• ROLLING ALONG: ERIC’S DIRECTOR’S NOTE
• ‘HEY, OLD FRIENDS’… AND NEW FRIENDS
• THE CONCEPT MUSICAL
• MERRILY AND ME

ROLLING ALONG: ERIC’S DIRECTOR’S NOTE

Eric Schaeffer

After 17 seasons, the work of Stephen Sondheim remains Signature’s “signature” and Merrily We Roll Along is the 15th Sondheim production we’ve presented. Although this show was seen at Arena Stage in the early 90s and then at The Kennedy Center’s Sondheim Celebration, Merrily We Roll Along has never graced the Signature stage. Until now.

Merrily We Roll Along has long been referred to as “the one that moves backwards in time.”  But I see Merrily as much more than a time traveling show.  It’s about friendships — how they evolve, dissolve, break us apart, and bring us together.  It’s about the different journeys we all take in life — how we change and grow — not always for the better.  Suddenly we realize that if we could turn back time, we might have made different choices. Would we be the person we’ve become? Merrily dares us all to look back at our own lives and ask that question — what if you could turn back time?

Merrily We Roll Along is the perfect show to kick off the first entire season in our new home.  Looking back at where we’ve been, how far we’ve come, and the friends and family that have brought us this far.

I hope you’ll join us for the rest of the season. There are seven mainstage shows, cabarets, and special events to enjoy at Signature. Subscribe, donate, become a member of the Signature family. It promises to be a great season, one of Signature biggest and best.

Eric Schaeffer
Artistic Director/Co-Founder

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‘HEY, OLD FRIENDS’… AND NEW FRIENDS
Meet the cast of the 2007-08 season opener, Sondheim and Furth’s Merrily We Roll Along. Join us as we welcome many new faces to Signature’s MAX stage.

Click here to buy tickets to see this amazing cast in Merrily We Roll Along

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THE CONCEPT MUSICAL
The look and style of Merrily We Roll Along

When Merrily We Roll Along first premiered it was known as a concept musical — being told backwards in time. Daring. But the design concept was simple, t-shirts with the characters names on them.  It closed almost as soon as it opened.  But it’s not simple and that why Merrily remains one of the last Sondheim musicals that Signature Theatre hasn’t tackled. 

Of course the Signature Theatre production is going to be quite different – everyone would expect that. 

One of things that we’re doing is taking idea of the concept musical even a step further. While the show has ten various settings in different time periods, the Signature production will remain in one place, focusing more on the relationships of the characters and friends rather than on their location.  And we’re reduced the ensemble to eight singer/dancers who will take us back through time but never leave the stage.  

James Kronzer’s white set includes a 33-step staircase into our rafters along with one black baby grand piano and clear Lucite chairs.  Each step of the grand staircase lights up as the ensemble descends and everything is exposed in the lighting and set design. 

Jon Kalbfleisch’s 12-piece orchestra will be on the second level and part of the set. Because they will be so integrated into the playing space, no actors will be wearing microphones for the production.

The costuming of the show by Robert Perdziola is stylish, sexy and timeless.  Each character only has one or two costumes. The production won’t become a fashion parade. Instead, each character is defined by a color. They never change palettes even as their individual character changes.  The pattern and fabric make-up change.  But the colors, tones, and hues are consistent.

And Chris’ Lee’s lighting is very deliberate and distinct — it’s all about areas and specials. We’ll really be able to accent certain section of the stage and show for maximum effect.

You can see that we have taken the idea of the concept musical to a whole higher level in the story-telling of this Sondheim cult classic.  It’s going to be a very fresh and exciting start to our season.

To learn more about the design and direction of Merrily We Roll Along, click here to listen to the first rehearsal podcast.

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MERRILY AND ME
Library of Congress’ Mark Horowitz Muses on Merrily We Roll Along

Regarding the original Broadway production of Merrily We Roll Along in 1981, I had purchased tickets for what was supposed to be a performance well after opening night, but the show’s now legendary problems turned that date into a late preview.  With me was a dear friend from college with whom I shared a love of Sondheim’s work.  Joining us was her future husband, a Rabbi in training.  This was her first chance to expose him to a first-class production of a new Sondheim show.  The overture was thrilling — but at intermission there was a fair amount of embarrassed silence.  Things improved in the second act, but as a whole the show did not live up to its promise.  Or was it our anticipation?  Of course, when the recording was released it was quickly apparent how strong and beautiful the score was.

In the winter of 1990, I was working at Arena Stage in Washington, DC, which (after some prodding on my part, I’d like to think) was finally going to produce a Sondheim musical—Merrily We Roll Along – a new and improved Merrily with the active collaboration of Sondheim and Furth. I negotiated a leave of absence from my regular job to take on the unpaid position of Assistant to the Musical Director and, I was led to believe, assistant to Sondheim.  As it turned out, Sondheim required little assistance and the primary aid I was able to afford him was to lend him my rhyming dictionary (in which he penciled some missing words), and drive him to an eye doctor’s appointment.  But I did assist the musical director, Jeff Saver, and I was a fly-on-the-wall throughout the troubled production.

