After debuting with the critically acclaimed sell-out production of Sunday in the Park with George last year, Little Triangle returns with Stephen Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along at The Depot Theatre from tonight for a limited three week season.
Franklin Shepard, a successful songwriter and movie producer in his late thirties, reviews his life, both professional and personal, especially his relationships with his best friends, Mary Flynn and Charley Kringas (his song-writing collaborator), and his two wives, Beth and Gussie. The action moves backward in time from 1976 to 1957, from the disappointments of adulthood, to the hopeful idealism of youth.
Directed by Alexander Andrews (Painting Seventeen, A Little Night Music) and Musical Direction by Conrad Hamill (Side Show, Hispanic Attack!), Merrily We Roll Along features a stellar cast including Patrick Howard as Frank, Zach Selmes as Charley, and Victoria Zerbst as Mary.
Based on the 1934 play of the same name by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, Merrily We Roll Along is a musical with a book by George Furth and lyrics and music by Stephen Sondheim. Crackling with wit and humour, the musical contains the songs Not a Day Goes By, Our Time, Old Friends, Franklin Shepard Inc, and Merrily We Roll Along.
Stephen Sondheim is an award-winning American composer and lyricist known for more than a half-century of contributions to musical theatre. His best-known works as composer and lyricist include A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd, Sunday in the Park with George and Into the Woods, and wrote the lyrics for West Side Story and Gypsy.
George Furth is a playwright who also had a prolific career as a performer. Best remembered for his collaborations with Sondheim – notably as librettist for the musicals Company and Merrily We Roll Along. Furth also had a hit with the play Twigs, and collaborated with Sondheim on a comedy-thriller, Getting Away With Murder.
“Merrily We Roll Along has been ‘long regarded as one of the beautiful and damned misfits of the Sondheim canon’ and yet remains ‘emotionally resonant’, bringing out the ‘sharpness in the showbiz satire’ following this ‘friendship under siege.” – The New York Times
Director: Alexander Andrews Featuring: Patrick Howard, Victoria Zerbst, Zach Selmes, Shannen Sarstedt, Matilda Moran, Richard Woodhouse, Embla Bishop, Caitlin Rose Harris, Victoria Luxton, Katelin Koprivec, Blake Condon, Tayla Jarrett, Phoebe Clark, Jesse Layt, Kelly Goddard, Michael McPhee, Bowie Parsons Music Director: Conrad Hamill Répétiteur & Pianist: Antonio Fernandez Stage Manager: Chris Starnawski Costumes & Props: Mitchell Wassink Producer: Rose Mcclelland
Merrily We Roll Along
The Depot Theatre, 142 Addison Road, Marrickville
Season: 9 – 24 March 2018
Bookings: www.thedepottheatre.com
For more information, visit: www.littletriangle.com.au for details.
Image: Merrily We Roll Along – photos by Clare Hawley / Asparay Photographics