Theatre - Merrily We Roll Along

Who/what/where: Merrily We Roll Along, Harold Pinter Theatre/Digital Theatre

The folks at Digital Theatre have a fine idea, organising with the theatre to film certain performances and put them online to rent/buy. They were also behind the live performances of Noel Coward's Private Lives making their way to cinemas recently. It's great if you miss a show, or want to retain a copy, but there's just something about the experience of seeing the shows live that a digital version just cannot capture.

I've seen this version of Merrily We Roll Along three times now, once when it opened at The Menier Chocolate Factory, again at The Harold Pinter Theatre in May 2013, and finally the digital version, so it's a show I've developed a little familiarity with. Plus, your week is almost always improved with a little bit of Stephen Sondheim's work in your life.

Mark Umbers is Franklin Shepard, Jenna Russell, always good value in a musical, gives a fine performance as Mary Flynn, and Damian Humbley is Charles Kringas.

Merrily We Roll Along is a Sondheim musical based upon a play. The show opens at a party in the 70s and, with each scene, moves backward through key moments within the life of Franklin Shepard = initially showing him as a wealthy, but ultimately not that happy, film producer and leading back through how he got to that position, all but abandoning his composing work to get there. Travelling backwards through his life and that of his friends we see him work on a hit musical, live as a penniless composer, marry his lead actress twice and finally go back to the him, in his early 20s, meeting what will become his closest friends.

The simple act of reversing the timeline puts the audience's emotional roller-coaster into reverse with it. Were it to go in a simple chronological order they might otherwise leave drained at watching Fanklin slowly change into the man he becomes, the friends he drifts away from, and the idea that he may make the same mistakes again, potentially marrying his lead actress for a third time. The references to the New York play written by Charles Kringas imply that he stuck to his principles, finished the show he wanted to do with Franklin and that things worked out for him in the end, so it doesn't end poorly for everybody. However, doing it this way round lets the show end on a much more positive note, optimistic about the future and the opportunities it will offer, plus introduces Evelyn, who will become Kringas' wife - giving the audience a further reason to smile at the end.

You can see how each decision led into the next and, as the play progresses, unpick the key turning points of his life. Would a small change in certain decisions make a huge difference to his life? Undoubtedly. Would the show be as interesting if he'd made the right ones? No. Can the audience learn from his actions? I'd hope so, catch up with friends, think about what you're aiming for, what you'll compromise for what benefit, and what decisions you've already made.

Its a fine show and well worth viewing.