It's generally considered one of Sondheim's most "accessible" scores -- it's easier to "get" on first listen than some of his others. It's constructed and composed in very traditional musical theatre terms and contains a lot of fun and catchy melodies ("Old Friends," "Not A Day Goes By," "Good Thing Going").
The book (based on an old Kaufman & Hart play) goes backwards in time showing the reverse evolution of the friendship of the three main leads. The show opens with them barely on speaking terms, but ends 25 years earlier at the moment they first met and have their lives ahead of them. Some like this structure -- seeing it an intriguing way to tell the story -- but others find it gimmicky and anti-dramatic. I like it for the most part (though the reverse order undermines the impact of a couple of the scenes) and after seeing a few productions of it, the order doesn't bother me anymore. The score is wonderful, though -- breezy, light yet very inventive with a richness of melody that's you can't help, but embrace.
The original production flopped after 16 performances partly due to critical reaction to the book, but more than that, Prince, miscast the show with very young inexperienced performers. He initially loved the youthful energy, but realized too late that Furth's sophisticated dialogue was unbelieveable and simply fell flat being spoken by a bunch of 20-somethings. Prince later admitted his mistake and said something to the effect of "the kids killed us." Sondheim said "Kaufman and Hart wrote a play for adults; so did we and it was a mistake not casting adults in those roles."
Subsequent productions, with more experienced casts and new versions of the book (Furth has done extensive tinkering with it over the years -- the 2002 version that played at The Kennedy Center is probably the final version), have been much more successful and Merrily's reputation has grown considerably over the years. Whatever one thinks of the book, it's certainly among Sondheim's best.
"What a story........ everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." -- Birdie
[http://margochanning.broadwayworld.com/]
"The Devil Be Hittin' Me" -- Whitney
Updated On: 9/15/05 at 03:14 PM
