Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim

Book by George Furth

Directed by John Miller-Stephany

October 11 – November 18, 2001

At the Guthrie Lab

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STUDY GUIDE
 THE GUTHRIE THEATER

JOE DOWLING
Artistic Director

The Guthrie Theater receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts. This activity is made possible in part
by the Minnesota State Arts Board, through an appropriation by the Minnesota State Legislature. The Minnesota State
Arts Board received additional funds to support this activity from the National Endowment for the Arts.

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Merrily We Roll Along

music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim book by George Furth

With this production the Guthrie honors the generosity of American Express.
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A STUDY GUIDE
published by The Guthrie Theater

Senior Editor: Michael Lupu Editor: Belinda Westmaas Jones

Materials prepared by: Dramaturg: Michael Lupu

Bryan Erickson
Produced with the support of:
Sheila Livingston
Catherine McGuire
Research: Julie McMerty
Bryan Erickson Carla Steen
Michael Lupu Patricia Vaillancourt
Belinda Westmaas Jones
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information on this and other recent productions. The study guides can be found in ACT III at www.guthrietheater.org.

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS
THE PLAYWRIGHT
Selected Chronology of the Lives and Work of
Stephen Sondheim and George Furth 4
Comments on the Work of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth 6
Sondheim and Furth Comment on Their Life and Work 7

THE PLAY
Synopsis 8
Scene Synopsis and Musical Numbers 9
Comments on the Play 10

THE GUTHRIE PRODUCTION

Notes from the Director, John Miller Stephany 11

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 THE PLAYWRIGHT
Selected Chronology of the Lives and Work of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth
1930 Stephen Sondheim is born in New York City March 22 to Herbert Sondheim and
Janet Sondheim Leshin.

1932 George Furth is born in Chicago December 14 to George R. and Evelyn (Tuerk)
Schweinfurth.

1950 Sondheim graduates from Williams College (B.A.).

1953 Sondheim writes for the television series Topper.

1954 Furth graduates from Northwestern University (B.S.).

1956 Furth graduates from Columbia University (M.F.A.). Begins acting career.
Sondheim composes incidental music for the premiere of N. Richard Nash’s play,
The Girls of Summer.

1957 West Side Story, lyrics by Sondheim, music by Leonard Bernstein and Book by
Arthur Laurents.

1958 Furth joins the U.S. army (discharged in 1962).

1959 Gypsy, lyrics by Sondheim, music by Jule Styne, book by Arthur Laurent.

1960 Sondheim composes the incidental music for the premiere of Arthur Laurents’
play, Invitation to a March.

1961 West Side Story is made into a film.

1962 A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, music and lyrics by Sondheim,
book by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart. The play earns Sondheim his first of
many Tony Awards for Best Musical.

1964 Anyone Can Whistle, music and lyrics by Sondheim, book by Arthur Laurents.

1965 Do I Hear a Waltz?, music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Sondheim, book by

Arthur Laurents.

1969 Furth appears in the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

1970 Company, music and lyrics by Sondheim, book by Furth.

1971 Sondheim’s Follies with book by James Goldman. Twigs, incidental music by
Sondheim, with book by George Furth.

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1973 A Little Night Music, music and lyrics by Sondheim, book by Hugh Wheeler. The
Enclave (incidental music). Co-writes with Anthony Perkins the script for the film
The Last of Sheila.

1974 Sondheim writes the music and lyrics for Burt Shevelove’s adaptation of
Aristophanes’ The Frogs. Sondheim scores the music for the Alain Resnais film,
Stravisky.

1975 Once in a Lifetime, music by Sondheim, with John Kander and Giuseppe Verdi.

1976 Pacific Overtures, music and lyrics by Sondheim, book by John Weidman.
Grammy Award for best song of the year, "Send in the Clowns."

1977 The Act, book by Furth, music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb.

1979 Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, music and lyrics by Sondheim,
book by Hugh Wheeler.

