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Merrily We Roll Along

Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by George Furth
From the Play by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart
Opened November 16, 1981 at the Alvin Theatre and ran for 16 performances

Synopsis

The time of the musical stretches from 1976 to 1957. Yes, the chronological development progresses backward from a lavish California estate in 1976 to a rooftop on the upper West Side of Manhattan in 1957. The three principals, Frank, Mary and Charley, in the opening number, are about 40 years old. At the final curtain: about 20.

The prologue is made up of the title song, an up-tempo but reflective number, sung by the full cast (minus Frank) asking, "How did you get to be here?" which the following acts will attempt to answer.

Frank, elegantly dressed in a stylish tuxedo, is seated at his piano in his Bel Air home. He is (or was) a composer, but now is apparently basking in the best of everything as a successful Hollywood producer. There's a party in progress which he reluctantly joins as his guests sing "That Frank," chanting his attributes as he pours more champagne. Mary, alone at the bar, obviously drunk, is occasionally approached by one guest or another whom she summarily dismisses with a wry comment. The song and snippets of cocktail party chatter intermingle, in the course of which we hear how successful Frank is as a producer at Paramount, that his most recent product (another formula blockbuster) is a huge commercial success, and that he's made a star out of his current discovery, Meg, with whom he is romantically involved.

Frank's wife, Gussie, a Broadway has-been, joins the group surrounding their host. A member of the party mentions a new play in New York by Charles Kringas and there's a pregnant pause. A cloud settles upon the festivities and Mary, still swilling her drinks at the bar, reminds the crowd that that name need never be mentioned in Frank's presence. She continues to allude to the history of three close friends, Frank, Mary and Charley, and to an infamous television interview that destroyed the friendship. The inebriated Mary goes on to insult a guest and Gussie orders her out. Mary stumbles, falls, and knocks over the bar before she leaves.

Arguments erupt. Gussie, in a jealous rage over Frank's interest in his young starlet, attacks his success as work that "isn't remembered by the time the audiences reach the parking lot." They touch nerves and bitterly denounce one another for their failures to themselves and to each other. Gussie then turns on the pretty, young Meg. Frank is stunned into a state of shock and screams out "Whyyyy??!!" as the guests conclude with a continuation of the number that finally ends announcing 1973, three years earlier.

Scene Two: NBC Television Studio. New York City. Backstage during a news broadcast. We meet Charley Kringas, Frank's collaborator. Mary is on hand as well. Charley complains that Frank no longer seems interested in writing the musical they were working on. Everything is money now, getting ahead, at any cost. Mary assures him that he and Frank must continue their creative partnership and gradually she draws him in, singing "Old Friends" and links fingers with him in a show of solidarity, then segues into "Like It Was," looking back nostalgically at their younger years. Charley realizes Mary is still in love with Frank since they were youngsters nearly twenty years before. They prepare for the TV interview as the news anchor announces the headline stories of the day.

Just before the interview Charley discovers Frank has signed a three-picture deal meaning their work on their show will be postponed. Charley is furious. As they argue Frank reminds his collaborator he has a son to support and an ex-wife to whom he must pay alimony. Suddenly, in the midst of their argument, they are "on the air." The interviewer asks how they work together and Charley bitterly answers with the number "Franklin Shepherd, Inc." demonstrating how they create their songs: Frank at the piano and himself at a typewriter. Charley simply takes over the interview and essentially berates Frank for playing the big money producer and begs him to get back to doing what he does best, composing at his piano. In the course of the number Charley loses control and goes slightly berserk. The "on the air" sign goes out and the interviewer, furious at the embarrassing outburst, storms out. Frank tells Charley he is permanently out of his life for publicly humiliating him before a national audience. The two young men actually come to blows as Mary attempts to intervene. Each goes his separate way as the company sings a transition piece moving the scene through the 1970s to 1968.

Scene Three: A luxurious New York apartment. Frank is on the phone as his nine-year old son, who has just arrived from Houston, runs in. They hug affectionately as Mary and Charley follow into the living room. Frank has just returned from an extended vacation traveling first-class on an ocean liner. He's brought Mary a gift: her successful American novel, which he discovered in his travels, has just been translated and published in Spanish. He purchased the copy in Chile. Frank's gift for Charley is an option agreement to do a film version of their successful Broadway musical. But the two young men are at odds. Charley is eager to create a new work, write a new show, not rework an earlier piece. Frank wants to cash in on the Hollywood deal to adapt their musical to the screen. He needs the money to support his son, to maintain his life style, and to afford the payments on the alimony to his wife, Beth. Mary attempts to calm them by starting their friendship anthem, "Old Friends," contrasting "good friends" who "like and advise" vs. "old friends" who "love and forgive" and "let you go your own way."

