DL Open Thread Sunday Magazine: November 23, 2025

Long-time readers know that I am a Sondheim fanatic.  I think he’s our Shakespeare.  He is the first among equals on my musical Mt. Rushmore (along with Curtis Mayfield, Joni Mitchell and Thelonious Monk).  I plead guilty to proselytizing on his behalf on this blog.  Why?  Because I think that people would love his work as much as I do if only they exposed themselves to it.

In 1981, “Merrily We Roll Along”, a Sondheim musical, opened on Broadway.  It flopped.  16 performances, and it was gone.  Except for the Original Cast album, which was recorded the day after the show closed.  For over 40 years, I’ve listened to that album because it’s one of the most tuneful scores I’ve ever heard.  Plus, it sounded like a show that should have been a hit.

Sondheim had broken down in tears and apologized to the entire company for letting them down.  In a way, he and producer Hal Prince had.  Because a couple of fatal decisions caused the show to flop.  The most fatal being casting the show ‘young’. ‘Merrily’ starts at the end and runs backwards in time, telling a story of how friendships are tested as people change.  There was no way that the younger, though talented, leads could convey the emotional and experiential depth that takes place over the two-plus decades of the show’s timeline.

The other challenge, which I felt when I saw an excellent production of the show at the Arden Theatre Company in Philly, is that we first meet the three friends, Franklin Shepard, songwriter/producer, Charles Kringas, lyricist, and writer Mary Flynn, at their most cynical and antagonistic worst.  Well, not Franklin, who seems to revel in a shallow El-Lay lifestyle.  Anyway, they appeared to be unsympathetic characters, and didn’t draw the audience in.  You can view an amazing documentary of the original flop.  It’s called The Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened.  I watched it, and it only made me believe that this show needed to be resurrected.  (BTW, look closely for Breaking Bad villain Giancarlo Esposito in the company, along with a curly-haired Jason Alexander.)

Sondheim continued to fiddle with the show.  When I saw it at the Arden at least 15 years ago, two new songs had been added and one had been excised.  He worked with directors to try to fix what needed fixing.  Over more than three decades.  Then, in 2013, director Maria Friedman, who had played Dot in the original London cast of “Sunday In The Park With George”, and who had become a Sondheim confidante, directed a revival of the show in London, and found the soul of the show that would ultimately lead to…but I’m getting ahead of myself.  There’s a number in the show called ‘Franklin Shepard, Inc.’ which, all too publicly (as on TV) reveals the fractures between Franklin and Charley.  From that British revival:

One of Sondheim’s greatest patter songs.  Sondheim, more than any other composer, rejects the idea of ‘stopping the show for a song’ formula, derisively referred to in theatre terms as ‘park and bark’, and often replaces it with a song that moves the plot forward.  There are so many examples.  Let’s stick to “Merrily” though.  One reason why the score is so brilliant is because, in a show that features a composer and lyricist as lead characters, you hear snippets of songs that become other songs throughout the show.  Watch as Seth Rudetsky ‘deconstructs’ ‘Opening Doors’.  Don’t be afraid–he’s very funny. It’s like seven scenes in one song. Be sure to listen for Jason Alexander in a memorable cameo:

There are also several songs from the show that deserve to be standards, and have been recorded by top stars.  Here’s Sinatra crooning ‘Good Thing Going’ (nowhere near my favorite version, BTW):

Bernadette Peters, perhaps the greatest Sondheim interpreter we have:

Which brings us to why I’m writing this Valentine today.  Why, after all these years?  Here’s why:

https://www.amctheatres.com/movies/merrily-we-roll-along-80251

Bleep that ‘Wicked’ sequel–this is the musical event of the season.  December 5, bay-bee.  I had to write this today because I couldn’t get it out of my head all week.  I’m so psyched!

Oh, but we haven’t gotten to the incredible Broadway revival (2022-23) that you’ll be seeing captured in the film.  What a cast!  Why talk about it when I can show you?:

There you have it.  It only took 41 years.  Just long enough for a flop to be reborn as a masterwork.