(This review was written in reverse order like the show. lol. If you don’t like it that way, you can read from the top to bottom instead)

3.5 out of 5.

Overall, the proshot version of “Merrily We Roll Along” is a better alternative to seeing it live and I’m sure that there are fans of the show that will very much enjoy seeing it on the big screen, especially theatre kids. For me, it was interesting without a doubt, and it kept me interested for a while, but it started to lose me somewhere in Act II, and I don’t foresee myself adding any of the songs on my playlist anytime soon except for perhaps “Franklin Shepard, Inc.” I hear that director Richard Linklater plans to adapt this show into a feature film, but it will be a while before we see it as he plans to film the segments chronologically over the course of seven years, kind of like what he did with his movie “Boyhood”. Any Broadway/musical fan is sure to enjoy i,  and it certainly has moments of enjoyability, but on the whole, it was less than Merr,  and by Act II, I was just blankly Rolling Along. 

As I had mentioned earlier, I am a fan of musicals. When it comes to musicals, one of the biggest standouts must be the songs. Unfortunately, there was only one memorable song in this show performed by Daniel Radcliffe called “Franklin Shepard, Inc.” This was a fast-paced song with a lot of words and was very well performed by Daniel. Every musical has a standout musical number,  and for me, this was that song for this particular show. Aside from that, I will say that all the performers sang the songs very well, way better than what I could do myself, it’s just that the rest of the songs weren’t very memorable to me. 

In terms of the story, I thought it was fine. I was definitely interested when I found out that it was being told in reverse order. However, I did quickly discover a caveat to that. Since the show starts at the end and ends at the beginning, I could not help but think that, if the story was told in chronological order, it would result in a very unsatisfactory closing that would leave the audience asking, “That’s how it ends?” In other words, I think it needed a better opening/ending. The way it closed was decent, but if reversed, it wouldn’t play as well, in my opinion. But I do like stories that show how our dreams do not always turn out to be how we originally envision them as we desperately strive to make them come true. Every dream has drawbacks and hardships and sometimes requires sacrifice,  even if it’s something we don’t want to sacrifice. This show falls into that category, and it depicted it well enough with its story, so I appreciated that.

Starting off with the positives, the show was originally recorded on Broadway in the Summer of 2024. The show itself ended up winning four Tony awards. It won for Best Revival of a Musical, Best Performance by a Leading Role and Featured Role being both Jonathan and Daniel, and Best Orchestrations. Based on what I saw in the show, all of these awards were very much earned, especially for Jonathan and Danie,  as they both gave great performances. There were times when they both had to cry right on cue on many different occasions,  and having that ability to do that live on stage is very impressive to someone like me.

I didn’t know anything about this show going into it. I just new that Daniel Radcliffe and Jonathan Groff were in it, and I had never seen them perform a stage show before, unless you count Jonathan Groff’s small stage appearance as King George III in “Hamilton”. That was the easy selling point for me. But the stars are merely the vessels to the story overall, so how was the story of this musical show? For me personally, it was decent but not without faults. Allow me to explain.

“Merrily We Roll Along” is a musical show starring Daniel Radcliffe, Jonathan Groff, and Lindsay Mendez who play a group of friends who dream to create their first ever musical show in the 1960’s and strive to make that dream a reality only to find that the life they dreamed about might not be so glamorous. However, the unique thing about this show is that it is told in reverse chronological order over the span of almost 20 years. So, it starts with the fall and reverses back to their humble beginnings. Based on the original play from 1981 with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim,  who also did popular Broadway shows like “Into the Woods” and “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”.

Who doesn’t love a good musical on Broadway? I actually know many who don’t, but that’s besides the point. I myself am quite a fan of certain musicals,  and I remember a time when that was not the case for a long time until I saw “The Book of Mormon” on stage. That’s when I started to broaden my musical theatre horizons that led me to being a fan of such shows like “Phantom of the Opera”, “Hamilton”, “Hadestown”, “Heathers”, “Beetlejuice”, and many others. But of course, seeing shows live on stage, especially on Broadway, is very expensive. Luckily, we sometimes get a little something called a “proshot”, which is a professional recording of the Broadway show to be distributed later for general audiences to see that otherwise could not afford to see it. The latest show to be graced with a proshot is “Merrily We Roll Along”! Which is going to be airing at local theaters via Fathom Events.

By Nick Nitkowski

Special Fathom Events Screenings At Local Theaters. Check Local Listings In Your Area.