Lonny Price and Abigail Pogrebin Chat MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG on THEATER TALK Today

This week THEATER TALK explores the touching drama behind the original 1981 Broadway production of the musical Merrily We Roll Along, and its swift closing after just two weeks, as told by two original cast members, Lonny Price and Abigail Pogrebin.

Price and Pogrebin are now in Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened, a new documentary - directed by Price - that germinated after a 2002 Merrily cast reunion concert in New York.

The musical - with book by George Furth, score by Stephen Sondheim, and directed by Harold Prince - starred a young cast that was devastated by the unexpected dashing of their Broadway dreams. And it would be two decades before Sondheim and Prince attempted to revive a creative partnership that previously had yielded Company, Follies, A Little Night Music and Sweeney Todd. Price's film makes use of recently discovered rehearsal and interview footage, shot but never aired by ABC TV, capturing Sondheim, Furth and Prince in rehearsals, and the idealism and innocence of its young cast. Pogrebin was 16 years old in the original production; she is now a writer. Her newest book, to be published in March, is My Jewish Year - 18 Holidays, One Wondering Jew. Price, who remained in show business, is currently directing Glenn Close's return to Broadway in Sunset Boulevard.

Co-hosted by Susan Haskins and guest co-host Jesse Green, drama critic for New York Magazine, the Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened episode of THEATER TALK premieres today 1/13 (2017) on PBS station Thirteen/WNET at 1:30 AM (Saturday morning) and repeats there on Sunday 1/15 at 11:30 AM; it re-airs on CUNY TV* Saturday, 1/14 at 8:30 PM, Sunday 1/15 at 12:30 PM, and Monday 1/16 at 7:30 AM, 1:30 PM, and 7:30 PM; and also airs on WLIW/21 on Monday 1/16 at 5:30 PM and on NYCLife/25 on Thursday 1/19 at 11 PM.

THEATER TALK is jointly produced by the not-for-profits Theater Talk Productions and CUNY TV. The program is taped in the Himan Brown TV and Radio Studios at The City University of New York (CUNY) TV in Manhattan, and is distributed to 100+ participating public television stations nationwide. THEATER TALK is made possible in part by The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, The CUNY TV Foundation, and The Friends of THEATER TALK.

*CUNY TV, the City University of New York television station, is broadcast in the NYC metropolitan area on digital Ch. 25.3 and cablecast in the city's five boroughs on Ch. 75 (Time Warner & Optimum Brooklyn), Ch. 77 (RCN), and Ch. 30 (Verizon FiOS). THEATER TALK episodes are available online anytime at www.cuny.tv and www.theatertalk.org and via iTunes.

Pictured: Abigail Pogrebin and Lonny Price on Theater Talk (Image courtesy of Theater Talk Productions/CUNY TV)