Rehearsals are underway for the first-ever Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth's Merrily We Roll Along, set to begin an already extended limited engagement at the Hudson Theatre September 19. Performances will continue through January 21, 2024, with opening night yet to be announced.
Go inside the rehearsal room with Daniel Radcliffe, Lindsay Mendez, Jonathan Groff, and the rest of the cast of the upcoming production in newly released photos below.
Maria Friedman and Jonathan Groff
Daniel Radcliffe, Jonathan Groff, and Natalie Wachen
Krystal Joy Brown and cast of Merrily We Roll Along
Daniel Radcliffe and Jonathan Groff
Tim Jackson, Reg Rogers, Krystal Joy Brown, Director Maria Friedman, Lindsay Mendez, Jonathan Groff, Katie Rose Clarke, and company of Merrily We Roll Along
Lindsay Mendez
Reg Rogers
Katie Rose Clarke
Maria Friedman
Lindsay Mendez, Daniel Radcliffe, and Jonathan Groff
As previously announced, the production will feature much of the cast from the 2022 Off-Broadway run at New York Theatre Workshop reprising their performances, including Radcliffe as Charley Kringas, Groff as Franklin Shepard, Mendez as Mary Flynn, Krystal Joy Brown as Gussie Carnegie, Katie Rose Clarke as Beth Shepard, and Reg Rogers as Joe Josephson.
The company will also include Sherz Aletaha, Maya Boyd, Leana Rae Concepcion, Morgan Kirner, Ken Krugman, Corey Mach, Max Rackenberg, Talia Robinson, Amanda Rose, Jamila Sabares-Klemm, Brian Sears, Evan Alexander Smith, Christian Strange, Koray Tarhan, Vishal Vaidya, Natalie Wachen, Brady Wagner, and Jacob Keith Watson. Casting is by Jim Carnahan and Jason Thinger.
READ: Maria Friedman On Why Daniel Radcliffe Was Born to Play Charley Kringas in Merrily We Roll Along
Maria Friedman is back directing, with choreography by Tim Jackson and orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick. Scenic and costume design is by Soutra Gilmour, with lighting design by Amith Chandrashaker, sound design by Kai Harada, hair and wig design by Cookie Jordan, music supervision by Catherine Jayes, music direction by Joel Fram, associate music supervision by Alvin Hough, Jr., and music coordination by Kristy Norter.
With a book by Furth—adapted from the George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart play of the same name—and a score by Sondheim, the musical tracks the lives of three friends navigating the entertainment industry over three decades in reverse chronological order. Sondheim's score includes such songs as "Old Friends," "Now You Know," "Franklin Shepard, Inc.," "Good Thing Going," and "Not a Day Goes By."
The work was not a success on its first Broadway outing, running just 16 performances and ending the string of genre-defining collaborations between Sondheim and director Hal Prince. Together with the popularity of the show's original Broadway cast album, a revised version of the show has transformed the work into a cult favorite. This current production was originally staged at London's Menier Chocolate Factory in 2012 and later transferred to the West End, where it won an Olivier Award for Best Musical Revival. Huntington Theatre in Boston gave the staging its North American premiere in 2017. The upcoming Broadway run will be the work's first-ever Main Stem revival.
