MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG: Sondheim’s Sisyphus — Review
5 / 10
The backwards chronology is not the problem; it’s that the book is thuddingly literal, filled with cliches, and runs its thinly sketched characters on the same autopilot tour of The Cost of Success we’ve been playing since the Year One. That we know just where the story will end doesn’t help, of course, sapping any possibility for catharsis, but there is still room for nuance and deft characterization to surprise us. Furth and Sondheim do not fill that in. Thus the entire show hinges on believing the trio’s ties, and that a combination of the unruly sands of time and the fickle fingers of fate were able to undo them. Despite the main cast’s able efforts, they do not pull this off. Each has their own charm, Radcliffe especially shining with a vibrantly angsty energy, but I never really believed these people were ever close, or held each other to the lofty artistic standards they did back in their youth.
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