Movie #3527 ........................."Merrily We Roll Along' (theatre - fathom)

Movie #3527 "Merrily We Roll Along"  (theatre - fathom)  Once in a while a fathom presentation comes along, and usually it is a Broadway show that has been filmed.  We have seen several of these ("Monty Python" comes to mind, and "One Man, Two Governors, with James Cordon") , so when we saw Stephen Sondheim's show offered, we jumped at the chance to see it .  The show's history is pretty intriguing --- a flop when it first came out, due to maybe not understanding it the way it was presented,  it was put into a drawer for several years.  It was Sondheim's intent to try again with it, but then he died.  So his trust got a female director (who knew what she was doing) and three actors who were passionate about the show, including Daniel Radcliffe (Yes, Harry Potter) and the inimitable Jonathan Groff (the original king in "Hamilton" and on Broadway now playing Bobby Darin in "Just in Time,")  , and a female who was not known to me, but boy is she good! (Lyndsay Mendez) and made magic --- the show was sold out in its limited run and we never got to see it live -- it won Tony Awards for the two male leads and the show itself, and we are so grateful that it was filmed in June last year so we could see it.  I loved it!  The story is told backwards and shows a disintegration of relationships between best friends, from the ugly ending to the beautiful meet up.  It is very inspiring and informative on how relationships can last if those involved work on them, and I'm not sure it is still around, but if it is, or you get to stream it, it is wonderful!  So well done, we came out quite inspired by Stephen Sondheim again!  "Not a Day Goes By" is the big number, and it is used in two different ways -- what a song, what a show!  5 out of 5.

"MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG"     2025    PG-13    2 hours and 25 minutes 

Spanning three decades, the turbulent relationship between a composer and his two lifelong friends, a writer and a lyricist and playwright.

Director Maria Friedman

Writer:  George Furth

Actors:  Daniel Radcliffe, Jonathan Groff, Lindsay Mendez