Merrily We Roll Along

[edenespinosalover]

Posted: 3/26/05 at 12:41am

I actually know nothing about this show, but was wondering if you think a high school could do it or seen a high school production of it.

[GovernorSlaton]

Posted: 3/26/05 at 12:48am

It's very ambitious for a high school (hell, it's ambitious for professional theatre), but there have been posts about high school productions on this board.

[eslgr8]

Posted: 3/26/05 at 2:11am

I just read that the original production was cast with high school age (or there abouts) unknowns.

[apdarcey]

Posted: 3/26/05 at 3:37am

i heart this show. though it would be ambitious for a high school it is feasible. especially considering where the show and its characters end.

[Jon]

Posted: 3/26/05 at 8:38am

The original was cast with people in their early 20's such as Jason Alexander, Tonya Pinkins, Liz Callaway, Lonny Price, Jim Walton, Giancarlo Esposito, etc., who have all gone on to quite successful careers. Most were making their Broadway debuts, and the critics wreren't too kind to these youngsters.

The problem was, with the show running chronologically backwards, it started with a bunch of kids pretending to be jaded, middle-aged folk. The audience just didn't buy it. By the end of the show they were actually playing their age (college students), but by then it was too late.

Later productions cast performers in their 30's, so it wouldn't be such a stretch in either direction, age-wise.

[Demitri2]

Posted: 3/26/05 at 9:27am

The show was flawed but the last scene was one of the most thrilling times I ever had in the theater. At this point with the backwards chronological time element in play, the three "old friends" are at their youngest age wise. They have just graduated and are on a roof top sharing their utter wonderment of what the future will hold for them. The world is theirs to conquer. Their pure innocense and zest for life is so poignant, especially knowing how jaded they will become in the future.I LOVED THIS SCENE!

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 3/26/05 at 9:48am

Whatever happened to Ann Morrison? I loved her as Mary. It seems like she just fell off the face of the earth. I know that she performed at Children and Art the other night, but I believe that MERRILY is still her only Broadway credit.

[the.hard.part]

Posted: 3/26/05 at 10:36am

actually my high school just did this show last weekend. March 18th and 19th. I thought it was done well with our budget and talents. any specific questions about it feel free to ask.

[Jon]

Posted: 3/26/05 at 10:46am

Ann Morrison was also in the flop musical version of I REMEMBER MAMA by Richard Rodgers and Martin Charnin. Rodgers' last score - and his worst.

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 3/26/05 at 10:48am

Oh, yeah. I totally forgot about that one. Too bad. She's very talented.

[moonys_autumn]

Posted: 3/26/05 at 10:52am

My high school just did it (performed March 18th and 19th) and we had great success. It looked awesome.

the.hard.part... have we met?

[magruder]

Posted: 3/26/05 at 11:03am

Ann Morrison wasn't actually in I Remember Mama. She just did the studio recording of it, which was made with a combination of cast members and performers hired for the recording.

She's in delightful form on the studio recordings of Lady, Be Good! and Good News.

[eslgr8]

Posted: 3/26/05 at 11:18am

I got my info from the new book Broadway's Most Wanted, by Tom Shea, who writes about Hal "Prince's decision to cast the show entirely with unpolished teenagers." Checking ibdb now, I see that those performers whose birthdays are listed (Mr. Alexander, Miss Pinkins...) were indeed 20, 21, 22. Not teenagers, but most of the company don't have their ages listed. Certainly a very young cast, though I wonder why Mr. Shea didn't check his facts more correctly when he was writing his (by the way) very interesting book.
Updated On: 3/26/05 at 11:18 AM

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 3/26/05 at 11:21am

I would also recommend the 1994 revival cast recording. It features a lot of great musical theatre performers before they were famous, such as Malcolm Gets, Michele Pawk, Adam Heller, Adriane Lennox, etc.

[GovernorSlaton]

Posted: 3/26/05 at 11:22am

There were some high-schoolers in the original cast -- Daisy Prince was a sophmore during the run.

[magruder]

Posted: 3/26/05 at 11:34am

Gets is the only actor I've seen that has been able to make Frank work. I think it was Michael Feingold who wrote of Gets' performance that you can just see the anguish cracking through Gets' handsome face. The character is often dismissed as a cipher (much like Company's Bobby), but having seen Gets, I know a terrific actor can make something out of that character.

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 3/26/05 at 11:36am

Yes, Gets was terrific as Frank. I also loved how Gussie was expanded. Michael Hayden was a very good Frank at the Kennedy Center three years ago.

[magruder]

Posted: 3/26/05 at 11:37am

Hayden was quite good, yes. Gets, I think, still dug deeper (and played his own piano for "Growing Up" and "Good Thing Going"). And Pawk was terrific as well.

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 3/26/05 at 11:39am

Pawk was amazing. Her Act Two Opening was breathtaking. Emily did a great job with Gussie in 2002, but I believe that Pawk's interpretation will be the one that all subsequent Gussies will be judged by.

[magruder]

Posted: 3/26/05 at 11:46am

I think if you could combine the York and Kennedy Center casts, you would have a helluva Merrily. Malcolm Gets as Frank, Miriam Shor as Mary, Raul Esparza as Charley and Michele Pawk as Gussie.

There was that odd moment in the Kennedy Center production when a shall we say voluptuously proportioned Emily Skinner called the padded Miriam Shor a "fat thing" in the Act One party scene. Even though she wasn't a traditional Mary, physically, I really loved Shor's Mary. Her dry delivery of "Now I won't be invited back" still makes me giggle.

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 3/26/05 at 11:53am

Shor's Mary is my favorite of the three. Ann Morrison was very good. I didn't love Amy Ryder's performance. If ever there is a Broadway revival, Shor, Esparza and Skinner must return.
Updated On: 3/26/05 at 11:53 AM

[magruder]

Posted: 3/26/05 at 11:59am

Amy Ryder performed Mary at the York. Anne Bobby was Beth.

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 3/26/05 at 12:02pm

Sorry, mistype. She was not a very good singer, but I guess the role of Mary doesn't require you to be one. She fares better on the cast recording, but in the actual production, she was all over the place.

[Jazzysuite82]

Posted: 3/26/05 at 12:02pm

Merrily's a tough show yes, But if your school is doing shows like Sweeney Todd, I'm thinking Merrily is doable there. I mean it varies from program to program. It'll be tough though. Annie Morrison actually has been working a lot, just not in NY. She's done lots of regional theatre while raising her son. She lived in Florida for a while where she was working with a theatre company for children with disabilities. She's directed and I think she's just recently moved back to NY because her son's now in college. It was interesting, while I was doing Merrily in Philadelphia, she was right down the street doing a new Polly Pen musical called Embarrasments. It was sooo enlightening talking to her. She's a really great lady, so I'm hoping the best for her in NY.

[renthead2005z]

Posted: 3/26/05 at 12:27pm

could someone give me a synopsis?