Like the play, the musical moves backwards.
Over the course of 20 years, it charts the spiralling friendship of three best buddies: composer Franklin Shepard, playwright/librettist Charley Kringas and author Mary Flynn. Merrily We Roll Along features music and lyrics by Sondheim with a book by George Furth, based on a 1934 play by George S. Once again, Bryant has delivered a production that knocks your socks off with its theatricality, while wringing the heartstrings. After being postponed in 2020, the production opened in June this year and was shut down after one preview, but the wait was worth it. So anticipation was high when it was announced he would direct Merrily We Roll Along. Photo © Phil Erbacherĭean Bryant has had great success at the Hayes Theatre Co, directing fresh, invigorating, insightful productions of Sweet Charity, Little Shop of Horrors and Sondheim’s Assassins, all of which toured. Ainsley Melham, Andrew Coshan and Elise McCann in Merrily We Roll Along at the Hayes Theatre Co.