New York Theatre Workshop’s Off-Broadway staging of “Merrily We Roll Along” will transfer to Broadway in the fall of 2023. This production will mark the first Broadway revival of the musical written by George Furth and Stephen Sondheim.
The production, now midway through a sold-out run at Off Broadway’s small-scale New York Theater Workshop in the East Village, stars Daniel Radcliffe (yes, of “Harry Potter” fame) alongside two popular musical theater performers: Jonathan Groff (a Tony nominee for “Spring Awakening” and “Hamilton”) and Lindsay Mendez (a Tony winner for “Carousel”). All three will lead the Broadway cast, according to an announcement Friday; the production’s dates and the theater at which it will be staged were not specified.
“Merrily,” with a much-loved score by Stephen Sondheim and an oft-bashed book by George Furth, holds a special place in musical theater lore: The original production, in 1981, was a fiasco so storied — it closed two weeks after opening — that it spawned an excellent documentary, “Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened.”
The show depicts, in reverse chronological order, the fracturing of a three-way friendship between a composer, a playwright and a novelist who meet in their early 20s. The musical is based on a 1934 play by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart.
In the decades since the Broadway closing, the show has been revived and reimagined over and over and over again — Richard Linklater is now spending 20 years trying to film a version starring Ben Platt, Beanie Feldstein and Blake Jenner.
The starry revival of “Merrily We Roll Along,” one of musical theater’s most beloved flops, will transfer to Broadway next fall, hoping to right the show’s oxymoronic reputation once and for all.
Directed by Olivier Award winner Maria Friedman, the mounting will star Daniel Radcliffe as Charley Kringas, Tony Award nominee Jonathan Groff as Franklin Shepard and Tony winner Lindsay Mendez as Mary Flynn. The cast will also feature Krystal Joy Brown as Gussie Carnegie, Katie Rose Clarke as Beth Shepard and Reg Rogers as Joe Josephson, all of whom will be repeating their performances from New York Theatre Workshop.
This revival will feature choreography by Tim Jackson and orchestrations by Tony Award winner Jonathan Tunick.
Dates, theater, additional creative team and further casting will be announced at a later date.
With a book by Furth and a score by Sondheim, “Merrily” tracks the friendship of three best college pals (played by Radcliffe, Groff and Mendez) over the course of 20 years, moving backwards in time. Based on a play by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, the musical first bowed on Broadway in 1981.
Friedman’s staging began at London’s Menier Chocolate Factory in 2012 before transferring to the West End in 2013 and then Off-Broadway in 2022.
“Merrily” is being produced by Sonia Friedman Productions, David Babani, Patrick Catullo and Jeff Romley.
Author Profile
-
Events Reporter
Adam has covered the likes of Sundown Music Festival for us on 3 occassions.
He is now a tiktok star.
Email https://markmeets.com/contact-form/
Latest entries
MarketingSunday, 1 September 2024, 10:00Building Online Presence Through Web Design and SEO Strategies
FeaturesFriday, 9 August 2024, 14:30Choosing the Ideal Long-Range E-Bike: A Guide for Buyers
BusinessTuesday, 30 July 2024, 16:30Tips And advice to help plan Corporate Events: Surprising Your Guests
MusicSaturday, 27 July 2024, 9:30Top 50 Love Songs of All Time