Merrily We Roll Along

Merrily We Roll Along continues to be one of the more "unorthodox" musicals in the Sondheim repertoire, but as a Merrily Truther since 2018, I maintain it as one of the best despite its shortcomings. The uniqueness of George Furth's book, chronicling a trio of friends backwards from their demise to their genesis 20 years prior, is pretty unparalleled in its premise, especially as it is not a memory play. To put this to music requires even more insanity at the keys. Its score is superb, especially its iconic overture, even when the lyrics are more direct (and dated) than what Sondheim is known for. The book has its valid detractors, though. Firstly, many see it as defeatist, showing how friendships are doomed to split or grow apart no matter what. While that is one takeaway -- and I agree that it is overall a "sad" musical -- I argue that it just as much poses that friendships are tenable as long as everyone puts effort into it. The inflection points of Frank's relationship with the other two are moments where instead of investing positivity and growth into them, he does it self-servingly, enabling him to grow without his two most ardent supporters in tandem. If there's anything I've learned about friendship at my age, it's that they require maintenance. And Merrily8/10 is a show that proves what happens without it.

For a show titled with an adjective about joy, there doesn't seem to be much among its cast. From the beginning, Jason Gotay's Frank seems unreasonably stiff, lacking the suavité that Franklin Shepherd has cultivated by the time the show begins. This cardboardity leaks into the friend group dynamic with Melanie Fields' vocally-milquetoast Mary and Jake Loewenthal's Charlie, drying out whatever glue is supposed to hold them together. Gotay is not all bad vocally, but the range felt limited, and as such the character never springs to life or shows much believability. The one exception to this is during a handful of scenes with Charlie that have a bro-like element, but they are few and far between. Even local favorites like Maria Rizzo's Gussie, one of the stronger performances in the cast, feels subdued compared to the size of the role. It feels as if the suffocation of these performances overall highlights the weaknesses in the book that many point out, especially regarding its female characters.2/10

This production somehow emphasizes the show's flaws to the point that if this were your first foray into it, you could reasonably see why it fell so hard on its face four decades ago. I blame the vision. It doesn't ever feel like something came together. The smartest choice is its most consistent, and barely noticeable: positioning music director Jonathan Tunick at the center of the nave, overlooking the stage like a soundly god. There are glimmers of hope elsewhere, such as during "That Frank", that this would be a more ethereal show, but it never materializes. Aesthetically, the staging evokes an AI-generated idea of what "mid century modern" feels like. As a visual supplement to the material, it never connects, constantly feeling unfinished or compositionally smudged, aesthetically devoid of a theme (what are the doors from A Strange Loop0/10 doing here?) The costumes are vaguely appropriately dated, but can't seem to stand out as part of the characters--it's nowhere near as bad as the "sweaters with names" schtick this show is known for, but it's a far cry from the congruent and appropriately styled looks that I came to expect from such a character-driven piece, especially in Act II. Even the lighting tries, but fails, to pick up the slack, via dotty wall decor and bulbous lamps from the ceiling, but they can only do so much besides keep the place illuminated (and make a singular, colorful scene in Act II happen).

Things aren't too bad on this front, even when it knows it doesn't have to sell itself much given the recency of the name recognition. The optimism of the three friends on all of Signature's key art is great, with appropriate composition and cosmic purple framing. Where it fails to me is the cluttered staging that happens pre-show (and its slightly-truncated overture). It feels disorganized and dark, nothing profound or insightful before me, thought it does get me thinking about how sections of the show will interact. But doesn't everyone think that when they walk in?4/10