Merrily We Roll Along NYC Reviews and Tickets
Member Reviews (331)
See it if You love a clever way of telling the story
Don't see it if You are easily confused
See it if You love Sondheim; a great young energetic cast who can really sing & act; you love musicals. Not a weak link in the cast.
Don't see it if You don't realize that the years are moving backwards (but they do announce the years throughout the show). Otherwise you might be lost.
See it if Simply Sondheim. Ignore the critics and see for yourself. It’s perfectly crafted and well executed. Don’t overthink it, it makes sense.
Don't see it if Believe that critics are always right.
See it if You want to see a flop musical finally have its chance to soar. Want to be moved in a way that makes you examine your life choices.
Don't see it if You’re looking for a big, brassy musical with lots of dancing and flashy sets. This production is very intimate, with only a cast of six. Read more
See it if You like Sondheim, or you enjoy classic musicals. You want a fun night at the theater. I was not familiar with the musical and loved it
Don't see it if You dont like musicals, you have a hard time paying attention to slightly complicated plots. Read more
See it if It's great Sondheim -- a musical for adults.
Don't see it if if it will bother you that some original material (eg "hills of tomorrow") has been cut.
See it if you like Sondheim, you like reimagined versions of musicals, you like Merrily We Roll Along
Don't see it if you aren't a Sondheim fame, don't like musicals, you like big splashy musicals Read more
See it if you are a Sondheim fan and want to see one of his "flops" done well. This stripped down version was entertaining. Clever music and lyrics.
Don't see it if you are looking for a more traditional show or would have trouble following the reverse chronology Read more
Critic Reviews (37)
"Not so much stripped-down as emaciated. All of the contrasts of idealism and greed, gloss and substance so central to the story’s effectiveness are flattened under the pressure of forcing it to stand without enough legs...The songs, with all their polish removed, no longer reflect the coherent Broadway world of the story...Often radically reconceived, harshly truncated or left to dribble away, they no longer ennoble the characters or provide much pleasure for the audience."
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“Fiasco’s earnest love for the material is evident...And the cumulative effect is…pretty good. Despite an abundance of appealing parts, this 'Merrily' doesn’t quite come together into a real gut-punch of a whole. There’s much that’s nice some that’s very funny, and a bit that’s beautiful, yet the show’s emotional power feels blunted and its aesthetic suspended somewhere between minimalist and maximalist. There’s no shortage of spirit on offer, but visceral oomph is elusive.”
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“The latest effort to crack the ‘Merrily’ code...Only half-works...Fiasco looked at the 1930s source play, four versions of the Merrily scripts and archival material provided by Sondheim himself...The result is very smooth and the reverse narration works very well...Unfortunately, the performances are not always up to snuff...By the end, which is the beginning, this neat, tidy ‘Merrily’ feels merely like a stopgap production as we await the inevitable next staging of this gloriously messy show.”
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“This cast brims with nerve, energy and overreach...Though in this production...Brody has a keen eye for revelatory details that perk up scenes and deepen characters...Both Narayan and Steinfeld have the strongest voices in the cast and deliver on their numbers big time...Vocally, the rest of the cast just isn’t up to the task. And while some details of the script are enhanced in the staging and the playing, others are diminished.”
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“A satisfying scaled-down revival...It may not be the definitive ‘Merrily’, and anyone familiar with the show will probably miss its dynamic original orchestrations and smashing overture...Vocally underpowered and underpopulated. But on the whole...theatrically effective, smart and emotionally wrenching...Most critical to its success, the production brings to the forefront the three-way friendship of Frank, Mary and Charley and conveys the overwhelming insecurity of every character.”
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"Under the seamless direction of Noah Brody, it's largely a success...Sondheim’s score, thanks to a terrific eight-piece band, sounds beautiful as ever with lyrics that paint the most detailed portraits in a single verse. If the performers don’t all have the most trained voices, they are first-rate actors who deliver each song with great clarity and naturalism. Some problems remain; the dialogue can sound stilted...But so strong is this company, we hardly notice the book’s flaws now."
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“Fiasco Theater's new production is ‘Merrily We Roll Along’ as Frankenstein's Monster...The problems lie with the cast, who don't have the pipes to successfully articulate Sondheim's beautiful melodies, or the acting texture to grab at the emotions...This ‘Merrily’ prioritizes acting over singing, and it comes at the expense of the score. But even still, not all of the performances are up to the task of sustaining the emotional tension needed."
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“This vest-pocket production by Fiasco Theater does get some things right...Still, there's little getting around the fact that ‘Merrily We Roll Along’ is overwrought to the point of soap opera...This production is largely inhabited by actors with no real musical theatre skills...They seem to have few ideas about phrasing, breath control, or how to shape a number...Under Brody's broad play-to-the-rafters direction, the cast often seems lumbered by the shortcomings of Furth's writing.”
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