Chance Theater's MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG Closes 3/7

The Chance Theater is pleased to kick off its 2010 season with Stephen Sondheim's fascinating musical Merrily We Roll Along February 4 - March 7. This time-defying, Tony-nominated classic - most famously revered for its 1994 off-Broadway revival and West End productions - offers a lively journey through the milestones in the lives of three friends.

On a roof top in West Side Manhattan, Frank, Mary, and Charley watch as Sputnik flashes across the sky heralding the dawn of a new era. With all the idealism and exuberance of youth, these three friends look forward to a promising future. The trio do grow up to realize their goals, but they may have paid a greater price than they anticipated.

Beginning in the mid-1970s and traveling backwards to the time of the space race in the late 1950s, Merrily We Roll Along takes audiences on a tuneful trip through the rivalries, jealousies, triumphs and failures of three musical colleagues to uncover how they got "here" from "there". Featuring such classics as "Not A Day Goes By," "Old Friends," "Good Thing Going" and, of course, "Merrily We Roll Along," this musical fable takes a behind-the-scenes look at the Broadway dream.

"More than just 'the show that travels backward in time', Merrily We Roll Along is about friendships, relationships, hopes, and dreams, the effect time has on them, and what happens when they're not tended to," explains director Oanh Nguyen, Chance Theater Artistic Director. "Chronologically, it begins in the middle of the space race with all the optimism, confidence, and idealism of that time, and ends in a post-Vietnam, post-Nixon society that has become disillusioned. This reflection of America's identity and evolving definition of success and the ‘American Dream' makes Merrily relevant today."

Stephen Sondheim is regarded as one of the most influential and accomplished composer/lyricists in Broadway history. Among his many notable works are Company (1969), Follies (1970), A Little Night Music (1972), Sweeney Todd (1978), Sunday in the Park with George (1983), and Into the Woods (1987). Sondheim has garnered eight Tony Awards, seven drama Desk Awards, seven Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize in Drama, and an Academy Award. Sondheim's musical adaptation of Merrily We Roll Along opened on November 16, 1981 in Broadway's Alvin Theatre and was revived off-Broadway at the York Theatre on May 26, 1994.

Information
(714) 777-3033
www.chancetheater.com

Theatre Address
5552 E. La Palma Ave., Anaheim Hills, CA 92807

Recently nominated for six Los Angeles Stage Alliance Ovation Awards (including Best Season), and named "Outstanding Arts Organization" for the second time in five years by Arts Orange County, the Chance is proud to be one of the leading ensemble based theatre companies in Southern California. Voted "Best Theater Group" by MyFoxLA for two years in a row and "Best Small Theater" by Orange Coast Magazine, the Chance is a recipient of the 2007 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle's (LADCC) Polly Warfield Award for Excellence. Founded in 1999, the Chance Theater's mission has always been to intimately present personally meaningful, uniquely engaging stories that promote dialogue within our community and provide a visceral experience for theatergoers. As a constituent member of Theater Communications Group (TCG), Network of Ensemble Theaters (NET), and the Los Angeles Stage Alliance (LASA), the Chance continues to bring national attention to the Southern California and Orange County theater scene through its recent achievements, which includes a 2006 GLAAD Media Award nomination for Outstanding Los Angeles Theater.

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