In a poignant moment, director Lonny Price shows us footage of what it was like to be cast in Stephen Sondheim’s 1981 musical Merrily We Roll Along. “I walk around smiling all day,” he says beaming. “This show, if I never do anything again in the rest of my life, I will have had this moment. If I get hit by a truck the night after the opening, I don’t think I’ll care.”
The play however, was not his big break, nor was it a big break for the rest of the actors in the show. Merrily We Roll Along was a flop — not just a flop, but an unprecedented failure for Sondheim and his director Hal Prince. Their string of successes such as Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, and Sweeney Todd had not prepared them for this show to end its run so quickly. For the young actors in the show, who had pinned their hopes on being in a Sondheim musical, the news was devastating.
Price’s documentary reflects upon the show’s unpopular aspects: the show shifted time, going backwards a year every scene in a confusing manner that made many audience members leave during the show. The show was also faced with a casting issue. Who would be these younger actors that carried the later acts of the show — the most important emotional moments?
Nowadays, Sondheim’s play doesn’t seem so confusing. Broadway show The Last Five Years uses a similar conceit and is perfectly comprehensible. Consequently, a few revivals have attempted to re-stage the show and iron out its logistical issues. A 2012 performance cast Hamilton’s Lin-Manuel Miranda as Charley, Price’s former role.
THE BEST WORST THING THAT EVER COULD HAVE HAPPENED is a must-see. It shows the toil and tears that accompany creative labor, and gives due to a show that was ahead of its time.
— Diana Martinez, Film Streams Education Director
