Merrily We Roll Along on Broadway tickets

By: George Furth, adapted from the play by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart
Songs by: Stephen Sondheim
Director: Maria Friedman
Choreography: Tim Jackson
Cast list: Daniel Radcliffe (as Charley Kringas), Jonathan Groff (as Franklin Shepard), Lindsay Mendez (as Mary Flynn), Krystal Joy Brown (as Gussie Carnegie), Katie Rose Clarke (as Beth), Reg Rogers (as Joe Josephson)
Design: Soutra Gilmour
Costumes: Soutra Gilmour
Lighting: Amith Chandrashaker
Sound: Kai Harada
Other info: Orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick, hair and wig design by Cookie Jordan, music supervision by Catherine Jayes, music direction by Joel Fram, associate music supervision by Alvin Hough, Jr., music coordination by Kristy Norter

Merrily We Roll Along is a musical that takes place over the course of 20 years — but in reverse. Audiences meet Frank Shepard (Groff) in the height of his career as a Hollywood movie producer — a far cry from the passionate Broadway composer he once was.

Long gone are his ties to his lyricist collaborator, Charley Kringas (Radcliffe), who just won a Pulitzer for his latest play. And hanging by a thread is his friendship with Mary Flynn (Mendez), another old pal saddened by the fact that Frank sold out on the road to commercial success.

As we go back in time with each scene, it’s revealed that this torn-apart trio was once inseparable before Frank sacrificed his dreams, his integrity, and his friendships for fame.

This revival of Merrily We Roll Along off Broadway is the latest of many productions in New York and beyond. Merrily We Roll Along began as a 1934 play by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart. Judy Prince, wife of iconic Broadway director/producer Hal Prince, had the idea to turn that show into a musical. With Hal Prince as director, Sondheim teamed up with George Furth, with whom he also wrote Company, to give Merrily the musical treatment in 1981. Its Broadway premiere was short-lived, but the show has only grown in popularity since that production flopped, and Merrily has become a musical theatre classic.

The show has been streamlined multiple times for its revivals, with Sondheim himself even contributing some new songs. The most notable of these was a 1985 production in San Diego and a 1994 Off-Broadway production. The most recent Off-Broadway revival of Merrily We Roll Along was in 2019 with Roundabout Theatre Company and Fiasco Theater, which also produced Sondheim's Into the Woods in 2015.

Daniel Radcliffe's career spans stage and screen — since playing Harry Potter, he's appeared in movies like Kill Your Darlings, Swiss Army Man, and Now You See Me 2, and in popular Broadway shows like The Lifespan of a Fact and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Groff is known for originating the roles of Melchior in Spring Awakening and King George III in Hamilton, earning Tony nominations for both. Lindsay Mendez's Tony-winning role as Carrie Pipperidge in the 2018 Carousel revival is perhaps her most recognizable, but she's also starred in shows like Grease, Wicked, and Godspell on Broadway.

What to watch for

• The Merrily We Roll Along plot goes in reverse chronological order, and so does the music. The reprises of certain songs appear before their originals in the show, and one song, "Who Wants to Live in New York?", is a "first draft" of an earlier song, "Good Thing Going."
• The original Broadway production featured a cast made up entirely of emerging young performers. They included a young Jason Alexander, Tonya Pinkins, and Lonny Price!
• Merrily We Roll Along has often attracted celebrity cast members: Victor Garber starred in the 1994 production, Lin-Manuel in a 2012 NYC concert, and Wayne Brady in a 2016 Beverly Hills production, to name just a few.
• Merrily We Roll Along joins Sweeney Todd, Into the Woods, Company, and Assassins in the ranks of recent Sondheim musical revivals in New York.
• Merrily We Roll Along is getting the film treatment, but we'll have to wait a while. The film, starring Paul Mescal, Beanie Feldstein, and Ben Platt, is being filmed in real time over the course of 20 years.