A clip from the Sondheim version:
But when I think of Merrily We Roll Along I think of the play by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart:
It concerns a man who has lost the idealistic values of his youth. Its innovative structure presents the story in reverse order, with the character regressing from a mournful adult to a young man whose future is filled with promise.
snip
Hart, on a journey from Hollywood to New York in 1931, was inspired to write a play about an American family's difficulties, over 30 years, coping with the challenges of life in the 20th century, beginning with their innocence and optimism at the beginning of the century to the dashed hopes caused by the stock market crash of 1929. Before he could realize his vision, however, he was scooped by Noël Coward's British version of a similar story, Cavalcade, and he shelved the idea. A few years later, however, Hart turned to Kaufman, his collaborator on the 1930 hit, Once in a Lifetime. The idea had now evolved to tell a story backwards about an idealistic, yet ambitious playwright and his difficulties.
snip
New York Times critic Brooks Atkinson wrote: "After this declaration of ethics, it will be impossible to dismiss Mr Kaufman and Mr Hart as clever jesters with an instinct for the stage." Despite good notices, the play was not a financial success, as the demands of the large-scale production made it expensive.[2] Time Magazine wrote, "Superbly staged...; superbly acted by the biggest cast seen in a legitimate Broadway production this season, Merrily We Roll Along is an amusing and affecting study...."[3]
In retrospect, the Times has noted that the play suffers from a "Depression sensibility. The notion that you can't get ahead without selling out is one that held particular appeal.... There was something both morally and politically suspect about worldly fortune at a time when, as Franklin D. Roosevelt said in his 1937 inaugural address, one-third of the nation was 'ill housed, ill clad, ill nourished.'"
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
The notion that you can't get ahead without selling out is one that held particular appeal.... There was something both morally and politically suspect about worldly fortune at a time when, as Franklin D. Roosevelt said in his 1937 inaugural address, one-third of the nation was 'ill housed, ill clad, ill nourished.'"
Well, that sounds to me like exactly where the GOP wants us to be today.
But, back to the show(s).
In 1981, the play was adapted as a musical of the same name with a book by George Furth and lyrics and music by Stephen Sondheim. While the original Broadway production was a notorious failure, the musical has since been successfully staged with numerous changes. Sondheim has contributed new songs to several of the show's incarnations.
About that Sondheim musical:
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Not a Day Goes By (Bernadette Peters):
OMG, the whole thing:
Production values very good considering they look like they were taped from Row F with a smartphone. And the sound is excellent.
Old Friends, in rehearsal: