Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by George Furth
Produced and Directed by John Hall
Conducted by Samuel Krachmalnick
Scenic Design by Robert Deman
Lighting Design by Eileen Cooley
Costumes by David Paul
Choreography by Jason Ma
Based on the original play by George Kaufman and Moss Hart
Originally directed on Broadway by Harold Prince
Originally produced on Broadway by Lord Grade, Martin Starger, Robert Fryer and Harold Prince in association with Ruth Mitchell and Howard Haines.
Merrily We Roll Along is presented by agreement with Music Theater International, Inc., Copyright owner.
Composer's Note:
Since Merrily We Roll Along is about friendship, the score concentrates attention on the friendship of Mary, Frank and Charley by having all their songs interconnected through chunks of melody, rhythm and accompaniment. And since the story moves backwards in which could be modified over the course of the years, extended and developed, reprised, fragmented, and then presented to the audience in reverse: extensions first, reprises first, fragments first. For example, a release in one song would turn up later - later in the show but earlier in time - as a refrain in another (e.g., "Rich and Happy"/"Our Time"), a melody would become an accompaniment ("Old Friends"/"Opening Doors"), a chorus would be reprised as an interlude ("Like It Was"/"Old Friends"), and so on, according to the relative importance of the characters' feelings at each point in their lives. Along with this would be the transformation of Frank's hit song from "The Hills of Tomorrow" through his development of it during "Opening Doors," which we actually witness, to its emergence as "Good Thing Going."
In fact, if the score is listened to in reverse order - although it wasn't written that way - it develops traditionally. - Stephen Sondheim
While speaking at Commencement where he graduated 25 years ago, Franklin Shepard, now a rich Hollywood producer, flashes back to the events in his life that brought him here, full circle, back to his beginnings. The faces of the students become the faces he remembers. He sees the young graduating class and places them in his memories of what his life was...and is...
Franklin remembers the day he got the invitation to speak at Graduation. It was at the party belebrating his latest, not very successful, movie. It was the day he finally lost his oldest friend Mary, the day his second wife walked out on him...but hey, he was Rich and Famous...
Franklin remembers the last time he saw his two best friends from New York, Mary and Charlie Kringas, Hell, Charlie was more than a friend. He was his buddy and collaborator; and, for years, his conscience. Who would have ever believed the two of them at that Hollywood restaurant? It was right after he married Gussie...too bad Old Friends couldn't stay The way it was, the way it had been.
But hey, no one could really blame Franklin for what happened in that restaurant, could they? Not after what Charlie had done on nationwide TV. What did he call him? Franklin Shepard, Inc. No, he could never forgive Charlie for that...
The last time he and Charlie and Mary had really been tight, just like the old days, was back in New York. They'd been great after his divorce from Beth. Remember when he first showed his Old Friends his fabulous apartment on Central Park West? He hadn't even really moved in yet. God that was great...
Remember that scene at the courthouse with Beth and those damn reporters? That divorce never should have happened. Funny, but Not a day goes by that he doesn't think about her. Didn't Beth say that? Oh well, hindsight is always terrific, but, as Mary always said Now you know...
Thinking about Beth always reminds him of the night his son was born. His son, and his first Broadway show, same evening. We thought that was a good sign back then. the show? Well, It's a hit. The son? Don't see much of him anymore. Remember, everyone was too scard to enter the theatre...only Joe had enough nerve to listen and even he couldn't sit down...
Remember when we were first invited to Joe's party to pitch that first show? We all tried to be so cool, Beth was the only one who was honest enough to be impressed, God she was beautiful that night. That was the night I made Charlie sing Good Thing Going in front of all those people. He felt like a performing seal act. We were both naive enough to think that Joe was going to produce our show. Boy, we were sure put through some changes. Yeah, that was the night I found out what Gussie was all about...
Those days in New York were really something. Remember that sleazy little club where we wrote, produced and performed our own revue? That was during our 'politically relevant' phase. Hell, everyone was politically relevant in those days, with Bobby and Jackie and Jack in the White House it wasy easy. Wow, we were poor, but we were happy...we even got married in that club, to the tune of Not a day goes by. Well, at least the song was a hit even if the marriage wasn't. Remember that first evening with the in-laws? Maybe the Spencers were right...that was also the first night that Joe Josephson came to hear us do our thing...
Getting to that little club wasn't easy. The three of use were really going to knock New York on its ear. Funny, but putting that revue together was how Beth came into the picture. Before then it was always Frank and Charlie and Mary. The invincible trio was Opening Doors...
Remember when that invincible trio was founded? We were going to put up a plaque. Up there on the roof of Charlie and Frank's first New York apartment. Yeah, that's when Mary arrived, we were watching out for Sputnik. Funny, Charlie's still married to Evelyn, Mary's old roomie. But the three of us...Frank and Charlie and Mary...we had something special. It was Our Time...no doubt about it.
It really was our time. But, although you can't go home again, maybe the Hills of Tomorrow will call to these kids someday. Yeah, they'll be standing somewhere twenty-five years from now, remembering their Old Friends...
Musical Numbers