Gussie, a successful actress in their hit musical, and her husband, Joe, the show's producer, burst in to welcome Frank back and immediately take over his homecoming. For a few moments Frank and Gussie are left alone while the others scout about for champagne glasses. They are in love. She announces she is going to leave Joe. Soon the others are back with glasses and a bottle. Joe realizes Frank and Gussie are in love. She must hurry off to the theatre to make the curtain. Once Joe and Gussie leave, Charley levels with Frank advising him to get rid of Gussie and pleads with him to give up this phony life and get back to writing a new show together. Frank promises to meet Charley and Mary later at their favorite pub.

Alone at the piano Frank sings "Growing Up," asking why old friends don't want old friends to change, progress, strive for new horizons. Gussie suddenly reappears at his door saying she's left Joe for good and that she and Frank belong together and continues with a second part of "Growing Up." Frank is at first reluctant and asks her not to discard her marriage so casually, but she persists and he gives in.

Scene Four: A year earlier on the steps of the courthouse. Frank is divorcing his first wife, Beth. His friends urge him to get away, get some rest, take a cruise. Beth and her young child exit the courthouse as the boy looks back at his father. Beth confronts her divorced husband singing "Not A Day Goes By" in a rage. Reporters hound the pair. His friends, his attorney, all see Frank is in no condition to work and write at this time and encourage him to take a prolonged vacation. His pals, his business associates, all join forces singing "Now You Know," assuring him he'll "come back a changed man." They attempt to put a positive spin on the bitter divorce. Now he's starting anew. Frank begins to revive. Hope is renewed. Burning bridges is how you grow is their rationale. The act ends with the song and a glimpse of Frank on board the ship wearing a yachting cap and waving farewell to his friends.

Act Two opens with the entr'acte during which Gussie is striding back and forth across the empty stage. She is analyzing her situation, in love with a younger man, Frank. The song evolves into a show number ("A Good Thing Going") accompanied by a pair of male dancers in a musical scene from her Broadway show written for her by Frank and Charley.

The scene shifts to the stage door of a Broadway theatre while the musical is in progress. It's opening night. Beth is there with five-year-old Frank Jr. in her arms.

Beth is urging Frank to take the offer to do a commercial show posed by their producer, Joe (Gussie's husband) rather than the next serious musical they were planning. Mary urges him to follow his true instincts, not to go for the big bucks. Suddenly the group hears huge applause from inside the theatre. They jubilate. "It's A Hit." Joe, the producer, who has been listening intently at the stage door, confirms that the show is a success from the waves of applause. Charley's wife, Evelyn, this very night of all nights, is suddenly taken with labor pains and rushes to the hospital--insisting that Charley remain at the theatre to indulge in his opening night success. Beth leaves the stage door party to be with Evelyn.

Alone on stage, Frank is holding a pocketsize tape recorder they brought to record the audience response to the show. He presses the "play" button and listens again to the ovation and takes his bows to a phantom audience as the scene concludes with another variation on the title song.

Scene Two: 1962. Gussie and Joe's brownstone on Sutton Place; a huge party complete with a cocktail pianist and catty party chatter. Frank and Beth are guests. Beth bubbles over pointing out celebrities and politicos. Her gushing embarrasses Frank. Charley arrives. They introduce themselves to the star, Gussie, the party hostess, and she introduces her rich and influential friends whom she labels "The Blob" and sings their praises mockingly.

Gussie deliberately spills a glass of wine down Beth's dress and, gushing with apologies, summons husband Joe to the rescue, asking Beth to choose any gown from her closet. Gussie is currently on her third mate, Joe, who worships her. They offer Frank the opportunity to write the score for her next show. She urges him singing "Growing Up."

Beth returns to the party in a new dress from Gussie's closet. Mary arrives late and is introduced to the star. Gussie announces to the guests that Frank will play the new song he's just written, "A Good Thing Going." Charley is uneasy about doing it for this crowd, but as he's singing and getting encouraging glances from Beth and Mary, he realizes the song is going over well with the guests. Enthusiastic applause erupts on the last note. Gussie urges them to do the song again. Charley is against it, saying that one has to know that once is fine, twice is overkill. Frank insists on a repeat and begins the number again. Their audience is distracted, no longer interested much less impressed and quickly resumes its chatter with more gossip as "The Blob" continues in counterpoint to the songwriters' song which gets swallowed up by the gossip. Charley storms out and the other guests hardly notice as Frank, Mary and Beth follow.

The company sings another rendition of "Merrily We Roll Along" as the party scene ends.

Scene Three: The Downtown Club. 1960. Beth, Charley and Frank are performing their Greenwich Village nightclub act, a satirical name-dropping spoof of the Kennedy clan, "Bobby And Jackie And Jack," to an Irish jig. They are in costume with wigs to simulate the three political celebrities. The lyrics itemize the endless list of members of the Kennedy family right down to the parents, Joe and Rose.

