| Am I going to Theatre Jail for not really liking MERRILY? | |
| Posted by: DistantDrumming 01:00 am EDT 06/23/24 | |
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| I mean, I can't imagine a much stronger production of the material, but, I'm not convinced of this narrative that Friedman and co have been selling -- that Merrily is a masterpiece that was just waiting for its time. I do appreciate the sense of 'justice' some people feel at Sondheim's notorious flop finally being a massive hit more than 40 years later. I'm sure he'd be tickled by that -- especially knowing that Maria Friedman was one who made it happen. I can't quibble with the performances -- Groff, Mendez and Radcliffe were superb. And, clearly, Friedman is an actor's director. This was my first time seeing a production of Merrily and, well, it decidedly felt like second-tier Sondheim to me. Undoubtedly, there are a couple of gorgeous songs in there -- but I think most of them are more compelling as concert/cabaret songs than they were in the show. I mean, Bernadette's 'Not a Day Goes By' never fails to put a lump in my throat. Here, it was...fine. The only musical number that I thought was genuinely thrilling was Radcliffe's brilliantly delivered 'Franklin Shepherd, Inc.' which earned the loudest and longest ovation of the night (deservedly so.) But, so many times in the evening, I was relieved that a song was ending so that we could get back to the book scenes. I was kind of shocked to be feeling that way given how much I adore Sondheim's work. But, honestly, I'm not sure that his ever needed to (or benefited from) being musicalized. I'd also forgotten just how schmaltzy so much of the score is. It's like Sondheim does Marvin Hamlisch. It's not like I don't think Sondheim could do direct non-ironic emotion or even sentimentality well -- I mean, he followed this show with arguably his most emotional score in Sunday. And while I probably preferred the book scenes in Merrily, I can't say I found it particularly easy to get emotionally invested in these characters' stories or relationships. There were wonderful moments scattered here and there throughout the evening, but it didn't add up to much for me. It's kind of wild to me that THIS was the show that Sondheim began the 80s with. That this was the show that followed Company, Follies, Night Music, Pacific Overtures and Sweeney. If I were plotting a chart of Sondheim shows from the 70s to 90s, there would be a precipitous drop off the chart in 1981 and then a massive recovery in '84 with his glorious return with Sunday. Anyway, what I think hardly matters. It's obviously been a big, fat hit and the packed audience roared with approval throughout. One particularly sweet moment was the scene outside the theatre for the opening night of their first Broadway show in which they pretend to hand Frank a Tony award and he gives a fake acceptance speech. The moment the lyrics said something about winning a Tony (and it was handed to Groff) the audience roared its approval for Groff -- almost stopping the show. |
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