The Dallas Morning News: "Stephen Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along, a 1981 flop still revered by musical-theater fans for its score, may get its first Broadway revival.
The Roundabout Theatre Company is in talks to produce Merrily during the 2009-10 season. James Lapine, who directed a well-received revision of the show at California's La Jolla Playhouse in 1985, would do the staging."
4 comments:
Reading this article got me thinking about what we do in theatre. When there is a show that only has one good element then it isn't much of a show at all. Theatre is a collaborative effort, and if it doesn't come together as a whole than it isn't a success.
Maybe this will work out for the company, maybe the show flopped because it was before its time or something. But I think its a bad sign if a show is praised for individual elements. Or in this case, element.
It's great how a name like Sondheim can't sell a show completely on its own. People are capable of seeing lack of plot and letting a show flop because of it. It will be interesting to see how the revival does, and what they change to advance it. Was it just a matter of running out of time to fix everything? What could they have done years ago in order to make this work.
I worked with a director this past summer who talked about this show so much you would have thought he was in it. Well, actually, he was just very bitter that someone never returned his personal score of this show, and he cannot get another one.
Anyway, I think that reviving this show, even though it originally was a flop, is a perfectly fine idea. It of course is a plus that the score is so beloved, but especially with a new team and a new time (including new products that will hopefully aid in the creative processes), there really is no limit, other than people clinging to sore memories, to what this show can achieve. I hope this turns out well!
Great year for Sondheim! First having The Sunday in the Park with George revival in the Broadway, Sweeney Todd made into a major Hollywood film, and now this. I hope goes really well for all of them, because we can always make more rooms for more Sondheim.
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