Stephen Sondheim's musical
Merrily We Roll Along, with book by George Furth, was a flop when it premiered on Broadway in 1981, and only played 60 total performances (most of them previews). It went through many rounds and decades of revisions, until it
landed back on Broadway more than 40 years later and won four Tony Awards, including best revival of a musical in 2024. A few years before that, our own
Theater Latte Da had done a gorgeous production, which was my introduction to the piece. I love it (and understand it) more each time I see it, with its unique backwards storytelling style. Now, to open their new season, Lyric Arts is bringing us the first #TCTheater production post-Broadway revival, and I'm happy to declare, "It's a Hit!" You wouldn't know it from the small audience on a rainy Wednesday night, but that's sure to change once word gets out about this fantastic local cast and this great Sondheim score played by a live band, telling a story of friendship and regret, and the way our story is made up of small choices that ultimately add up to life. Find out how this story ends, or begins, at
Lyric Arts in Anoka through October 4.
The show begins at the end of the story; it's 1976, and Frank has made it big as a producer and songwriter in Hollywood, with a string of successful movies starring his new wife. But the marriage is falling apart, he's having an affair with a young starlet, and is estranged from his two former best friends. Writer Mary is drunk, depressed, and has become a (gasp) theater critic. Frank's playwright/lyricist partner Charley isn't even at the party and hasn't spoken to Frank in years, but has won the Pulitzer Prize for his new play. From there, each scene jumps back in time a few years, through the success and failures, marriages and babies, until we end up at the beginning - 1957. Frank has just moved in with Charley and they meet Mary on the rooftop watching Sputnik sail across the stars. Their bright futures are ahead of them, with the optimism of youth telling them they can do anything they want. It's a very clever concept to start out at an unhappy ending, and then work backwards to see how they got there.
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Charley (Noah Hynick), Frank (Brendan Veerman), and Mary
(Maureen O'Malley) at the beginning and the end (photo by Dan Norman) |
Lyric Arts' Resident Director Scott Ford directs the piece, and has crafted perhaps the most affecting ending I've seen. The play begins with the three friends sitting on a bench looking at the sky, and then Frank steps out of the picture, and begins to examine his life, like a memory play in reverse. At times he's seen observing, as the ensemble circles around him asking "how did you get here?" and "what was the moment?" Finally we work back to that moment on the bench, and again Frank steps out of it, this time devastated as he sees what he's lost.
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| "It's a Hit!" (photo by Dan Norman) |
The talented cast is led by the terrific trio of Brendan Veerman, Noah Hynick, and Maureen O'Malley as the three friends. I know Brendan mostly from comedic roles, but he's wonderful as the complicated Frank, transforming from jaded and world-weary to youthful and optimistic. Noah is hilarious as always as Charley, with a dynamic performance of that character's signature song "Franklin Shepard, Inc.," and also shows depth of emotion as Charley mourns the loss of the friendship that means everything. Last but not least, Maureen O'Malley is a find as Mary. I've seen her in a few supporting roles, but she really shines in the spotlight here as the drunk and sarcastic Mary, as the secretly-in-love-with-Frank Mary, and the young starry-eyed Mary, all in the same person. Emily Grodzik milks every moment as Frank's second wife Gussie, her second role as a Broadway diva in a row, but while her character in
The Prom was deliciously over-the-top, Gussie is more sinister and seductive. Also great are Faith Winship Smith as Frank's first wife Beth, Steven Ramirez as Gussie's producer husband Joe, young Jaxson Kingdon as Frank, Jr., just casually singing Sondheim solo on stage (alternating with William Kroeger), and the entire ensemble who, in typical Sondheim fashion, are not just background singers but important parts of the storytelling, playing multiple characters and moving the story forward, er... backwards, in the interstitials.
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| bon voyage, Frank! (photo by Dan Norman) |
The stage is empty at the beginning of the play, the black curtain later drawn to reveal a series of vertical white posts moving along one horizontal white post, creating different backgrounds for various scenes. Set pieces are smoothly rolled on and off stage by ensemble members while singing. Four large screens display projections of each location, and some psychedelic shapes and colors between scenes (this is the '60s, after all). All of the costumes are fabulous and character specific, fun reminders of the fashions of the '50s, '60s, and '70s. And the off stage ten-piece band, led by music director Ben Larson, doesn't miss a beat in this typically tricky and intricate Sondheim score. While this isn't a big dance show, choreographer James Grace has created some nice movement, highlighted by the charming "Old Friends" number with just the three friends together. (Scenic design by Greg Vanselow, projections design by Brady Whitcomb, costume design by Eleanor Schanilec, lighting design by Shannon Elliott, sound design by Paul Estby.)
Sometimes it takes 40 years for a musical to find its voice, its audience, its message. That seems appropriate for a musical that spans 30 years, and is about young people finding their voice, their life, even if it means losing something in the process. Was it worth it? For Frank, I'm not sure. For Merrily We Roll Along, absolutely. It has become another Sondheim gem, which gleams in the hands of the cast and creative team at Lyric Arts.
*Plot summary borrowed from my review of Theater Latte Da's 2022 production.
