Merrily We Roll Along

In a world where we have endless entertainment at our fingertips, it can be tough to decide what to watch. Between great TV shows and a constant flow of movies, it’s pretty easy to forget the magic of a Broadway show. And honestly, there’s a simple reason for that: Broadway is the least accessible of all our entertainment options. Not many of us can hop on a plane to New York to see a live show, and even the touring productions can be hard to catch. So when a Broadway musical makes its way into movie theaters, it feels like a gift—your chance to get a taste of that stage magic on a big screen.

In Merrily We Roll Along, it’s 1977, and Frank Shepard (Jonathan Groff) is riding high after the success of his latest movie. Everyone around him seems thrilled—except Mary Flynn (Lindsay Mendez), his oldest friend in the room and definitely the least excited about his big moment. Mary and Frank used to be thick as thieves, along with Frank’s writing partner Charley (Daniel Radcliffe), back when the trio had some early success with one of Frank’s musicals. But those days are long gone. Mary’s life has hit a rough patch, Charley isn’t even speaking to Frank, and you’re left wondering what went wrong.

That’s where the storytelling comes in. The show unfolds backward, peeling away the years until we see exactly what broke this trio apart. And then it keeps going, all the way back to where it all began—when the three of them were inseparable, hopeful, and dreaming big.

Merrily We Roll Along has a long history. The Sondheim musical, with a book by George Furth, is based on a play from 1934. When it premiered in 1981, it only lasted 16 performances. Over the years, the show was been reworked and rewritten, and it wasn’t until a 2022 London production that it finally clicked. The Broadway revival the following year—with this exact cast—is what sparked the huge wave of renewed love for the show.

And honestly? The show deserves that love. The songs are fantastic, and this production is incredibly well-performed. For anyone who wants the Broadway experience without traveling to Broadway, this is a great way to see what the excitement is about. But it’s not perfect. Maria Friedman—who directed both the stage and the filmed versions—leans a little too heavily on close-ups and rapid cuts. Those choices sometimes take away from the joy of watching the whole stage picture and seeing how the cast plays off one another. That’s part of what makes live theater so magical, and it’s a bit lost here.

But even with those drawbacks, the performances shine. Groff, Radcliffe, and Mendez are all wonderful and feel absolutely born to play these roles. Whatever issues I had with the filming choices never killed my enjoyment. And honestly, I think that’ll hold true for most people—whether they’re theater veterans or watching their first stage musical on a screen.

If anything, this version might make you more eager to see the show in person someday.