Signature 'Merrily' Takes On Sondheim, Again
It’s rare to find a musical which thinks exploring adult friendships is more interesting and relevant than focusing exclusively on romantic relationships. Then again, not too many musicals move back in time, either; Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along has its share of attributes that make it not your average show.
That isn’t to say it’s a masterpiece. Merrily We Roll Along, now being staged by Eric Schaeffer at the Sondheim-loving Signature Theater, has plenty of merit, but has never secured a place in the pantheon of great Sondheim works. The focus of the piece is Franklin Shepard (Will Gartshore), a brilliant composer who sold out late in his career, picking fame and fortune over artistic integrity and losing some friends along the way. The show starts with Shepard successful but dissatisfied; it ends with him fueled with the optimism and promise of youth. At the beginning he’s been written off by those who loved him most – his writing partner, his best friend, his first wife and his second. As the show progresses, we learn how each found their way into his life.
Merrily features characters we care about, and personal dilemmas that ring true. And while audiences might like to get the titular song out of their head more quickly than they're able, the show has some wonderful musical moments here that showcase some really talented performers -- Bayla Whitten's anguished delivery of "Not A Day Goes By", Liberman's masterful, speedy take on the impossible and hilarious patter-song "Franklin Shepard Inc." Even the jaunty "Old Friends" can grow on you.
The show, though, sometimes stops short of developing its ideas fully, and frequently tells when it should show. We’re informed (blatantly, by the character himself) that Shepard is tortured, but beyond that we're only given a couple arguments and a few melancholy moments at a piano to develop the idea. Many characters are quick to say how pointlessly in love with Shepard his college buddy (Tracy Lynn Olivera) has been, but we mostly take their word for it, as we rarely see them interact one-on-one. And while the absolute that art cannot be commercial makes sense coming from Shepard's jilted composing partner Charley (Erik Liberman), it'd be nice if the show showed us a bit more of a nuanced view.
Gartshore is one of D.C.'s finest musical theater performers, and his rich voice and thoughtful presence anchor the show -- he's best in the play's later moments, when we get the chance to see the charisma that initially drew so many people to Shepard. He has plenty of good company here, too -- the aforementioned Whitten and Liberman, Olivera's vanity-free, delightfully tactless Mary Flynn, vocal powerhouse Tory Ross' scene-chewing Gussie, an actress Shepard eventually marries, and a well-used Christopher Block as her sad sack millionaire husband Joe.
Signature's ensembles are usually pitch-perfect, so it's hard to put a finger on what's initially irritating about their presence in Merrily. The performers seem a little too exuberant and stylized, Karma Camp's choreography a little too reliant on cliche musical theater moves. The staging makes more sense in the second act, where the chorus' role as the (literally) roving mob surrounding the posh entertainers becomes clearer. Beyond that, the production has plenty of style -- the lovely crawling staircase which showcases much of the play's action, the goofy, garish costumes by Robert Perdziola. Merrily is a worthwhile, engaging and imperfect effort where both Sondheim and the Signature crew show their human sides.
Merrily We Roll Along runs through Oct. 14 at Signature Theater. Tickets are available online.
Pictured above: Will Gartshore, Tracy Lynn Olivera and Erik Liberman in Merrily We Roll Along. Image courtesy Signature Theater.