John Doyle to Stage Merrily We Roll Along at the Watermill

John Doyle, whose Broadway production of Company recently garnered a Tony Award as Best Revival, will return to the work of Stephen Sondheim with a new staging of Sondheim and George Furth's 1981 musical Merrily We Roll Along, according to Whatsonstage.com.

Merrily We Roll Along, with a score by Sondheim and book by Furth, will be presented at the UK's Watermill Theatre in spring of 2008.  The production will draw upon Doyle's acclaimed practice of having the cast double as the production's orchestra. 

Last year, Doyle won the Tony Award for Best Director of a Musical for his production of Sondheim's Sweeney Todd, which starred Patti LuPone and Michael Cerveris (and originated at the Watermill).  His critically lauded staging of Company stars Raul Esparza and Barbara Walsh, among others.  His other directorial credits include Mack and Mabel, Into the Woods and The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny.

Merrily We Roll Along, loosely based on the play by Kaufman and Hart and told through backwards chronology, ran for only 16 performance after opening at the Alvin Theatre on November 16th, 1981.  The musical has since been presented in numerous well-received productions and has risen considerably in esteem.  Originally staged by Harold Prince, Merrily We Roll Along's score includes "Not a Day Goes By," "Old Friends," "It's a Hit," "Good Thing Going," and the title song, among others.  The show concerns three young people - songwriters Franklin Shepard and Charley Kringas, and theatre critic Mary Flynn - who set out to make their names in show business, but whose friendship is tainted along the way by success, romantic frustration and the disillusionment of adulthood.

The British theatre news website also reports that there is talk of a possible West End Company transfer, although nothing has been confirmed.

Photo of John Doyle by Linda Lenzi