precedents. Ricky Martin was above the title of ''Evita,'' but the Tonys ruled that he could be eligible for Featured (though he didn't get the actual nomination).
Another example: Barbara Cook was billed above the title of ''Sondheim on Sondheim,''' the 2010 revue, so Roundabout submitted her for Best Actress. But the Tonys disagreed and had the discretion to bump her down to Featured Actress, where she was nominated but lost to Katie Finneran.
Updated On: 10/10/23 at 10:50 PM
Posted: 10/11/23 at 8:26am
Yikes, just looked at current prices & they are ridiculous. The last row in the Balcony is over $150 now.
As the show continues, I wonder if once they get past sold out early weeks, they will drop the prices on unsold tickets day of?
No matter how great performances are, this is still Merrily. They haven't fixed the book. It is still a piece of crap with maybe 2 OK songs.
I watched the YouTube video of the UK production. Ugg the book for this show is soooo lousy. The only character who does anything remotely interesting is Gussie.
The average theatre goer is going to feel so burned by those reviews.
I wonder if this is going to be like The Band's Visit? When I saw that at X-mas 2018, walking out the entire Balcony was like "What was this piece of horse sh-t we just sat through?" " How the f did this win awards?"
KitKatBoy24 said: "Forgive me if this has already been discussed here or elsewhere (and please guide me there), but does anyone have tips on more affordable tickets to this show? I’m losing the lottery daily, as I did off-broadway as well. The standard prices for this show are almost offensive."
Posted: 10/11/23 at 8:52am
All I say is, Merrily has not been a show I have enjoyed much over the years besides a couple of songs (e.g. the Overture and Bernadette singing Not a Day Goes By). I tried to watch the London filming again (watched it in full on release) and just had to turn it off within 15 min. I was fully skeptical that this production could 'save' the show, especially as I just saw a youth production that felt so magical during 'Our Time" and I thought I had experienced some of the original Hal Prince magic - and I thought that a crappy youth production actually worked because it meant the material wasn't taken so seriously so it felt like an amazing amazing youth/kids show.
I only came to NYC to see Merrily because "Here We Are" is on, and it completely changed my perspective of the show. Yes, the production and material might be the same - but if the cast can actually sell that material - e.g. a Frank that is genuinely charming and charismatic where you actually understand why we might care and why others might care about him, and when you have a Mary where it feels like she genuinely and could be in love with this Frank, when you have a Gussie who does feel at least a little bit more like a real person - it just makes all the difference. Because for the first time the material is actually BELIEVABLE.
Can I also be perhaps the first one to propose that a Jonathan Groff/Linday Mendez pairing for a PASSION revival seems pretty appealing to me right now.
Updated On: 10/11/23 at 08:52 AM
Posted: 10/11/23 at 10:36am
Snagged a $229 center Dress Circle seat Saturday. Good luck finding one now.
Have to say I concur with the reviews. I hated the Fiasco version. One of the worst things I’ve seen. This production is miraculous.
Posted: 10/11/23 at 7:45pm
MemorableUserName said: "NYT Critics Pick from Green
Jonathan Groff, supported by Daniel Radcliffe and Lindsay Mendez, is thrillingly fierce in the first convincing revival of the cult flop Sondheim musical.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/10/theater/merrily-we-roll-along-review.html
"Radcliffe’s wit and modesty, combined with Mendez’s zing and luster, provide perfect settings for what is now (as it has never been previously) the inarguably central performance. Groff, always a compelling actor, here steps up to an unmissable one. With his immense charisma turned in on itself, he seems to sweat emotion: ambition, disappointment and, most frighteningly, a terrible frozen disgust.""
I've adored this production both times I've seen it, and look forward to seeing it again. That said, I am glad that Green, while writing an all-out rave review, did mention that the sound and/or playing of the band is not all it should be (sounds very crass to me, particularly in the overture), and that some of the solo singing was weak (the performance of "Not a Day Goes By" simply does not do that great song justice, and for me, is the only major disappointment of the evening).
