Listening to Encores MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG
Listening to Encores MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG
MarkBearSF
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/25/11
#1Listening to Encores MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG
Posted: 1/16/16 at 8:00pm
Today, I needed perking up and wanted a song that went "bum bum bum dee dum," and played the Encores 2012 "Merrily We Roll Along." (Prefer it to the SD recording for the current version)
For some reason, I had forgotten that Lin-Manual Miranda played Charlie in that production. After being saturated (my own choice) by Hamilton for the past few months, it was a joy to hear his "Franklin Shepard Inc." It also reminded me of Betsy Wolfe. I really look forward to seeing her again sometime soon. (Caught her in "Tales of the City," Drood, and "The Last Five Years" with Adam Kantor)
Updated On: 1/16/16 at 08:00 PM
UrNotAMachine
Stand-by Joined: 2/17/15
#2Listening to Encores MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG
Posted: 1/16/16 at 8:53pm
It really is a great cast. Celia Keenan-Bolger was a standout to me as well. Her "Now You Know" is fantastic.
#3Listening to Encores MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG
Posted: 1/16/16 at 9:20pm
The best recording of the current version. Although the reorchestrations are odd (especially when the originals are so great) the recording is worth it for "Growing Up".
However, nothing can beat the OBC for me - best cast, best orchestrations, best book. Hopefully it will get remastered soon - it's one of my favorites.
"Sticks and stones, sister. Here, have a Valium." - Patti LuPone, a Memoir
#4Listening to Encores MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG
Posted: 1/17/16 at 12:03am
I adore this cast. It's my favorite recording of the score and probably my favorite Sondheim show.
#5Listening to Encores MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG
Posted: 1/17/16 at 5:14am
The cast is excellent, but for me the definitive production is the Menier Chocolate Factory's directed by Maria Friedman.
#6Listening to Encores MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG
Posted: 1/17/16 at 6:59am
i have seen many productions of this MASTERFUL MUSICAL...but it is ironic that i never got the chance to see the original cast in 1981... i too think the OBC is the best recording of this show...for all the right reasons...best cast, best orchestrations and best book...the newer versions which i got to see were not as complete as the old first version that flopped on Broadway IMHO...the songs from ENDING TO BEGINNING are some of the best SONDHEIM has ever written...
broadwaysfguy
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/27/14
#7Listening to Encores MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG
Posted: 1/18/16 at 1:44pm
i love the encores 2012 merrily we roll along!!!!!
my fav recording and merrily has more songs in my top 40 sondheim than any other show....7 songs!!!)
loved the recent uk production and so grateful they filmed and broadcast it!
#8Listening to Encores MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG
Posted: 1/18/16 at 3:02pm
The OBC recording of Merrily was remastered in 2011...along with Sunday and Into the Woods.
#9Listening to Encores MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG
Posted: 1/18/16 at 3:10pm
This is my favorite Sondheim show by far. The production at the NY City Center was simply electric...one of the best theatrical experiences of my life. The recording is great, but not nearly as good as it was live. I like the recording with Raul Esparza too. The Encores production was fantastic...Elizabeth Stanley was perfection as Gussie Carnegie...her outfits were first rate.
"People have their opinions and that doesn't mean that their opinions are wrong or right. I just take it with a grain of salt because opinions are like as*holes, everyone has one".
-Felicia Finley-
#10Listening to Encores MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG
Posted: 1/18/16 at 8:54pm
Sally Durant Plummer said: "The best recording of the current version. Although the reorchestrations are odd (especially when the originals are so great) the recording is worth it for "Growing Up".
However, nothing can beat the OBC for me - best cast, best orchestrations, best book. Hopefully it will get remastered soon - it's one of my favorites.
"
Tunick's essay in the booklet kinda justifies those orchestrations--he states that when he picked the original instrumentation he was told that it would have something of a rock sound which, of course, it didn't (just another example how the creators seemed to think they were writing a different show than they did), but I do prefer the originals.
