Merrily We Roll Along 1981 - Articles Page 7

On November 15, 1949, in Hollywood, California, an up-and-coming young actress met a handsome movie star for dinner -- a blind date that changed history.

Presented by a brand new Production group, 4 Leaf Music Productions, in Association with Golden Performing Arts Center, and based on a 1934 Kaufman and Hart play of the same name, this musical tells the story of three friends, Franklin, Charley, and Mary, and the progressive decadence of their bonds and their dreams. The story is told in reverse. When it begins, in 1980, they're in their 40's: Franklin, is a rich, successful, conceited and confused noted songwriter; Charley, the lyricist in the duo, has cut off ties with his partner after a nervous breakdown and Mary is a lonely alcoholic still secretly in love with Franklin from when they first met, years and years ago. As we move forward in the play but backwards in time, we see how their friendships disintegrate, along with their aspirations and Franklin's many whirlwind marriages. Rewinding through the '70s and '60s, we end up in 1957, when the three of them meet for the first time, on a rooftop in the city, all hopeful young talents per-chance gathering to watch Sputnik go by in the pre-dawn sky. The song they sing, 'Our Time' ('We're the movers, we're the shapers/ the names in tomorrow's papers'), is undercut by some very keen irony, since we've already seen how it all turns out, at the beginning.

Season features three productions: the world premiere of an original play written by a Broadway veteran, a boldly staged concert production of a Sondheim classic, and an immersive reinterpretation of a song cycle from a two-time Tony-Award winner.

In his review of the debut of MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG in 1981, New York Times critic Frank Rich wrote, 'As we all should have probably learned by now, to be a Stephen Sondheim fan is to have one's heart broken at regular intervals.'

Casting is now complete for the Hollywood Bowl's upcoming production of Annie. The new cast members are Roger Bart as Daniel 'Rooster' Hannigan, Kaylin Hedges as Annie, Ali Stroker as 'Star-to-Be,' Amir Talai as Bert Healy, Marlow Barkley as Kate, Amadi Chapata as Pepper, Noe Lynds as July, Rae Martinez as Tessie, Malea Emma Tjandrawidjaja as Molly, and Olivia Zenetzis as Duffy.

San Francisco Playhouse (Artistic Director Bill English; Producing Director Susi Damilano) announced casting for the final show of its 2017-18 Mainstage Season--Sunday in the Park with George, the quintessential Stephen Sondheim musical about the art of creation and the creation of art. Bill English will direct the 1985 Pulitzer Prize-winning musical.

Cape Rep Theatre is opening its 33rd season with the regional premiere of Merrily We Roll Along, book by George Furth, music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, May 9 through June 3, Tuesdays through Thursdays at 7 pm, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm and Sundays at 2 pm; there is no performance on Today, May 23rd. Tickets are $35 and $40. Pay-What-You-Can-Night is the first Friday, May 11th. Group rates & Student Rush tickets also available. Call the box office for details. Cape Rep Indoor Theater. North Side Route 6A E. Brewster. 508.896.1888 or www.caperep.org.

Some exciting new details on the Broadway-bound Princess Diana Musical, Diana, have emerged this week following a lab presentation for potential investors in Midtown. 

Cape Rep Theatre is opening its 33rd season with the regional premiere of Merrily We Roll Along, book by George Furth, music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, May 9 through June 3, Tuesdays through Thursdays at 7 pm, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm and Sundays at 2 pm; there is no performance on Wednesday, May 23rd. Tickets are $35 and $40. Pay-What-You-Can-Night is the first Friday, May 11th. Group rates & Student Rush tickets also available. Call the box office for details. Cape Rep Indoor Theater. North Side Route 6A E. Brewster. 508.896.1888 or www.caperep.org.

Award-winning and critically-acclaimed Astoria Performing Arts Center (APAC - Jesse Marchese, Executive Director; Dev Bondarin, Artistic Director) concludes its 17th mainstage season with a production of the legendary musical Follies by James Goldman (Book) and Stephen Sondheim (Music & Lyrics), directed by APAC artistic director, Dev Bondarin (New York Innovative Theatre Awards nominee for Best Director for APAC's 2017 production of Raisin) and choreographed by Sara Brians (Resident Choreographer, Matilda, Broadway). Follies runs from May 3 - 26, 2018 at the Good Shepherd United Methodist Church, 30-44 Crescent St. (at 30th Road), Astoria, NY 11102.

