Merrily We Roll Along - 1981 - Broadway Articles Page 12

The 2015-16 Janet and Mark L. Goldenson Broadway Musical Concert Series at Rubicon Theatre Company concludes with a concert presentation of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth's MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG.

Lincoln Center Theater's new production of William Finn and James Lapine's Tony Award-winning musical Falsettos begins previews tonight, September 29, and runs for 14 weeks only at the Walter Kerr Theatre (219 West 48 Street). Opening night will be Thursday, October 27. Scroll down to learn more about the cast, plus watch the full company in rehearsal!

The 2015-16 Janet and Mark L. Goldenson Broadway Musical Concert Series at Rubicon Theatre Company concludes with a concert presentation of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth's MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG.

Atlas Media has just announced its upcoming feature-length documentary, Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened -- a thrilling, behind-the-scenes look into the 'then' and 'now' of perhaps Stephen Sondheim's most beloved work, Merrily We Roll Along -- has been acquired for theatrical distribution by Abramorama, the industry's preeminent distributor of independent cinema. Check out the official trailer for the film below!

From September 9 to October 8, 2016, SpeakEasy Stage Company will proudly present SIGNIFICANT OTHER, a sharply observed new comedy about the challenges of finding love and letting go, written by Bad Jews playwright Joshua Harmon.

The Lyric Stage Company of Boston announces the cast & creative team for COMPANY, with Music and Lyrics by STEPHEN SONDHEIM and Book by GEORGE FURTH. Directed by Spiro Veloudos with music director Catherine Stornetta and choreography & musical staging by Rachel Bertone, COMPANY will run September 2 - October 9, 2016.

Lonny Price's 'Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened' is set to screen as part of the Special Events of the 54th New York Film Festival (September 30 - October 16).  Below, check out a clip from the documentary, in which Hal Prince and Stephen Sondheim discuss their new 'show about kids.'

Special Events will feature the world premiere of Lonny Price's Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened, a nonfiction account of Stephen Sondheim and Harold Prince's 1981 musical-flop-turned-cult-favorite Merrily We Roll Along, with Price and theater luminary Sondheim in person. Thirty-five years later in the world of musicals, Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hamilton is a Broadway sensation. Alex Horwitz's Hamilton's America goes behind the history of the Tony- and Pulitzer Prize-winning production, and makes its world premiere at NYFF with the director and special guests to be announced.

The Film Society of Lincoln Center announces the Special Events section and “An Evening with…” honorees for the 54th New York Film Festival.

The Lyric Stage Company of Boston announces the cast & creative team for COMPANY, with Music and Lyrics by STEPHEN SONDHEIM and Book by GEORGE FURTH. Directed by Spiro Veloudos with music director Catherine Stornetta and choreography & musical staging by Rachel Bertone, COMPANY will run September 2 - October 9, 2016.

From September 9 to October 8, 2016, SpeakEasy Stage Company will proudly present SIGNIFICANT OTHER, a sharply observed new comedy about the challenges of finding love and letting go, written by Bad Jews playwright Joshua Harmon.

Writers Theatre, under the leadership of Artistic Director Michael Halberstam and Executive Director Kathryn M. Lipuma, announces a one-week extension to Company, featuring music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by George Furth. The production is directed by William Brown. Company features original orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick, Orchestral Reductions by Ian Weinberger, music direction by Tom Vendafreddo and choreography by Brock Clawson. The show, originally slated to run through July 31, 2016, will add an additional week, through August 7, in the Alexandra C. and John D. Nichols Theatre at 325 Tudor Court, Glencoe.

How many of these great songs do you know from underappreciated musicals?

In THE SECRET LIFE OF THE AMERICAN MUSICAL, Jack Viertel takes about musicals, puts them back together, sings their praises, marvels at their unflagging inventiveness, and occasionally despairs over their more embarrassing shortcomings. In the process, he invites us to fall in love with the art form all over again by showing us how musicals happen, what makes them work, how they captivate audiences, and how one landmark show leads to the next-by design or by accident, by emulation or by rebellion from OKLAHOMA! to HAMILTON and onward.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts announced the 2016 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. Fourteen teachers were selected in 2016 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, 61 awards totaling $610,000 have been presented.

Chris Isaacson Presents has announced a full slate of spring entertainment, beginning with acclaimed British actor/singer Richard Shelton, followed by Grammy Award-winner and Zoolander 2 star Nathan Lee Graham, Grammy Award-winner and Motown legend Thelma Houston, Tony Award-nominated actress/singer Liz Callaway, and the inimitable song stylist Frenchie Davis. 

YALE REPERTORY THEATRE announces its 50th Anniversary Season, which will include three world premieres commissioned by Yale Rep and two contemporary masterpieces.

Off-Broadway's acclaimed Classic Stage Company today announced plans for its 2016-17 season, led by incoming Artistic Director John Doyle and Managing Director Jeff Griffin. Doyle, a Tony Award winner for Sweeney Todd and the director of Broadway's highly-praised new production of The Color Purple, assumes the artistic leadership of CSC beginning in July, succeeding Brian Kulick, who has led the company since 2003. For CSC, Doyle has directed Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's Passion and Rodgers & Hammerstein's Allegro, and later this season will direct Henrik Ibsen's Peer Gynt.

It is with great pleasure that The West Bank Cafe announces NEW YEAR'S EVE WITH LEWIS BLACK, presented in The Laurie Beechman Theatre tonight, December 31, from 6 to 10 p.m. 

It is with great pleasure that The West Bank Cafe announces NEW YEAR'S EVE WITH LEWIS BLACK, presented in The Laurie Beechman Theatre on Thursday, December 31, from 6 to 10 p.m. 

Sometimes a flop Broadway show is better appreciated after closing, and may even return as a hit!

Today in 1981, Merrily We Roll Along closed at the Alvin Theatre (now the Neil Simon Theatre), where it ran for 16 performances. Merrily We Roll Along is a musical with a book by George Furth and lyrics and music by Stephen Sondheim. It is based on the 1934 play of the same name by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart. Furth and Sondheim retained the basic structure and overall theme of the play but updated it to encompass the period from 1957 to 1976. The story revolves around Franklin Shepard who, having once been a talented composer of Broadway musicals, has now abandoned his friends and his songwriting career to become a producer of Hollywood flicks. Like the play, the musical begins at the height of his Hollywood fame and moves backwards in time, showing snapshots of the most important moments in Frank's life that shaped the man that he is today.

Billed as 'a new musical', the world premiere of Prince of Broadway at Tokyu Theatre Orb in Tokyo salutes legendary Broadway producer/director, Harold Prince. Co-directed by Prince himself and Susan Stroman (who also choreographs), the evening celebrates an illustrious career spanning over six decades from the 1950s up to the present day, during which time Hal Prince has produced and/or directed more than 30 Broadway shows, winning a record 21 Tony Awards along the way.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is seeking nominations for the 2016 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. Now entering their sixth year, the awards were created in honor of Stephen Sondheim's 80th birthday in 2010. The program was initiated and funded through the generous support of arts philanthropists and friends of Mr. Sondheim, Myrna and Freddie Gershon.

The Chicago Public Library Foundation and the Chicago Public Library have announced that the 16th annual Carl Sandburg Literary Award will be presented to legendary composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim. Universally heralded for his immense contributions to musical theater in a career spanning more than 50 years, Sondheim will be honored at the Carl Sandburg Literary Awards Dinner Wednesday, October 21, 2015 at The Forum (725 W. Roosevelt Road) on the campus of the University of Illinois at Chicago.