At some point in their career, every talented thespian is involved in a flop. Call it a rite of passage, a badge of survival, a festering wound, what you will. Unavoidable. Its remaining rubble could spark a thousand reactions. Usually it’s a lesson learned, but more often, to the madman or genius, the pile becomes an unending quest into fixing and rebuilding it. Such is the case with Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s 1981 musical opus, Merrily We Roll Along. After the show’s initial failure, countess productions have been re-mounted to solve the problem and “make it work.”
Why all this effort? The score.
Nothing about Stephen Sondheim’s score to Merrily disappoints. From the fantastic overture (orchestrated by the great Jonathan Tunick) to the optimistic anthem at its finish, this Sondheim’s score is one of his best. None of this brilliance, however, is found in the story.
Playwright George Furth based his script on the 1934 Kaufman and Hart play of the same name, and it has gone through several revisions over the years in vain hope of salvaging the story and rescuing the score. And this latest revision is, (doubtful the last) another one for the “burn this” pile. Many pundits have postulated as to why this show does not work, ready to assign the blame. “Whom do we blame? Someone to blame, placing the blame — if that’s the aim,” give Furth the blame. But honestly, the blame can go back to the source material, Kaufman and Hart’s original play. While structurally avant garde and daring for its time — the play runs chronologically in reverse — it follows composer Franklin Shepard, who, while outwardly successful, has not just lost his way, he has prostituted his talent for dollars, scammed his former best friends, Mary and Charley, and filled his life with fraud. Stuffed full of unlikable characters, disappointments and drear, the story is depressing as all get out. Worse still, there is no one to root for, no one who you care about. At the beginning of the evening we are introduced to liars, losers and loonies. You don’t like these people from the start and you could care less how they got that way because they are that way now. If this is supposed to be a life lesson in, “don’t let this happen to you,” there are more effective and entertaining ways of sharing this information.
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Saddled with such an unpleasant race to run, Schenectady Light Opera Company’s production doesn’t bolt out of the gate, it limps. And the pace never picks up. Songs are delivered at turgid trot, allowing the story’s message of gloom to become unrelentingly oppressive. The sad tale of the trio of former friends, Frank (Michael Aniolek), Charley (Gabriel Hage) and Mary (Elizabeth Corey) and how they got that way is a tough sell, but the actors work hard with what they have. All three present strong vocal presence and work well together. The trio’s work in Act 2’s “Opening Doors” is a welcome highlight, and when joined by Rebecca Flinker, as Franklin’s emotionally battered first wife Beth, she, Aniolek and Hage completely charm with the cabaret number “Bobby, Jackie and Jack.”
Gabriel Hage acquits himself well with Charley’s challenging emotional patter song “Franklin Shepard Inc.,” and sails through “Good Thing Going” with a clarion call. SLOC vet Elizabeth Corey nails Mary’s misery and longing and blends well with Hage in their shared lyrical wish to go back to “Like it Was”. Heather-Liz Copps as Gussie, the leader of the mindless “Blob” of hangers-on, deliciously delivers her “Growing Up” advice to Frank.
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There is some notable work by the supporting cast. Amy Sarah LeMena and Dave Dixon have success as Beth’s unenthusiastic parents. Jalissa Watson amuses as auditioner #1 and gets the biggest honest laugh of the evening as the TV host perfectly delivering the button to the scene after Charley’s on air meltdown. As the cigar chopping producer Joe Josephson, John Meglino winningly performs the classic theater character.
Unsurprisingly, the cast seem more at home with the less ugly Act 2 and as such the energy level kicks up … a bit.
Thankfully, after enduring two and a half hours of characters in crisis and emotional misery, Sondheim leaves us with one of his best — the quintessential anthem of hope and optimism, “Our Time.” Perfect, timeless, and oh, so needed.
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Categories: Entertainment, Life and Arts, Schenectady
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I attended Saturday night and was very impressed with how the cast and crew executed this challenging musical. This review spends too much time critiquing a script that the theatre has no control over, and too little time critiquing the execution of the cast, crew, musicians, director and others. The song by Charley delivered during the TV interview was worth the price of admission alone.