Gussie and Joe are in the audience at the tiny club. Frank introduces himself. Gussie, already a Broadway star, is going through a divorce from her second husband. Frank and Beth are soon to be married. Charley joins the table. Beth confesses to Frank she is not pregnant. He says he still wants to marry her. Then she announces she actually is but just wanted to make sure he really wanted to marry her for herself, not out of a sense of obligation. Beth's parents are at the little Village club and offer Frank $2,000 to call off the wedding. The couple refuses. However, as the wedding ceremony in the club is to begin, Beth's mother offers her daughter a ring given to her by her own mother. The parents embrace their daughter, and the ceremony begins with Beth singing "Not A Day Goes By" as Mary alone at a tiny cocktail table sings with her--twin soliloquies--expressing her own secret love for Frank.

Scene Four: 1959. Frank at the piano. Charley at a typewriter. A light comes up on Mary on the telephone to Frank. Their conversation on the phone begins "Opening Doors." We see them, each in their separate spaces, at work. Mary at her typewriter working on a story for her new job at True Romances, Charley on his one-act play, Frank composing at his piano. We follow them through their progressions, a new job at Playboy for Mary, Charley doing a rewrite, and Frank as a rehearsal pianist.

The stage develops into various scenes, an interview at an agent's office, a rehearsal hall, a subway station. Mary moves again to Redbook, then to Popular Science. Soon Frank and Charley are auditioning for Joe who complains (joining them in the number) "There's not a tune you can hum/There's not a tune you go/Bum-bum-bum-di-dum." And he continues encouraging them to "Write more, work hard/... less avant garde." The song continues expressing difficulties confronted by each: Mary, a manuscript rejected; Charley gets an eviction notice; Frank loses a nightclub gig. They pool their resources and decide to write a cabaret revue called "Frankly Frank"--a showcase of their own. They audition Beth and hire her. They have to open Saturday... what about costumes? unfinished songs? Time to learn the numbers? How about publicity hand-outs?

Scene Five: The rooftop of a tenement on 110th Street in 1957. "Our Time" begins as Frank outlines the musical he hopes he and Charley can write together. Mary, a new tenant in the building, steps out on the roof, intro-duces herself and joins them. She compliments Frank on his piano music that she can hear through the walls. Charley checks his watch and says "It's supposed to be right now." Charley and Mary with binoculars search the sky. They suddenly spot the Russian satellite darting overhead: Sputnik (meaning "fellow traveler"). It's October 4, 1957.

Singly and in pairs, the cast members enter singing "Our Time." The three, Frank, Charley and Mary, link fingers in a bond of friendship as the musical ends with the words "Our dreams coming true,/Me and you, pal,/Me and you!"

Afterthought: For Sondheim fans, Merrily's score is a storehouse of rich sounds that recalls specific moments, sounds, lyrics, instrumentations from earlier works by this prolific craftsman. Moments (on the recording) such as the verbal squabble in "Old Friends," just as it breaks back into the refrain suggests a similar device in "Side By Side By Side" from Company when a cluster of overlapping bits of dialogue pauses a moment and then breaks back into the harmony of the refrain. And there's another brief moment near the end of Ann Morrison's rendition of "Now You Know," following the line "Better look at what you've got" and the last few bars of the Anyone Can Whistle overture that suggest each other. And "It's A Hit," the Act II opening number (strangely cut from the LP recording when originally issued but restored on the CD) has some of the brassy sound that vaguely recalls his "swimming pool" musical, The Frogs. The sound of the horns echoing off the tile walls of the Yale University pool had a very distinct flavor. And that special brass sound seems to reverberate in the orchestration for "It's A Hit." "Our Time" probably contains the most recognizable elements in terms of lyric similarities:

Something is stirring,

Shifting ground...

It's just begun.

Edges are blurring

All around,

And yesterday is done.

To the opening lines of the final number, "Next," in Pacific Overtures:

Streams are flowing.

See what's coming

Next!

Winds are blowing.

See what's coming,

See what's going.

Next!

Roads are turning,

Journey with them.

And yet the effects are quite different. Despite lyric structure similarities, when songs are as provocative and well crafted as these, there's obviously plenty of room in the world for both.

Song List

Overture
Merrily We Roll Along
That Frank
Transition 1
Old Friends-Like It Was
Franklin Shepard, Inc.
Transition 2
Old Friends
Growing Up I
Growing Up II
Transition 3
Not A Day Goes By I
Now You Know
Entr'acte
Opening Act II
It's A Hit
Transition 4
The Blob I
The Blob II
Growing Up (Act Two)
The Blob III
Good Thing Going
The Blob IV
Transition 5
Bobby and Jackie and Jack
Not A Day Goes By (Act II)
Transition 6
Opening Doors
Transition 7
Our Time I
Our Time II
Our Time III
Bows
Exit Music

Info

Related

Merrily We Roll Along MIDI Files

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212.541.4684
Fax 212.397.4684

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