Joan Marcus
If you are a Stephen Sondheim fan, you will have likely booked your ticket to Merrily We Roll Along at New York Theatre Workshop (to Jan 21, 2023), and possibly not just because Harry Potter himself, Daniel Radcliffe, stars as one of the central trio whose relationship we watch in reverse—in tatters and broken at the outset in 1976, and then reassembled, right back to their sweet meeting on an apartment building’s roof in October 1957, as Sputnik passes overhead in the night sky and they pinky-swear their union.
This is a wonderful production to see if you can (although tickets are reportedly sold out), the master’s music and lyrics and George Furth’s perfect book based on George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart’s original play all played with precision and deft comprehension. It is strange to think of it as the notorious flop it was when first on Broadway 41 years ago when you see it done so well. It joins the larger-scale, shimmering Into the Woods as another Sondheim jewel of 2022.
This Merrily finds Jonathan Groff in a career-shining role as Franklin Shepard, the rich, famous songwriter and film producer, and Lindsay Mendez, the standout of the show, as Mary Flynn, the drink-guzzling truth-teller of the group who loves Franklin hopelessly and who also wants desperately to keep the trio intact—despite Franklin’s wealth and airless Hollywood fame, and the ambitions and manipulations of his viperish wife Gussie Carnegie (Krystal Joy Brown, relishing every jab, putdown, and curl of the lip) helping to drive them apart. But even Gussie has heartbreak to contend with, as Franklin has been cheating on her—and right in front of her and us.