Hey, new casting. What do you say, new casting? Tony nominee Jonathan Groff and Tony winner Lindsay Mendez have opened the doors to joining the cast of New York Theatre Workshop’s Merrily We Roll Along as Franklin and Mary, respectively. They join the previously announced Daniel Radcliffe in the role of Franklin Shepard, Inc. decrier Charley. Merrily We Roll Along marks yet another New York revival of a Sondheim show in recent years, after Company and Into the Woods said it was our time for Sondheim. This production of Merrily will be directed by Maria Friedman, who also directed the show in London to an Olivier Award for Best Musical, so we guess that NYTW decided the show already had a good thing going.
Merrily charts the relationships between a group of friends in the musical-theater industry as they experience varying levels of success and disappointment — except it does it backward, so the audience gets sadder as the characters have increasing amounts of hope. It’s really fun. The show is also currently undergoing the 20-year process of being turned into a Linklater film starring Beanie Feldstein, Ben Platt, and Blake Jenner. Tickets for this production will go on sale on September 21, with previews starting on November 21 and opening night set for December 12. We hope the priest from Lady Bird will be happier with this production.