#11Listening to Encores MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG
Posted: 1/18/16 at 10:04pm
I assume those of you raving about the original production never saw it. Yes, the kids were supridingly good, as amateurs go. But it wasn't like INTO THE WOODS, where you had a couple of teens playing with more experienced performers. The original cast sang well, but its members didn't sustain scenes as well as you might imagine. The exception was Ann Morrison, who broke your heart even though Mary has little to do in the story.
yfs
Featured Actor Joined: 11/1/13
#12Listening to Encores MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG
Posted: 1/18/16 at 10:22pm
It's true that the original production was largely a mess, and really seemed like a total flop with a good score. I saw it twice and was completely baffled as to how they could've gone so wrong. We're lucky it got recorded, however, and no matter what you think of the later revisions, James Lapine deserves a lot of credit for taking something that was kind of a shambles and believing in it enough to bring it back to life. It might have just vanished into the mist like Anyone Can Whistle without a champion of Lapine's intelligence and taste.
#13Listening to Encores MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG
Posted: 1/18/16 at 10:25pm
It's a lovely recording of what I thought was a charming staged concert production. I actually thought Keenan-Bolger was the weak link. For me, It was Elizabeth Stanley who ran away with the show, I remember being shocked by how juicy of a role Gussie is.
pmm1221
Swing Joined: 6/23/09
#14Listening to Encores MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG
Posted: 9/26/16 at 12:35am
Elizabeth Stanley is perfection! I had the pleasure of seeing her in the Bridges of Madison County tour this summer and she was fantastic in that, too. There's a new production being directed by Michael Arden in LA this fall. I'm on the producing team. Can't wait to hear our cast singing this beautiful music!
broadwaysfguy
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/27/14
#15Listening to Encores MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG
Posted: 9/26/16 at 1:19am
i applaud your courage to give a strong shout out for the encores recording. It is outstanding. I also really enjoy the 1994 revival recording a lot, perhaps more than the 2012 encores. (and I love the original recording too). I also really enjoyed the London production from 2014 that was in the theatres.
Merrily we roll along probably has more of my top favorite sondheim songs than any other musical
As one member advised me early in my sondheim explorations-"Just Buy Them All!!!!"
With some on this board, anything other that insisting the original cast of every sondheim show is the best, period, end of discussion is heresy worthy of tar and feathering..
Unfortunately, this may limit peoples exploration and appreciation of the many wonderful interpretations and recordings of sondheim...
Appreciate that those on this thread so far who love the original most have been respectful to the opinions and comments of other posters who may have differing opinions....
would love to see a proper revival of this show!.
nasty_khakis
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/15/07
#16Listening to Encores MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG
Posted: 9/26/16 at 11:05am
I actually don't care for Lin at all in this production. They added Colin singing some songs with him as a duet because his voice was lacking. I was very disappointed in his "Franklin Shepard, Inc" especially after Euan Morton's terrific version earlier in Sondheim on Sondheim.
henrikegerman
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/29/05
#17Listening to Encores MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG
Posted: 9/26/16 at 11:21am
Thought the concert was great.
Mary may be the most difficult acting challenge in all of musical theatre. It's hard to win an audience when you "start out" bitter and dissolute. If Mary doesn't have - ah, but underneath! - the heart, humor and individuality to carry the show's first cynical scene, in which she's caustic, annoyed, sloppy and drunk (and, as I recall, her "jokes" in that scene aren't good enough to give her that much help) - the audience is ready to completely give up on the show before it scarcely begins. As I recall, Bolger handled it to perfection.
neonlightsxo
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/29/08
#18Listening to Encores MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG
Posted: 9/26/16 at 11:31am
nasty_khakis said: "I actually don't care for Lin at all in this production. They added Colin singing some songs with him as a duet because his voice was lacking. I was very disappointed in his "Franklin Shepard, Inc" especially after Euan Morton's terrific version earlier in Sondheim on Sondheim."
Which songs? I had never seen Merrily before so I didn't notice, but I didn't notice anything different in the subsequent West End production.
#19Listening to Encores MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG
Posted: 9/26/16 at 4:04pm
i specifically recall Colin singing Good Thing Going with Lin, i assume because it's supposed to be a beautiful ballad and among all his talents, Lin unfortunately doesn't possess a beautiful balladic voice.
also re: "Buy Them All!" i think this is a rare Sondheim show where the original recording isn't at all like the current version so having multiple recordings is best. It's not like Company where each recording is basically identical but with a different cast.
"Contentment, it seems, simply happens. It appears accompanied by no bravos and no tears."
Updated On: 9/26/16 at 04:04 PM
neonlightsxo
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/29/08
#20Listening to Encores MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG
Posted: 9/26/16 at 4:17pm
Hasn't "Good Thing Going" always been sung by both of them?....that's why I asked...
