‘Merrily’ movie rolls along brilliantly
HEY OLD FRIEND: Daniel Radcliffe (left) is Charley Kringas, Jonathan Groff (center) is Franklin Shepard and Lindsay Mendez is Mary Flynn in the film version of the hit Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s Merrily We Roll Along. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics
Oh, the irony of Merrily We Roll Along. The musical adaptation of Kaufman & Hart’s 1934 was supposed to be another massive hit for composer Stephen Sondheim in the wake of Sweeney Todd. Like the play, the 1981 musical’s book by George Furth, started at the end and then progressed backwards several decades, from bitter, jaded adulthood to the dewey-eyed innocence of youth. This conceit, combined with director Hal Prince’s confusing production (characters had their names emblazoned on their chests just so the audience could follow them) and the instinct to cast young people who have to start the show playing older (rather than the other way around) did not set well with audiences.
GOOD THING GOING: Radcliffe as Charley. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics
So the show flopped, but the brilliant score was preserved on a splendid cast album that never let Merrily stray too far from memory. There were multiple attempts to revise and revive the show, but nothing really clicked until director Maria Friedman’s 2013 production for London’s Meneir Chocolate Factory. Finally a hit, the show transferred to the West End and was filmed for broadcast in cinemas. The idea was to get the production to Broadway, but delays and then Covid stymied that effort. In the interim, Sondheim died at age 91 and sadly did not live to see Friedman’s superbly directed and performed Merrily become a smash on Broadway in 2023, winning four Tony Awards and a generation of new fans.
Toward the end of its run, that production was filmed, with Friedman directing. More than just a straightforward recording of the show, this capture wants very much to be a film in its own right. You hear the audience but never see them, and at the end we get scrolling film credits instead of curtain calls. It’s an interesting choice, and while we never forget we’re watching a stage production, Friedman taps into the intimacy and emotion of the show in stunning and powerful ways.
NOT A DAY GOES BY: Groff as Franklin and Mendez as Mary. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.
The performances of the show’s central trio are so vibrant and connected that it’s no wonder Friedman wanted to preserve them as up close and as personally as possible. Jonathan Groff is Franklin Shepard, an aspiring composer who writes songs and shows with his best friend, Charley Kringas, played by Daniel Radcliffe. On a fateful night when the boys are on a New York rooftop waiting to watch Sputnik fly over, they meet Mary Flynn (played by Lindsay Mendez), an aspiring writer who immediately falls for Frank’s idealistic ambition. Groff and Radcliffe both won Tonys, and if voters had seen this film version, Mendez would have as well (she already has a Tony from a revival of Carousel).
By the time we get to that rooftop scene in 1957, we’re at the end of the show but at the beginning of the characters’ story. We know that 20 years later, two of them will no longer be speaking, one will be a brokenhearted alcoholic and one will feel soulless and alone amid staggering success.
Friedman’s camera captures the nuance and spark of the actors’ masterful performances and lets us see into their eyes – not something you can really do from even the best seats in the theater. Groff, Radcliffe and Mendez all have chill-inducing moments, sometimes involving a song (like Radcliffe’s “Franklin Shepard, Inc.”), a reaction (the many times Mendez’s Mary pines for Frank) or a moment of internal conflict (Groff’s Frank making a series of bad choices).
With three such solid leads in the thrall of a director who deeply understands this story and these characters, the show was bound to work. But Friedman extends her directorial skills to the entire ensemble and lets us see their faces as well. There are three other key roles that stand out here: Krystal Joy Brown as Broadway star Gussie Carnegie, Katie Rose Clark as Beth, Franklin’s first wife, and Reg Rogers as producer Joe Josephson. Except for Charley, just about every significant character in this show is sad or angry or consumed with ego (or all of the above).
The rage, the sadness, the ambition and the passion are all captured in Sondheim’s sterling score, which is beautifully – and brassily – brought to life by music director Joel Fram. The music brings staggering energy and emotion to the show, and elevates this film version to even greater heights.
It took more than 40 years for Merrily We Roll Along to go from disaster to Broadway hit and now powerful film experience. It’s a happy ending for a show that finally figured out how the clever reversal of happy beginnings and sad endings can connect us to the people and dreams that truly matter, whether they are in our past, present or future.
Sony Pictures Classics’ Merrily We Roll Along opens in theaters Dec. 5. Watch the trailer belowl
