The Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened

[Peter2]

Posted: 10/10/16 at 1:56pm

I expected to see a discussion here already since it's opening last night in New York, but apparently I'm the first! A couple reviews have come out; anybody find others?

 

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/best-worst-thing-ever-could-happened-936597

https://www.peoplemagazines.net/best-worst-thing-that-ever-could-have-happened-film-review-nyff-2016/

 

It was a buzzy, fun evening. The original cast was there, and got a huge ovation as they were asked to stand and then another one when their names went by in the credits at the end. Sondheim came out afterwards and talked with Jesse Green, and he seemed unusually animated, apparently buoyed up by the success of the movie. In great spirits, full of funny and perceptive stories as always, he suddenly choked up when he spoke of his enormous regret at having failed his very youthful cast, with all their starry-eyed Broadway dreams.

 

Which is what the movie, very entertainingly and very touchingly, is about. Having heard about the difficult birth pangs of this documentary, I didn't know what to expect. Well, it's terrific. Lonny Price is a wonderful narrator, funny, self-deprecating, and great as an interviewer at getting the other actors talking about their experiences. Switching back and forth between fantastic old footage and new video of the actors today (the editing and intercutting is superb, by the way), the movie can't help but show the parallels between real life and the theme and even the backwards structure of the show itself, but Price is smart enough not to flog it, and so by the end the alternation between the actors then and the actors today becomes really poignant, even piercing, I would say. (Just like in the show!) Many people around me were sobbing. Which is not to say it's ultimately a sad movie, exactly, just a bittersweet one. But I don't want to say too much more--just go, everybody, and let it be a lovely surprise. Above all, it reminded me of just how much I love theater and theater people.

 

Price announced that the movie gets it's national release on November 18.

[gypsy101]

Posted: 10/10/16 at 2:12pm

It's been discussed in this thread. A little strange the title is from a song from Road Show and not Merrily We Roll Along

[QueenAlice]

Posted: 10/10/16 at 2:23pm

Well the lyrics "The best thing that ever could have happened" are used repeatedly in MERRILY. So its probably a play on that.

[gypsy101]

Posted: 10/10/16 at 2:34pm

Wow i completely was thinking of the Best Thing That Ever Has Happened from roadshow (or whatever the title is), i forgot about that line. Senior moment i guess.

[QueenAlice]

Posted: 10/10/16 at 2:38pm

And probably also significantly, the lyric is one often sung by Lonny Price - the film maker and narrator of the doc.

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 10/10/16 at 3:25pm

I was there yesterday as well and agree that it's a really special film that clearly was created with a lot of love and respect. Granted, Merrily means a lot to me personally (I started crying the second a note of Old Friends played), but on the whole it's tremendously moving. Most stories I've heard about Merrily's original production are from Sondheim and Prince, and while the film includes them, the main focus is on the cast and the effect having such a euphoric experience become so crushingly sad in almost an instance. In particular, the memories from Terry Finn, who played Gussie, are really lovely. She remembers learning "Darling" with Sondheim (which was of course cut) and remarked that he was such an effective teacher that she still watches videos of him teaching other students to relive that feeling. 

 

For Merrily fans, there's also a great deal of archival footage which I'd never seen before. As exciting as it is, it's so apparent why the show didn't work, at least not on Broadway. Fans of the show and Broadway in general should seek this out, but I think even non-fans would appreciate it. Like Merrily itself, it's a thoughtful meditation on growing up and the sacrifices and regrets that come as we age. I'm so glad Lonny Price set out to make this film. 

[ColorTheHours048]

Posted: 10/10/16 at 9:01pm

I was there tonight and it is as lovely and moving as I had hoped it would be. What a deeply personal, deeply human film Lonny Price has created. My boyfriend and I just loved it.