Franklin Shepard

Who is Franklin Shepard?

Because Merrily We Roll Along runs in reverse, audiences first meet Frank as a cynical, successful film producer who has abandoned songwriting along with the friends who once believed in him. As the story moves backward, scene by scene, an earlier, more hopeful version of Frank gradually comes into view.

By the time the show reaches its final, earliest scene, Frank is a wide eyed young composer full of promise, a version of himself the audience already knows he will eventually betray, giving the ending a bittersweet, almost unbearable optimism.

Frank's role in Merrily We Roll Along

Frank is a lead role who anchors Old Friends and Our Time and is central to Good Thing Going, a song that recurs throughout the show in different contexts. The part requires an actor able to suggest both the disillusioned older man and the hopeful younger one within a single evening.

Jonathan Groff played Frank in the acclaimed 2023 Broadway revival, a performance widely credited with helping the long troubled show finally find broad popular success decades after its rocky 1981 premiere.

Franklin Shepard: frequently asked questions