1981 Merrily We Roll Along, music and lyrics by Sondheim, book by Furth, from the
play by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart. Sondheim scores the music for the
film Reds.

1984 Sunday in the Park with George, music and lyrics by Sondheim, book by James
Lapine. Among many other awards, the play earns Sondheim the Pulitzer Prize for
drama.

1986 Furth’s The Supporting Cast and Precious Sons are produced.

1987 Into the Woods, music and lyrics by Sondheim, book by James Lapine.

1990 Sondheim becomes the first visiting professor of drama and musical theater at St.
Catherine’s College, Oxford University. The film Dick Tracy includes five songs
by Sondheim.

1991 Assassins, music and lyrics by Sondheim, book by John Weidman.

1994 Passion, music and lyrics by Sondheim, book by James Lapine.

1996 Getting Away with Murder: A Comedy Thriller (non-musical play), co-written by
Sondheim and Furth.

1997 Sondheim receives National Medal of the Arts.

1999 Wise Guys, music and lyrics by Sondheim, book by John Weidman.

2000 A revival of Merrily We Roll Along opens in London. It earns the Olivier Award
for best musical.

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SONDHEIM WEBSITES

http://research.haifa.ac.il/~theatre/sondheim.html
Playwrights (and Composers): Stephen Sondheim

http://www.geocities.com/sondheimguide/
The Stephen Sondheim Reference Guide

Comments on the Work of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth

Sondheim and his collaborators experiment with the notion of theater as a game that the audience
actively plays. Many of the imaginative leaps necessary for comprehension are achieved only through
audience collaboration. … In Sondheim’s musicals … the empathetic bond is both established and
examined. Audience activity is intellectual rather than physical.
Joanne Gordon, Art Isn’t Easy: The Achievement of Stephen Sondheim, 1990

Listening to Sondheim’s words, one soon comes to feel their edges, the brittleness of their circumstance,
the shattered integrity of their often despairing meanings. They sing to us, of all things, that our lives are
a painful exposure of our own defenselessness, and if we can find others even more at risk, we are not
by that protected. ... If Stephen Sondheim has for years now written it all, the words and the music, it’s
because they have for him been long inseparable.
Robert Creeley, "Mr. Sondheim, Poet," published in The Poetry of Song: Five Tributes to
Stephen Sondheim, 1992

More important than the shows Stephen Sondheim has helped create, more important than his powerful
and transporting scores or his dramatic and stimulating lyrics is his artistic idealism and its underlying
tenet: the belief that our best lies in our intelligence. For him the creative act is a knowledgeable one.
Art is not something that simply arrives with a brainstorm; it is the product of art-making, a composition
of training, competence, craftsmanship, technique, and thinking.
Martin Gottfried, Sondheim, 1993

Over the years, Sondheim’s talents were sharpened by his long-time association with producer/director
Harold Prince. Both men, perhaps without realizing it, were moving the American musical more in the
direction of grand opera than the traditional Broadway show.
Schuyler Chapin, Sopranos, Mezzos, Tenors, Bassos, and Other Friends, 1995

Furth’s dialogue is witty, often caustic, but underlying the sharp sophistication is an almost vaudevillian
elan. Furth is an actor as well as a playwright, and he writes with a true showman’s spirit—his dialogue
pops. But there’s a tenderness to the work as well. Sondheim’s protagonists are invariably difficult
(often it’s their very selfishness that makes them so compelling), but Furth invests his writing with a
generous eye toward the human capacity to redeem ourselves for our failures.
Stephanie Coen, "Sondheim and Furth’s triple play," in American Theatre, December, 1995

Sondheim’s vision is a complex one. He sees all sides of an issue. There are no easy solutions to the
characters’ problems in his musicals. There are not "happy" endings. In asking "How better can we live
our lives?", in struggling to come to terms with their problems and in striving for solace and maturity his
characters lose their youthful fantasies, endure strained relationships, suffer the loss of loved ones to
others or to death, attempt to overcome fear of commitment and fight fiercely to be loved. There is

