...began as a straight play by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart (1934). I’ve never seen either version performed live, but found the play problematic when I read it years ago, and can understand why Sondheim’s updated musical version wasn’t a hit on Broadway (1981). For one thing, it’s kind of a downer. That’s not a deal-breaker in any art form, of course. But telegraphing the ending by beginning with the bummer ending and working backwards to the hopeful beginning — while a worthy artistic endeavor — isn’t the best way to engage an audience.
To say the least. Because this was the show that ended the Sondheim-Hal Prince collaboration. Merrily ran a whole 16 performances.
But it’s worth looking at, not least because...Sondheim. Even when his shows are less than completely successful, there is much in them to enjoy. Or as Richard Brody put it in The New Yorker,
“Merrily We Roll Along,” of course, turned out to be the “Ishtar” of Broadway: it suffered from gossipy reports of a troubled production and, as a result, was received with hostility by critics, and it closed after only sixteen performances, only to come back, years later, as a rediscovered classic.
www.newyorker.com/...
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