If you were looking for a Broadway musical that was unlikely to have widespread theatrical success with the general public… well, this would be probably will Cats.
But if you were looking for the second Broadway musical that was least likely to be a widespread theatrical success among the general public… OK, that would be Dear Evan Hansen.
But let's say you need to go a little further down the list. Eventually you will encounter Have fun we roll Along: the once panned and then triumphantly revived Tony winner – now recorded and released as a professionally filmed production.
Somehow, this week, an almost mutedly sentimental Stephen Sondheim musical arrived in theaters that isn't quite as soothing in terms of storytelling and sound as Wicked or Cynthia Erivo Defying gravity riff. What you get instead is musical theater within his musical theatre, featuring tracks so full of jazzy sharps and flats that one character even mocks them ironically in song.
“There’s no tune left to hum,” croons dollar-and-cents-obsessed producer Joe Josephson, played by Reg Rogers. “There’s no such melody: “Boom-boom-boom-di-dum.”
WATCH | Trailer “Merrily We Roll Along”:
And that's without even mentioning a story so convoluted and depressing that its original 1981 release sparked mass walkouts and walkouts. closing just two weeks after debut.
Based on the play of the same name by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, it is the story of a triple friendship, told in reverse chronological order and peppered with stilted but sublime phrases such as “Let's not go to extremes,” “Farmez, all these bouquets,” and “The worst vice in this world is advice.”
This is a musical that is so disjointed and uninterested in collaboration.commercial viability makes scathing criticism of fun, accessible art one of its central themes. A show that spoils its own ending right in the first number and then demands that viewers stick with it for the next two hours to understand why it all matters.
In short, it's fantastic.
To be clear, We're having fun riding this is not a production designed to win over your showtune-hating friend. The discovery is catastrophic decisive party in 1976, we meet FunnyThe main characters are right because they decide to leave forever.
FFirst there is Franklin Shepard (Jonathan Groff), a composer at the same time at the peak of his career and at the lowest point in his personal life. Having just essentially sold his soul for a corny but lucrative Hollywood movie, we watch as his best friend, drama critic Mary (Lindsay Mendes), drinks herself into a stupor before stopping.breaking out of Shepard's life of self-indulgence and self-pity.
We then slowly travel back several years to the night they met in 1957. Witnessing adultery, betrayal, divorce courts and plenty of musical theater, we discover what tore Mary, Franklin and their friend, lyricist and playwright Charlie (Daniel Radcliffe), apart.
The closer we get to the beginning, the more optimistic our characters become.
As these dreamy children take different paths to different goals—selling themselves for success, toiling toward genius in relative poverty, or simply giving up—the play takes on an increasingly tragic structure as the songs become increasingly optimistic.
Trapped by their own ambitions and blind to the gradual accumulation of emotional wounds they inflict on each other, We're having fun riding gets his point across with an unforgiving, heartbreaking finality: Be careful what you wish for, but be more careful what you give up to get it.
Complete failure, complete success
Although this view existed from the beginning, it took decades of rewriting and revival for it to become effective. Alalong with significant rewrites and songs cut during this initial release, the original conceptHaving teenagers play the main characters was largely abandoned in later productions.
It still wasn't enough to save Funny. The disastrous failure of the musical was reflected in an equally interesting documentary. The best and worst things that could happen.
How it endedbecause it was a superfan: actress and director Maria Friedman, who turned a role in a 1992 production of the play into a series of re-imaginings.
Friedman's guiding hand, along with the star power of Groff and Radcliffe, ultimately took him to staggering heights, including four Tonys and a 2023-2024 race that saw ticket prices soar. balloon to almost $1000 each – this likely inspired Richard Linklater's upcoming adaptation. filmed over 20 years as the actors aged.
Much of what attracted this audience can be seen here. If you know about this musical, it's probably because of the electric guitar. slightly viral Franklin Shepard, Inc. song performed by Radcliffe.
In this film version, Radcliffe sinks further into the festering, resentful rage that subtly manifests beneath the surface of the story's portrayal of a buddy movie.
WATCH | Daniel Radcliffe performs Franklin Shepard, Inc.:
Professional paradise
This is also supported by something that is, fortunately, becoming less and less a rarity in the world of musical theater: a “pro-shot”—a professionally recorded version of a play—that is widely available and taken seriously as a standalone format.
Although nearly all Broadway musicals are recorded for posterity, few ever reach the public. Costs associated with filming, editing and managing distribution rights typically makes professional shots unsuccessful.
This has long been the bane of existence for musical theater fans. Broadway is limited both in terms of location and cost, meaning most fans know that their favorite shows—and, more importantly, their favorite actors—will end long before they have a chance to see them.
Fortunately, overwhelming box office success from HamiltonProfessional filming helped prove that audiences were indeed willing to fork out money for movie tickets. And this is not the only one. Another of his stunning revival successes was the re-production of Groff's musical. falsettos sold out cinemas when his professional photo was published in 2017.
However, here the situation is somewhat different.Friedman scrupulously approached the filming of this musical.
Combining three live performances with audience-less recordings, Funny is on the border between stage and filmmaking. Friedman carefully directs our gaze through close-ups that leave out much of the off-screen action. The camera moves with the actors and only occasionally allows applause or audience reaction to appear.
It's a slight departure from most other professional films, which are more about preserving the expansive theater experience. While this comes at the risk of removing some of the magic, the raw emotion presented here more than makes up for it.
Both in the opening and in the conclusion of this Funnywe see Franklin in extreme close-up, allowing us to see him demonstrate subtleties of expression that are usually impossible to capture in a live performance.
We see all the hope and tragedy reflected in the lines on his face as we hear, but don't see, adoring fans—and apparently less adoring friends—sing about the irresistible passage of time and the folly of dreams.
It may not be a true Broadway experience, but can you ever get close.
