Show guide
Merrily We Roll Along
Merrily We Roll Along tells the story of a composer, a writer, and their closest friend in reverse, tracing a broken friendship backward from cynical middle age to hopeful youth.
- Broadway premiere
- 1981
- Music by
- Stephen Sondheim
- Genre
- Drama
- Setting
- 1970s
Merrily We Roll Along: quick answers
What is Merrily We Roll Along about?
- Merrily We Roll Along tells the story of composer Franklin Shepard and his two best friends, Charley and Mary, backward in time, starting with their broken friendship and ending with the hopeful day it began.
When did Merrily We Roll Along open on Broadway?
- Merrily We Roll Along opened on Broadway on November 16, 1981, at the Alvin Theatre and closed after just 16 performances. Its 2023 revival at the Hudson Theatre, with Jonathan Groff, Daniel Radcliffe, and Lindsay Mendez, won four Tonys, including Best Revival of a Musical.
What kind of musical is Merrily We Roll Along?
- Merrily We Roll Along is a Stephen Sondheim book musical with an original score and a book by George Furth, a bittersweet drama about friendship and compromise that is told in reverse chronological order.
Where and when is Merrily We Roll Along set?
- Merrily We Roll Along moves backward from 1976 to 1957, from Frank's success as a Hollywood film producer back to the morning the three friends first met.
Has Merrily We Roll Along played in London's West End?
- The Donmar Warehouse production opened on December 11, 2000, and won the Olivier Award for Best New Musical. A Menier Chocolate Factory revival transferred to the Harold Pinter Theatre and won the 2014 Olivier Award for Best Musical Revival.
Is there a Merrily We Roll Along movie?
- Richard Linklater is shooting a film adaptation over 20 years, begun in 2019, with Ben Platt, Paul Mescal, and Beanie Feldstein, and a filmed capture of the 2023 revival opened in cinemas in December 2025. The show is based on George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart's 1934 play.
The story of Merrily We Roll Along
Merrily We Roll Along opens on composer turned Hollywood producer Franklin Shepard at the lowest, most compromised point of his career, then moves steadily backward in time toward his hopeful beginnings as a young songwriter. Along the way it retraces his friendship with lyricist Charley Kringas and novelist Mary Flynn, both of whom loved him in different ways and were pushed aside as his ambitions grew.
Based on a 1934 play by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, the musical uses its backward structure to let audiences see the cost of compromise before they see the idealism that preceded it. Themes of ambition, friendship, and the choices that quietly reroute a life run through every scene.
The music and the makers
Stephen Sondheim wrote the score and George Furth the book, and because the story runs in reverse, musical motifs introduced late in the show recur earlier in altered form, gaining new meaning each time the audience hears them again in a younger context. It is one of Sondheim's most structurally intricate scores.
Signature songs include Old Friends, Not a Day Goes By, Good Thing Going, and the anthem Our Time, which closes the show on a note of youthful optimism made poignant by everything the audience has already seen unfold. The patter number Franklin Shepard, Inc. is prized as one of Sondheim's most technically demanding pieces of lyric writing.
Merrily We Roll Along on Broadway
Merrily We Roll Along opened on Broadway in November 1981 at the Alvin Theatre, directed by Harold Prince, with a young cast that included Jason Alexander. The original production was poorly received and closed after only sixteen performances, a rare outright failure for Sondheim.
The cast recording helped the score build a devoted cult following, and the show was revised repeatedly over the following decades. A celebrated 2023 Broadway revival starring Daniel Radcliffe, Jonathan Groff, and Lindsay Mendez won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical, cementing the show's long, unlikely journey from flop to modern classic.
Merrily We Roll Along: frequently asked questions
When did Merrily We Roll Along open on Broadway?
Merrily We Roll Along opened on Broadway in 1981 at the Alvin Theatre.
Who wrote Merrily We Roll Along?
Stephen Sondheim wrote the music and lyrics, with a book by George Furth, based on a 1934 play by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart.
What is Merrily We Roll Along about?
It tells the story of a composer and his two closest friends in reverse chronological order, tracing their broken friendship backward from cynical middle age to hopeful youth.
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