Merrily We Roll Along

Merrily We Roll Along, American musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by George Furth, based on the 1934 play of the same name by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart. Merrily We Roll Along follows the lives of three friends who meet in college and whose connection sours over time as they experience various levels of professional and personal success. Told in reverse, from end to beginning, the show confused both audiences and critics when it premiered on Broadway on November 16, 1981. It closed 12 days later.

The musical experienced a surge in popularity in the 21st century following Sondheim’s death in 2021, a Tony-winning Broadway revival in 2023 starring Jonathan Groff, Daniel Radcliffe, and Lindsay Mendez, and a film adaptation being shot by director Richard Linklater over 20 years.

Characters

Merrily We Roll Along follows Franklin Shepard, Charlie Kringas, and Mary Flynn, artists and longtime friends whose relationship has deteriorated over decades as Frank has prioritized his own career and become more successful than Charlie or Mary.

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•Franklin (Frank) Shepard: A famous Broadway composer who begins the show celebrating his premiere as a Hollywood producer, Frank is estranged from his longtime friends Mary and Charlie as well as his first wife, Beth Spencer, because of his pursuit of fame and fortune. At the beginning of the show, Frank is married to Gussie Carnegie.

•Charlie Kringas: Charlie is a lyricist and playwright and one-time writing partner of Frank’s whose idealism leads to the collapse of their relationship.

•Mary Flynn: A novelist-turned-theater-critic, Mary is in love with Frank. She attempts to smooth over Charlie and Frank’s conflicts and make excuses for Frank’s poor treatment of his friends until she can no longer stomach him.

•Gussie Carnegie: A Broadway star, Gussie is Frank’s second wife, with whom he cheated on his first wife. Gussie’s first husband was Joe Josephson, and she starred in Frank and Charlie’s first Broadway musical.

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•Joe Josephson: Joe is a Broadway producer who gives Frank and Charlie their big break and whose career and personal life collapses after Gussie leaves him for Frank.

•Beth Spencer: Frank’s first wife, Beth used to perform with Frank, Charlie, and Mary before she divorced Frank.

Synopsis

Merrily We Roll Along spans 20 years, beginning in the late 1970s and ending in the late 1950s. Time moves backward in the musical, which seeks to answer the question posed in the first song: “How did you get to be here?” The show opens at a party at Frank’s house celebrating the premiere of his first Hollywood movie. Although he attempts to put up a facade, he realizes he has compromised his values and personal relationships in pursuit of money. Mary drunkenly hurls insults, Charlie’s absence is conspicuous, and Gussie reveals that she knows Frank is cheating on her with the star of his new film.

The show then works in reverse chronological order from Frank’s party to chronicle the events leading up to that moment, beginning with the dissolution of Frank and Charlie’s relationship during a disastrous television interview in 1973. Throughout their relationship, Frank prevails upon Charlie to allow him to commercialize their work to make money, and Charlie’s passion project, a satirical political musical, never gets the attention from Frank that he has promised. Mary, who is in unrequited love with Frank, tries to hold the three friends together but is ultimately unsuccessful.

In the final scene of the musical, Frank and Charlie meet as college students waiting to see the Soviet satellite Sputnik pass overhead; Frank compliments Charlie’s plays and suggests turning one of his political satires into a musical. The two then run into Mary, who lives in their apartment building, and they all watch Sputnik and marvel at the possibilities ahead of them.

Development

The initial production in 1981 was dogged by problems from the outset. Directed and produced by the legendary Hal Prince, the original conceit was to tell a story about unfulfilled dreams, regrets, and the true meaning of success with a cast of young performers. At first there were 26 characters, which was reduced to about half a dozen during the show’s chaotic preview period. Budgetary constraints meant that the show was not given the out-of-town tryout that is the norm for Broadway musicals. As a result the production’s flaws became clear only during preview performances, when they were harder to address.

Reception and revision

The original Broadway run was poorly received. Critics and audiences found the storyline confusing and lacking substance. The casting, which had young actors playing characters who are middle-aged for most of the show, also did not go over well. In a 2016 documentary about the 1981 production called Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened, actors from the original staging recall singing to the backs of entire rows of patrons walking out of the show, which closed after 16 performances. Sondheim, who ultimately came to disagree with using young actors, later wrote about the show’s failings, saying:

The theatergoers who didn’t leave at intermission did a lot of squirming and with reason: they felt cheated. There were severe problems with the sets and costumes as well, the former being cluttered and charmless, the latter so confusing that Hal threw them all out at dress rehearsal and replaced them with t-shirts lettered with a description of each wearer’s relationship to Frank.…I rather liked it. The paying audience did not.

Although it was a commercial and critical flop, the musical nonetheless gained a cult following, and its widely admired score and emotional core contributed to it being revisited in the hopes of making it work. The writers continued to revise the show for about 15 years. Casting performers in their late teens and early 20s was abandoned early on in those revisions.

According to Sondheim, a turning point came during a 1985 production in La Jolla, California, after structural changes were suggested by director James Lapine. The show was streamlined for a 1994 Off-Broadway revival directed by Susan H. Schulman. Notably, that staging eschewed the story’s original framing device, which positioned the musical as a flashback that Frank experiences in a high school gymnasium, where he had been invited to impart wisdom to the students. Subsequent productions were well received, with Sondheim calling the 2012 staging in London’s West End an example of “the classic ideal of the sum being greater than the parts.”

Back to Broadway

Popular interest in the show was reanimated by a 2022 revival starring Daniel Radcliffe, Jonathan Groff, and Lindsay Mendez, which opened Off-Broadway and moved to Broadway the next year. It was directed by Maria Friedman, who had been close friends with Sondheim and had starred as Mary in Merrily in 1992 before going on to direct seven productions of the show, including the 2012 one in London. The revival was nominated for seven Tony Awards and won four: best revival of a musical, best actor in a musical (Groff), best featured actor in a musical (Radcliffe), and best orchestrations (Jonathan Tunick). The revival’s success has largely changed the narrative of the show as a failure.

Film adaptations

A professionally shot performance of Friedman’s award-winning revival premiered in movie theaters in December 2025. In 2019 filmmaker Richard Linklater announced that he was adapting Merrily We Roll Along, with plans to shoot the film over 20 years and release it in the early 2040s. The film will star Paul Mescal, Beanie Feldstein, and Ben Platt.