The much-beloved musical by Stephen Sondheim and George
Furth, available again in print for the first time in 20 years.
Written over forty years ago, Sondheim and Furth’s spirited and affecting Merrily We Roll Along boasts an innovative structure that begins in the present and moves backwards in time over 20 years, tracing the personal and professional lives of a successful producer and composer and his two (now estranged) friends. With wit, irony, and a crackling score by Sondheim, Merrily poignantly captures the ways success can corrupt youthful ideals, and crumble the foundations of friendship in its wake.
“It's precisely the backward momentum that makes the story so moving: the show builds towards a surge of youthful optimism... that we know will not be sustained. Sondheim’s score is also a miracle of construction: motifs, phrases and even non-musical sounds echo through the evening... What I love about this show is that Sondheim's technical brilliance is harnessed to emotional needs.” —Guardian
“An emotional whirlwind of roads not taken (a Sondheim constant) and friendships allowed to fray.” —Variety
“Theatrically effective, smart and emotionally wrenching.” —amNY
