Back in college, I was at one of those casual gatherings of friends in someone’s apartment when the host pulled out a recording of a recent Sondheim flop called Merrily We Roll Along. It played in the background as we chatted, and I ‘sort of enjoyed it’. At some later date, not much farther in the future, I was listening to the radio in the car (ah, the days when I had a car!) and the local PBS station played the cast album. “OK, nice”, I thought.

Then, my one summer in Baltimore, halfway through grad school, I was regularly checking both books and records out of the library, and decided to pick that OCR up. Wisely, I taped it before giving it back. And this time it caught – I ended up listening to that amazing recording pretty much every day for about six months. (This particular Original Cast Recording is notorious for how good it is, and how filled with crazy energy, as it was recorded the day after the show closed, and there’s probably a lot of ‘fuck you’ subtext in the performances.) I wasn’t a fan of every number – the classic “Old Friends” leaves me cold, for instance, but the one/two punch of the brilliant “Opening Doors” and the heartrending “Our Time” laid me out every time. I got the vocal score from the school library and forced more than one friend to sit down and listen to the album and follow the score.

The summer youth theater group I’d worked with in the Maryland half of suburban Washington DC did Merrily not long after, and I was delighted to go. I think they did the original un-revised version, with “Hills of Tomorrow” and the t-shirts with the character names on them and so on. My late great friend Bruce, who’d been my Tevye when I MD’d Fiddler, was a non-traditional, but excellent Charley. It was pretty great to finally see the show.

A few years later, Arena Stage, DC’s premiere professional repertory theater, did “Merrily” with an excellent cast of Broadway names. This was the sort of production that people traveled to see (I did). This was the revised version, no more “Hills of Tomorrow”, and I didn’t love it, but how great to see Victor Garber and all those other folks (Marin Mazzie!). I will say, as lovely an actress as Becky Ann Baker is, I didn’t think her Mary lived up to the promise of the role.

Since then, there have always been vague promises of opportunities to do the show (I’d love to MD it, even though it would be somewhat outside my wheelhouse), but they’ve all fizzled out. And there have been local productions I could have seen, including a really teeny one with like six actors that played the action chronologically forward. (One reason that Merrily is tougher than some shows is that it plays backward – the first scene you see is the end of the story, and the last one is the beginning.) But I didn’t make it to any of them.

Luckily for us, Merrily has arrived on Broadway again for the first time since its original crash’n’burn. A starry cast and a fine pedigree, being directed by Maria Friedman, who has a solid history with the show. I’d gotten a ticket back in March to see it on my birthday this past Monday. And other than the too-cramped balcony seat, causing my aged knees to shriek, I had a great time.

It’s set in Frank’s apartment and the show is framed as his just reflecting and taking stock after everything falls apart. (the apartment set worked, mostly, but sometimes felt off for some scenes) Jonathan Groff (Broadway star) was Frank, Lindsay Mendez (Broadway star) was Mary and Daniel Radcliffe (! everything star) was Charley. All three excellent, none of the three pulled focus. Although Frank is ostensibly the focus of the story, it’s really about the three of them and what a great bunch it was. Frank is actually kind of a cypher of a character, and you mostly find out who he is by other people’s reactions to him, but Groff got the job done just fine. Mendez was wonderful as Mary – not sure if her voice is totally suited for the part, but characterologically, she was totally on point. Radcliffe was great, too, as the frustrated best friend. Considering practically the first thing he does on stage is the tremendously pattery (and angry) “Franklin Shepard, Inc”, it’s a ‘shot out of a cannon’ moment and Dan totally brought it. In general, at this point, having seen him in “How to Succeed” and his terrific work here, I don’t think we have to worry any more about him being stunt casting in a musical. He clearly is doing his homework – he thanked his voice teacher in his bio – and his very lyrical “Good Thing Going” was lovely.

Pretty much everyone else was fine – Katie Rose Clarke, a lovely actress who’d I’d last seen in The LIght in the Piazza was Beth and Reg Rogers was Joe. (I have been wondering whether Jason Alexander, who created Joe, has stopped by while he directs “The Cottage”). The ensemble was great – the choreography for ‘the blob’ was hilarious. But I will say that I found Krystal Joy Brown’s Gussie underpowered. Her character is the one that pretty much screws everything up for everyone, and she should plow through the show like a larger-than-life wrecking ball – and I just didn’t see it. Part of it is she gets saddled with some deadline rewrite material at the end of Act I (“Growing Up”) and I just didn’t care, it was deadly. I’ve talked to others who saw her performance and loved her, so maybe it’s just me. But that was the majorist issue I had.

I think what I walked away with was a renewed appreciation for a flawed show that has real gems in it, and the conclusion that this production is as good a production you’ll see anywhere. So go see it!

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What else? Birthday itself was fine – I got flowers from my niece (and a video call with both nieces last Sunday). Books and CDs from my dad and brother. I took myself out to dinner at a French bistro before the show, and realized that ten years earlier on my birthday, I’d actually been in France, having birthday dinner in Amboise outdoors, looking up at Leonardo da Vinci’s tomb. (Blog post here.) Again, birthday celebrations without your loved one fall kinda flat. Well, next year is a big zero birthday and I’ll make sure to put together something with lots of friends.

Weird week – so cold for most of it, and an unexpected rainfall on Friday that flooded the city (but not where I live). My CPAP machine broke down last weekend, so I haven’t been sleeping well since. (They’re sending me a new machine, but it may take weeks.) I got my flu shot, but cancelled my COVID shot because of the rain on Friday.

I have a heavily scheduled week, but this Friday, I head to Provincetown for a long weekend. And I just realized that the government did not shut down, so my flights probably won’t be cancelled. Unless there’s another unexpected giant weather event.

Enjoy the week!