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gallantry in the characters’ facing of their dilemmas and in their belief that in so doing and in taking
action life will improve. … Sondheim doesn’t leave his audiences reassured that his characters will live
happily ever after. For most of them at show’s end the struggle will continue or has just begun. Hope is
evidenced, however, in these small steps toward bettering their worlds.
Mari Cronin, "Sondheim: The Idealist," from Stephen Sondheim: A Casebook, edited by
Joanne Gordon, 1997

Sondheim and Furth Comment on Their Life and Work

Lyric writing, at best, is a limited art—if it is an art at all. … It’s largely a matter of sweat and time
consumption. Once the basic idea for a lyric has been set, it’s like working out a crossword puzzle. But
composing music is genuinely creative. And it’s much more fun.
Stephen Sondheim, "Sondheim: Lyricist and Composer" by John S. Wilson, The New York
Times, 1966

The theater is a place where I really love to work. … The biggest challenge for me is the opportunity to
constantly try new things. I believe it’s the writer’s job to educate the audience … to bring them things
they would never have expected to see. It’s not easy, but writing never has been.
Stephen Sondheim, Sondheim and Co., Craig Zadan, 1986

We deal, in musicals, in a collaborative field so we aren’t as true to our own star … Someone who
doesn’t compromise himself is a romantic ideal.
George Furth, Sondheim Broadway Musicals, Stephen Banfield, 1993

I had the idealistic notion when I was twenty, that I was going into the theater. I wasn’t; I was going to
be in show business, and I was a fool to think otherwise.
Stephen Sondheim, Stephen Sondheim: A Life, Meryle Secrest, 1998

The outsider is basic to a lot of dramatic literature. This country’s about conformity. And so
nonconformity is a fairly common theme, and it’s obviously something I feel, belonging to a number of
minorities.
Stephen Sondheim, "Conversations with Sondheim," by Frank Rich, The New York Times,
2000

Two generations of people who grew up on TV and pop/rock have gone by, so they’re out of the theater-
going habit. It’s an "occasion" now—whatever the hot ticket is for the middle-aged and rich. They don’t
talk about the show afterwards. Ask them about it and they’ll say, "We had wonderful seats!" Every
show now gets a standing ovation, but I think if you’re really moved, you don’t stand. They want to
remind themselves that it’s an occasion—they’re applauding themselves. The TV audience only wants
to sit down front and have it paraded in front of them. When Hal and I were young and used to go to the
theater, we’d sit in the balcony, where you had to lean forward and focus on the show, so your
suspension of disbelief was complete. It’s less true off-Broadway, where the houses are smaller.
Stephen Sondheim, "Sondheim: On TV, videos, actors and music," by Sean Patrick
Flahaven, published in The Sondheim Review, 2000

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 THE PLAY
Characters and Synopsis
CHARACTERS

Frank Shepard — composer, movie producer

Charley Kringas — lyricist, playwright
Mary Flynn — writer, critic
Meg — star of Frank’s movie
Gussie Carnegie — Frank’s second wife
Joe Josephson — play producer; Gussie’s husband
Beth Spencer — Frank’s first wife
Frank’s friends — Tyler, Terry, Scotty, Dory, Ru, K.T., Jerome, Bunker
Mr. and Mrs. Spencer — Beth’s parents
Frank Jr. — Frank and Beth’s son
Evelyn — Charley’s wife
TV newswoman
TV newsman
Make-up artist
Photographer
Minister

SYNOPSIS

Based on the 1934 George S. Kaufman & Moss Hart comedy of the same title and studded with some of
the composer’s most inspired, poignant and endearing songs, this musical met an undeserved ill fate
when it premiered on Broadway in 1981. Two decades later, after considerable rewrites and major
revisions and adjustments, it has taken its rightful place as a landmark American musical. Last winter
Merrily We Roll Along had an acclaimed run in London at the Donmar Warehouse and won the Olivier
Award for best musical.

