[NEohioPAL] Merrily We Roll Along at NIGHTTOWN!

[Martin Friedman]

*“Deconstructing” Merrily We Roll Along*

Nighttown
7:00 pm
January 8 & 22, 2018

Tickets not yet available for purchase.  Please watch your email for
further info.



In February, Martin Friedman will direct Stephen Sondheim's *Merrily We
Roll Along* at Lakeland Civic Theatre.

But in January, *Merrily comes to the Nighttown stage* when Friedman talks
about why this music that so many thought was destined for success flopped
on Broadway after only 11 performances – and why over the last 30 years
it’s become one of Sondheim’s most beloved musicals. The Nighttown show
includes music director Jordan Cooper and Lakeland cast members performing
several songs from Merrily.

If you’re a real Sondheim fan, you won’t want to miss *Deconstructing
Merrily We Roll Along*.

Based on the play by George Kauffman and Moss Hart, this musical (with book
by George Furth) tells of the disintegration of the friendship of
successful songwriter Franklin Shepard, his lyricist Charlie Kringas, and
novelist Mary Flynn. The action moves backward through time, from 1980 to
1957.

The score is constructed in blocks, so we hear characters' themes at the
beginning of the show, seeing throughout the rest of the show how that
character developed that theme. For example, in the first scene Frank
sings, "It's my time coming through / all my dreams coming true / Gorgeous
house, gorgeous wife," indicative of his materialism and superficiality. By
the end of that show, we hear the same melodies, and characters for that
matter, evolve into more positive and optimistic human beings, as embodied
in such songs as "Our Time," "Good Thing Going," and "Not A Day Goes By" as
they grow younger and inexplicably mature.

Despite the fact many consider Merrily to include Sondheim’s most
toe-tapping, Broadway-like scores, the show was an abject failure when it
opened on Broadway in 1981.  That said, years’ later *Merrily We Roll
Along* became
a cult favorite and now enjoys regular productions across the country.
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