"Merrily" at Signature

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8nxKdxr

"Our Time"

https://youtu.be/Iqe3wlQu23M?si=oEl3CFVbBaLTGnHG

DottieD'Luscia said: "Is the book from the recent revival the licensed version of this show?"

I don’t believe so unfortunately. There aren’t major differences but enough where it would be good to have them adjusted. The worst part of the current licensed version is Gussie’s number at the top of act two. The Broadway revival and the City Center production both orchestrated that number to have a big impressive finish (the Broadway revival even added some background vocals), but the current version just fades out mid phrase to the next scene.

The set design looks great;

MezzA101 said: ""Our Time"

https://youtu.be/Iqe3wlQu23M?si=oEl3CFVbBaLTGnHG"

That's the hunkiest Charley I've ever seen...

GetUp&LiveIt said: "The changes between the licensed version and revival are minimal. Will be interesting to see if Signature incorporates some/all of the changes. I loved Maria's production but the narrative that she fixed the script is wrong. It's been the same script for years after productions at La Jolla, Arena, etc in the 90s."

This is incorrect - ultimately they are minor adjustments but the script is different. Almost every scene of the current licensed version ends with someone yelling some melodramatic line - all of those have been cut from her production since the London premiere. I worked on a recent production and mirrored the minor adjustments.

TheGingerBreadMan said: "I was so incredibly excited to see this production when Awa Sal Secka was in the cast. I am still incredibly excited to see it, and Melanie Field is a fine choice to replace her, but damn - Awa is just so good in everything. Melanie was quite good as Emilia in STC’s recent production of Othello.


Jake Loewenthal was a fabulous Motel last season, so I look forward to catching him again."



Jake Lowenthal is wonderful in everything he does.



As for Awa Sal Secka - I was also looking forward to her in Merrily , but I am more than thrilled that this extremely gifted and talented woman will be making her Broadway debut.

From the opening paragraphs of Thomas Floyd's Washington Post's rave review of Signature's ''Merrily'':

''Rattling off “Franklin Shepard, Inc.,” the neurotic tongue twister that arrives early in “Merrily We Roll Along,” can be a Tony-worthy feat. Just ask Daniel Radcliffe, who landed the award two years ago [on Broadway]. Stephen Sondheim’s lyrics come thick and fast. So does the anxious energy. Mindful of the musical’s reverse chronology, the actor portraying Charley Kringas must channel an entire show’s worth of pent-up exasperation right off the bat.

It’s quite the accomplishment that Jake Loewenthal, the D.C. favorite playing Charley in Signature Theatre’s immaculate revival, delivers a rendition that amounts to Sondheimian perfection. ...

From there, the high points keep rolling as director Matthew Gardiner expertly oversees many a showstopper from Sondheim’s layered score. There’s the endearing camaraderie of “Old Friends.” The toe-tapping hustle of “Opening Doors.” The yearning idealism of “Our Time.” [Jason] Gotay [as Franklin Shepard], Loewenthal and Melanie Field — playing jaded journalist Mary Flynn, the third prong in the friendship trio — rise to meet every soaring tune.''

https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/theater/2026/09/16/signature-merrily-we-roll-along-peaks-sondheimian-perfection/

Updated On: 9/21/26 at 09:38 PM