Celia Keenan-Bolger, Colin Donnell, Betsy Wolfe and Elizabeth Stanley have been cast in Stephen Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along, the first New York City Center Encores! production of season. Merrily We Roll Along, with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by George Furth, will be directed by James Lapine with music direction by Rob Berman and musical staging by Dan Knechtges. Merrily has been extended for a two-week run, and will play for 15 performances, February 8-19, 2012 at New York City Center, 55th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues.
Merrily We Roll Along, with music and lyrics by
Stephen Sondheim and book by
George Furth, is a musical about friendship and the compromise of youthful ideals, based on the 1934 play of the same name by
George S. Kaufman and
Moss Hart. The show moves backwards in time from 1980 to 1955 and examines the lives of three people whose friendship is tested by time, events, ambition and fate. It charts the rise of a songwriting team during the years of Sondheim's own early career and includes some of his most brilliant and bruising songs, such as "Not a Day Goes By," "Old Friends," "Our Time" and "Opening Doors." Although unsuccessful in its original 1981 Broadway production (which ran 16 performances at the Alvin Theatre), Merrily has gained stature and reputation over the ensuing years, beginning with a reconfigured version at the
La Jolla Playhouse in California in 1985, directed by
James Lapine. Merrily We Roll Along will run February 8 - 19, 2012.
Colin Donnell plays Franklin Shepard, and idealistic young Broadway composer turned Hollywood mogul, and
Celia Keenan-Bolger plays his loyal but disillusioned friend Mary Flynn.
Betsy Wolfe plays Beth, Shepard's wife, and
Elizabeth Stanley plays Gussie Carnegie, the star of Shepard's first Broadway hit. The role of Charley Kringas is still to be cast.
Colin Donnell (Franklin Shepard) is currently starring on Broadway as Billy Crocker in in Anything Goes. His credits include the Broadway production of Jersey Boys and the off-Broadway productions of Meet Me in St. Louis and Almost Heaven: The Songs of
John Denver. Colin played as Young Ben in the Encores! production of Follies.
Celia Keenan-Bolger (Mary Flynn) was nominated for a Tony Award for her performance in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and played Eponine in the Broadway revival of Les Miserables. She has appeared off-Broadway in Little Fishes at
Second Stage, Kindertransport at Manhattan Theatre Club and Summer of '42 at
Goodspeed Opera House. Celia was last seen at
City Center in the Encores! production of Juno.
Elizabeth Stanley (Gussie Carnegie) played April in
John Doyle's revival of Company and starred in the Broadway productions of Million Dollar Quartet and Cry-Baby.
Betsy Wolfe (Beth) played
Mary Ann Singleton in the world premiere of Tales of the City, based on
Armistead Maupin's novels, with music by the Scissor Sisters. She was seen on Broadway in Everyday Rapture and 110 in the Shade at Studio 54, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and A Wonderful Life.
James Lapine (Director) wrote the books for and directed Sondheim's Sunday in the Park with George, Into the Woods, Passion and the recent multi-media revue Sondheim on Sondheim. He collaborated with
William Finn on March of the Falsettos and Falsettoland, later presented on Broadway as Falsettos, as well as A New Brain, Muscle and the soon-to-be-produced Little Miss Sunshine. His directing credits include Merrily We Roll Along at the
La Jolla Playhouse in California in 1985, and the Broadway productions of Golden Child, The Diary of
Anne Frank, Dirty Blonde, Amour and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.
Rob Berman (Music Director) is entering his fifth season as music director of Encores!, where he has conducted Where's Charley?, Lost in the Stars, Bells Are Ringing, Anyone Can Whistle, Fanny, Finian's Rainbow, Music in the Air, Damn Yankees, Applause and Stairway to Paradise, as well as several gala concerts. Broadway conducting credits include Finian's Rainbow,
Irving Berlin's White Christmas, The Pajama Game, The Apple Tree, Wonderful Town and Promises, Promises, among others. He is a three-time Emmy nominee for his work as music director of the Kennedy Center Honors and a winner of the Helen Hayes Award for Best Musical Direction for his work on the Kennedy Center's production of Sunday in the Park with George. He was also music director for A Broadway Celebration: In Performance at the White House.
Dan Knechtges (Musical Staging) directed and choreographed the acclaimed off Broadway production of Lysistrata Jones, which is opening on Broadway in December. His previous Broadway credits include Xanadu (Tony nomination, Best Choreography), Sondheim on Sondheim, 110 in The Shade and The 25th Annual Putnum County Spelling Bee. He has directed and choreographed for numerous theaters across the country and internationally on shows ranging from Gilbert and Sullivan to Rodgers and Hammerstein to Brecht.
City Center is located on 55th Street, between 6th and 7th Avenues. Merrily We Roll Along will run for 15 performances according to the following schedule: Tuesday at 7 pm, Wednesday at 7:30 pm, Thursday and Friday at 8 pm, Saturday at 2 pm and 8 pm, and Sunday at 2 pm and 7 pm (exception: Wed. 2/15 at 7 pm). Tickets start at $25 and are available at the New York
City Center Box Office (West 55th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues), through CityTix® at 212-581-1212, or online at
www.NYCityCenter.org.
