Stephen Sondheim and George Furth adapted George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart’s 1934 play into a musical. This musical did not have a successful run when it premiered on Broadway on November 16, 1981 and ended December 3, 1981. Cut to the off-Broadway revival, which spanned from November 21, 2022 to January 22, 2023, and success finally struck so hard that the production transformed into a Broadway revival starting September 19, 2023 for the first time since its inception. It ended July 7, 2024, but not before the same team that filmed “Hamilton” (2020), RadicalMedia, filmed “Merrily We Roll Along” (2025) live at the Hudson Theatre in June 2024 thus captureing the magic that won four out of 7 Tony Awards: Best Revival of a Musical, Best Actor in a Musical to Jonathan Groff, Best Featured Actor in a Musical to Daniel Radcliffe and Best Orchestrations to Jonathan Tunick.
Now you will not mistake the pro-shot, aka professionally filmed version of a live stage production, film for a holiday movie. If you do not have money to go to NYC and see a Broadway show, this is the next best thing. In the old days, PBS used to broadcast this kind of programming regularly, but with the way that the world is going, see it on the big screen to get the full theatrical effect in case it, God forbid, does not make it there. See it before Richard Linklater gives the musical the “Boyhood” (2014) treatment, which will not be available for over twenty years.
“Merrily We Roll Along” starts in 1976 California then goes backward to 1957 New York to reflect how composer Franklin Shepard (Groff) ended up being a huge success as a movie producer who regrets all his life choices since it led to a friendship-professional breakup with Charley Kringas (Radcliffe) and later, their third musketeer, Mary Flynn (Tony Award winner Lindsay Mendez, a former Elphaba and nominated for this role as Best Featured Actress in a Musical). If you loved “Blue Moon” (2025), this musical will blow you out of the water. It is about everything: faithfulness to art, survival, success, regret, hope, love, cynicism, despair. You cannot have it all, so you better choose the right thing to hang on to. This is adult content.
If you are not accustomed to watching musicals, two hours thirty minutes may sound daunting, and you may want to run from the first scene. It feels like a big commitment in a strange, exuberant language, but give it a shot, and you may be pleasantly surprised. Groff is probably one of the most accomplished musical theater actors in the biz, and you have probably seen him in movies and television series too. He is like an American distant cousin to the Skarsgård family. Franklin is introduced with all the trappings of a morally bankrupt man with only a whiff of substance and only vestigial traces of his talent for writing music. As the story rewinds, his decisions make sense and are not obviously devoid of consideration for others. It starts with trusted voices urging for practical decisions to ensure survival, but gradually the practical edges out passion and human decisions. It is a terrific cautionary tale against compromise and chasing success for the sake of the success.
Mary’s introduction is messy and gives the impression of her being a bitter spoilsport at someone else’s success. As “Merrily We Roll Along” rewinds, it is obvious that her moral condemnation is warranted. Mendez and director Maria Friedman craft an acerbic person not just disillusioned with her friend but projecting her venom at her own decisions to veer from the impossible work of writing novels and creating worlds to retreating to the safety of criticizing others. (Self-own? Back to the review.) That lack of courage tracks to her refusing to admit her feelings towards Franklin. When its origins are revealed, it would not feel realistic if there were not so many stories like Mary’s, a person struck dumb with love at a first impression for little to no reason other than recognition of something special. She may be a thin character, but Mendez’s brassy presence makes her character solid.
Who knew that Harry Potter could sing? Out of the three, Charley seems to be the only one to keep a family, retain his artistic integrity and achieve critical acclaim, but he admits that he could not do it without Franklin. He would have preferred to do it with Franklin. Their passion project, “Take a Left,” is their baby, but it keeps getting sidelined for more practical projects to keep the money flowing. Radcliffe strikes the perfect balance between resentment and love. “Merrily We Roll Along” understands that friendship is the foundation of everything: the health of other relationships, especially marriage and also professional commitments. As Charley and Mary push Franklin to go on a cruise, stay for the applause and surrender in a court battle, they do not realize that they are putting the nail in their own coffins. Radcliffe shows the slow realization that by the time he is desperate and telling his friend that he misses him, it is too late, and it is a wrap.
“Merrily We Roll Along” is not just about the big parts. A production is superb if you immediately know when an actor is playing multiple roles or can follow the character arc of a minor character. Natalie Wachen as a television interviewer is deliciously cynical. From the moment that the spotlight rests on Reg Rogers, even though he is in part of the entire cast in the introduction, his demeanor suggests that his character is clearly going to be pivotal. Krystal Joy Brow killed the role as Franklin’s second wife, Gussie Carnegie, a Broadway icon and drowning woman who clings to Franklin and unintentionally drags him down too. Seeing her origin story was a huge surprise but also felt dissonant that Franklin would not remember what happened to her. Fun fact: Katie Rose Clarke, who plays Franklin’s first wife, appeared opposite Mendez as Glinda in “Wicked!” All roads lead to Oz.
The cast is probably the main reason that this incarnation of “Merrily We Roll Along” succeeded. Instead of using young actors or teenagers, they use experienced theater kids who know how to transform using their craft. Because it is not a musical adapted for film, the movie will not feel like a movie. The editing and composition choices may be limited, but they are still decisions that cannot be made in any other forum. Sometimes the camera seems too close when you want to see more context. It may be over edited, but I also favor the Fred Astaire approach to film so take that criticism with a grain of salt. It is endemic to the exact problem that many contemporary films have. The language of cinema is more than capturing the action as it unfolds, but this flick purports to do exactly that.
Movies capture modern miracles. “Merrily We Roll Along” is a great introduction to a much-maligned musical that has been resurrected after over four decades dead. If you want a taste of Broadway without breaking the bank, check it out, but if you have not been around the block for awhile, you may not be ready to appreciate how devastatingly brilliant the story is, especially how it manages to be utterly bleak while ending on a high note without pulling punches.