Before his guest starring role on Young Sheldon, last season's off-Broadway production of The Portuguese Kid and of course nearly a decade as George Costanza on Seinfeld, Jason Alexander was a song and dance man on Broadway. He made his Broadway debut in Merrily We Roll Along in 1981, followed by a continual decade of shows: The Rink, Broadway Bound, Jerome Robbins' Broadway (in which he won a Tony Award for his performance) and Accomplice. Highlights of how his Broadway career began will be hilariously re-told next week, as his tour heads back to his home state of New Jersey to perform with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra at NJPAC in Newark and the State Theater in New Brunswick. Newark is actually where Alexander was born before growing up in Maplewood and Livingston.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts announced the 2018 winners of the Kennedy Center/Stephen Sondheim Inspirational Teacher Awards-a series of annual grants which recognize American teachers by spotlighting their extraordinary impact on the lives of students. Four teachers were selected in 2018 from a pool of nominations received through the Kennedy Center's website. Award recipients each receive $10,000 and are showcased, along with the former students they inspired, on a website dedicated to inspirational teachers. The awards, created by the Center in honor of Stephen Sondheim's 80th birthday in 2010, were initiated and funded through the generous support of Myrna and Freddie Gershon. To date, 75 awards totaling $750,000 have been presented.

Directors David Roth (SHS '84) and Kerry Long (SHS '97) bring back one of their all-time favorite shows to the Staples stage: Stephen Sondheim's semi-autobiographical Merrily We Roll Along. With a brilliant 'Broadway-style' score and the deep insight one expects from any Sondheim endeavor, the musical is a spirited and moving cautionary tale for anyone who has ever pursued a dream.

The heartbreaking story of dreams not turning out as expected plays out in Little Triangle's beautiful presentation of Stephen Sondheim's MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG. 

While MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG is quite a dark show, it's undeniably one of my favorite Sondheim musicals-and Porchlight's production does well to demonstrate why this is the case.

Porchlight Music Theatre is proud to announce the next mainstage production it its 2017 - 2018 season Merrily We Roll Along, January 26 - March 11,  2018, music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by George Furth, with direction by Porchlight Music Theatre Artistic Director Michael Weber, associate direction and musical staging by Porchlight Music Theatre Artistic Associate Christopher Pazdernik and music direction by Aaron Benham at Porchlght's home, the Ruth Page Center for the Arts, 1016 N. Dearborn Street. Merrily We Roll Along is based on the play by the same name written by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart. The performance schedule is Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. (March 4 and March 11) and 6 p.m. (February 4, February 11, February 18 and February 25) with a weekday matinee Thursday, March 8 at 1:30 p.m. There is no 4 p.m. performance Saturday, Feb. 3 and no 7:30 p.m. performance on Thursday, March 8. Tickets are $33 - $60 and are available at PorchlightMusicTheatre.org or by calling the Porchlight Music Theatre box office, 773.777.9884.

Lakeland's 2017-18 season concludes with the passionate and oft-misunderstood musical by Stephen Sondheim and George Furth Merrily We Roll Along which opens on February 2, 2018 and runs for three weeks at Lakeland Community College's Rodehorst Performing Arts Center. Merrily. Merrily is directed by Martin Friedman and under the Musical Direction of by Jordan Cooper.

Just in time for Valentine's Day The Stage puts its unique style on a musical masterpiece with a re-envisioning of the revered Sondheim classic Sweeney Todd. In this stripped-down version fierce lovers explore revenge, passion, and greed through Sondheim's masterful Tony & Drama Desk winning score.

Lakeland's 2017-18 season concludes with the passionate and oft-misunderstood musical by Stephen Sondheim and George Furth Merrily We Roll Along which opens on February 2, 2018 and runs for three weeks at Lakeland Community College's Rodehorst Performing Arts Center. Merrily. Merrily is directed by Martin Friedman and under the Musical Direction of by Jordan Cooper.

FEINSTEIN'S/54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club, presents Our Time: Children of Merrily We Roll Along on January 2nd and 3rd at 9:30pm.

La Jolla Playhouse announces Diana, a world-premiere musical from the Tony Award-winning Memphis team Joe DiPietro (book and lyrics) and David Bryan (music and lyrics), directed by Playhouse Artistic Director and 2017 Tony Award winner Christopher Ashley, as part of the 2018/2019 season.

This November, Feinstein's/54 Below, Broadway's Supper Club & Private Event Destination, presents some of the brightest stars from Broadway, cabaret, jazz, and beyond.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is seeking nominations for the 2018 Kennedy Center/Stephen Sondheim Inspirational Teacher Awards, a series of annual grants that recognize inspiring teachers in any field of education across the United States.

Next week, Feinstein's/54 Below, Broadway's Supper Club & Private Event Destination, presents some of the brightest stars from Broadway, cabaret, jazz, and beyond, including Broadway Bound, The Broadway Tenors, A Scythe of Time featuring Lesli Margherita, Linda & Laura Benanti, Into Sweeney Todd's Woods, and more. Scroll down for details!