Posted: 10/11/23 at 8:51pm
inception said: "Yikes, just looked at current prices & they are ridiculous. The last row in the Balcony is over $150 now.
As the show continues, I wonder if once they get past sold out early weeks, they will drop the prices on unsold tickets day of?
No matter how great performances are, this is still Merrily. They haven't fixed the book. It is still a piece of crap with maybe 2 OK songs.
I watched the YouTube video of the UK production. Ugg the book for this show is soooo lousy. The only character who does anything remotely interesting is Gussie.
The average theatre goer is going to feel so burned by those reviews.
I wonder if this is going to be like The Band's Visit? When I saw that at X-mas 2018, walking out the entire Balcony was like "What was this piece of horse sh-t we just sat through?" " How the f did this win awards?"
KitKatBoy24 said: "Forgive me if this has already been discussed here or elsewhere (and please guide me there), but does anyone have tips on more affordable tickets to this show? I’m losing the lottery daily, as I did off-broadway as well. The standard prices for this show are almost offensive."
"
Might help your already shoddily argued case if you drop the expletives and the writing style popular among the less educated millennial/GenZ demographics.
Posted: 10/11/23 at 8:52pm
inception said: "Yikes, just looked at current prices & they are ridiculous. The last row in the Balcony is over $150 now.
As the show continues, I wonder if once they get past sold out early weeks, they will drop the prices on unsold tickets day of?
No matter how great performances are, this is still Merrily. They haven't fixed the book. It is still a piece of crap with maybe 2 OK songs.
I watched the YouTube video of the UK production. Ugg the book for this show is soooo lousy. The only character who does anything remotely interesting is Gussie.
The average theatre goer is going to feel so burned by those reviews.
I wonder if this is going to be like The Band's Visit? When I saw that at X-mas 2018, walking out the entire Balcony was like "What was this piece of horse sh-t we just sat through?" " How the f did this win awards?"
KitKatBoy24 said: "Forgive me if this has already been discussed here or elsewhere (and please guide me there), but does anyone have tips on more affordable tickets to this show? I’m losing the lottery daily, as I did off-broadway as well. The standard prices for this show are almost offensive."
"
No, sorry. They fixed it. As pretty much every review says, it is an amazing production. Pure Broadway magic l. However, I completely agree that the pricing for this is criminal. The pure definition of producer greed. Seeing tickets priced higher than $500 is pretty pathetic. But it is selling out. I never knew there were so many rich theatre lovers. However, there are only SO many rich theatre goers. They will not be able to charge these ridiculous prices forever. The bottom will eventually drop off and some “reasonably” priced seats will be available.
Posted: 10/11/23 at 9:09pm
I think Merrily is one of those shows where you need a great performance with good chemistry to really ground it. There's a lot to be said about the material: one of the best melodic scores by Sondheim, which some might not agree, but many do; a problematic book that nevertheless has its charm. But after all, it's a show about human connection from its ugliest to its purest, and the performance has to sell the point. I saw the London proshot and the Japanese version of the same production, and none of them worked for me because the performance was simply not good enough for the material. The Fiasco Theater production at Roundabout a few years ago sort of did; but some bizarre choices especially the set worked against the simplicity which could've let the performance shine. The production at Hudson worked so well because of the performance by Groff, Mendez, and Radcliff. You could tell from Old Friends how much fun they must have had in the rehearsal room and there must be something truly special about their friendship. What also amazed me was how well the book scenes worked. They were so much more effective and grounded from their previous iterations and, with such a great cast, no longer a problem to solve but moments to revel in. You feel the emotional highs and lows and together with the songs they bring to flesh a bunch of deeply flawed but equally lovable people as if you know them your whole life. The material itself is great, but it really is a vehicle waiting for performance like this. When it is here, it's a hit.
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