It began with a quick trip to New York with the director, Doug Wager, to meet with Sondheim and Furth to discuss the nature of this production.  As we arrived at Sondheim’s home, Hal Prince was just leaving.  My heartbeat doubled.  I took copious notes that afternoon.  Most of all I remember the team discussing the need to be as faithful as possible to the intent and structure of the source play by Moss Hart, and Doug’s vision of the show taking place in a “sea of time” that would be evidenced in the set by the color blue.

Victor Garber was cast as Franklin Shepherd, and because he was just closing on Broadway in Lend Me a Tenor, the first week of rehearsals — for principals only — was held in New York at Playwrights Horizons.  David Garrison, who played Charlie, was already well-prepared (carrying his marked-up score); Garber, less so, seemed intimidated.  The first read-through was done backward, which, given the reverse chronology of the show, is forward in time.  Some seemed bemused by the choice. The week in New York went well until the last day.  As we were leaving the theater on a cold and rainy December 31, Doug Wager slipped, fell, cried out in agony, was taken to an emergency room; he had done major damage to his leg.  He was entirely out of commission for the next week or two of rehearsals and, when he finally could return, suffered from both pain and pain medication.

Most of the slack was taken up by the show’s choreographer, Marcia Milgrom Dodge.  I was in awe of her energy, enthusiasm, and focus. She rose to the challenge of an impossible situation.  Her staging of “Opening Doors” was particularly brilliant.  At Doug’s return she graciously relinquished control.

Following are some of my favorite memories:

The wonderful actress, Becky Ann Baker, was playing Mary.  She needed some help with the song “Like It Was,” and I was allowed to sit in on a “private” session she had with Sondheim.  As they sat across from each other in the green room, he took her hands in his, locked eyes with her, and had her sing the song directly to him.  There was such sympathy, understanding, and encouragement in his expression that the change in her performance was seismic.

Marin Mazzie played Beth.  At one point late in rehearsals she was singing a wrenching “Not a Day Goes By.” Sondheim and Furth were standing in the back and I was near them.  Sondheim turned to Furth and said, “If ever anybody was born to sing a song, she was born to sing that one.”  I got goose bumps.  (And speaking of “Not a Day Goes By,” a couple of years ago I began writing a column titled “Biography of a Song” in the quarterly, The Sondheim Review.  I select a song I want to write about, Sondheim’s assistant scans all of his music and lyric sketches and manuscripts for said song and I get to try and figure out the creative process of how the song evolved.  The best part is, after I have a “final” draft, I send it to Sondheim who calls me with his corrections and comments.  Invariably, I get at least one piece of information I’d have no other way of knowing.  For the article on “Not a Day Goes By” he asked me whether I wanted to know where the title came from.  Absolutely, I replied.  Here’s the story:  A lady friend of Sondheim’s had confided to him that she had had an intense extramarital affair.  After some months, her lover presented her with an ultimatum that she had to choose between him and her husband.  After some agonizing soul searching, she decided that the right thing to do was to stay with her husband.  Months later her phone rang at 3:00 in the morning.  She picked it up, and all her ex-lover said was an emphatic, but whispered:  “Not a day goes by…”  Sondheim was deeply touched by this story, and when the time came to write this song for Merrily, he recalled the story and realized it would provide the perfect title phrase.)

I have only witnessed Sondheim’s wrath on one occasion.  We had just done a run-through with the orchestra.  Afterward, one of the musicians came up to the producer and asked whether there would be a run-through without the orchestra, so he’d be able to watch the show before it opened.  The producer was dismissive.  A furious Sondheim wheeled around and said to the producer, “Do you know how fortunate you are to have a musician who cares and is interested in the show, who wants to see it.  You should be thrilled and supportive.  How dare you be so unresponsive.”  Or words to that effect.  It was a lesson I’ve not forgotten.

The production was a good one.  Not great, but with a wonderful cast and some magnificent moments.  I would slip into the theater as often as possible just to watch David Garrison’s “Franklin Shepard, Inc.”   I thought it was not to be rivaled, but then I saw Raúl Esparza in the 2002 production at the Kennedy Center, and his rendition may be one of the two or three most brilliant performances by any actor in any part that I have ever seen.

One last recollection: While Sondheim had been around sporadically during rehearsals, George Furth was there all the time — constantly rewriting.  New scenes and lines seemed to pour out of him.  We gradually developed a warm friendship.  George was a force of nature—talkative, opinionated, interested in everybody and every thing, and a natural yenta, constantly advising friends and strangers alike.  As my best friend and I were leaving the opening night party, we stopped to say goodnight to him. He grabbed us by our shoulders and crammed us together: “You two have to get married.”  We left quickly, sat in her car as the rain poured down; not looking at each other, we mumbled:  “What do you think?”  “I don’t know, what do YOU think?” That was the start.  We’ve now been married for nigh on fifteen years.

I am confident that the upcoming production of Merrily at Signature Theatre will provide another set of wonderful memories.

Mark Eden Horowitz, 2007

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