This bittersweet fable, both ironic and melancholy, chronicles the ups and downs of a trio of artistic
friends as they weather the temptations and perils of success. How can talented artists forget the
integrity of their youth, or do they? What makes them leave behind their personal and professional
ideals to meet the demands of competitive showbiz? Why has the creative urge that drove these artists to
the footlights in the first place seemingly vanished? Where can routine and compromise take talents
once bright with promise? Can one recapture in adulthood the initial enthusiasm, the candid impulses
and the genuine inspiration of youth? A trio of lifelong friends variously involved in the performing
arts—Frank, a composer and songwriter, Charley, a poet and lyricist, and Mary, a supportive muse and
critic—search for the answers by looking into their own experience, past and present.

Unfolding backwards in time, Sondheim’s compelling and eloquent musical traces the steps each of the
leading characters has had to take and reveals the degree to which their dreams and aspirations have
changed over time and the price they have paid to survive as individuals and as artists. The overall tone
of the musical is rueful and amusing with delightful songs underscoring the action.

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John Miller-Stephany, Guthrie associate artistic director, who staged Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd at our
Lab space in the summer of 1999 and To Fool the Eye on the mainstage in 2000, will direct Merrily We
Roll Along. Andrew Cooke will be the music director.

Scene Synopsis and Musical Numbers

ACT ONE
Overture
Prologue Merrily We Roll Along

Scene One: 1976

The patio outside Frank's house in
That Frank
Bel Air, California.

Scene Two: 1973

A television studio in Manhattan.
Scene Three: 1968
Frank's apartment on Central Park
West, New York City.
Old Friends/Like It Was
Franklin Shepard, Inc.
Old Friends
Growing Up (Part 1)

Scene Four: 1967

Outside the Courthouse in Lower Not a Day Goes By (Part 1)
Manhattan. Now You Know

Intermission
ACT TWO Entr'acte
Scene One: 1964
Act Two Opening
In and around a Broadway theater.
It's a Hit!
Scene Two: 1962
The Blob
Gussie and Joe's brownstone on
Growing Up (Part 2)
Sutton Place, New York City.
Good Thing Going
Scene Three: 1960
The Upstairs Room at the
Bobby and Jackie and Jack
Downtown Club, a cabaret in
Not a Day Goes By (Part 2)
Greenwich Village.

Scene Four: 1957-59

Various Locations around New
Opening Doors
York City.

Scene Five: 1957

The rooftop of a tenement building Our Time
on W. 110th Street, New York City.

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Comments on the play
Since Merrily We Roll Along is about friendship, the score concentrates attention on the friendship of
Mary, Frank and Charley by having all their songs interconnected through chunks of melody, rhythm
and accompaniment. And since the story moves backwards in time, it presented an opportunity to invest
verbal and musical motifs which could be modified over the course of years, extended and developed,
reprised, fragmented and then presented to the audience in reverse: extensions first, reprises first,
fragments first. For example, a release in one song would turn up later—later in the show but earlier in
time—as a refrain in another, a melody would become an accompaniment, a chorus would be reprised as
an interlude.
Stephen Sondheim, liner notes to the Merrily We Roll Along cast recording, 1981

Merrily We Roll Along documents through the irony of reverse chronology the deterioration of an
individual’s values over a 25-year period in American history when an entire generation (best
represented by the musical’s youthful ensemble) rapidly lost faith in its nation; it thereby offers a
retrospective examination of the kinds of compromises which often seem to occur in contemporary life.
Lee F. Orchard, Stephen Sondheim and the Disintegration of the American Dream: A Study
of the Work of Stephen Sondheim from "Company" to "Sunday in the Park with George,"
1988

The score is unquestionably worth cherishing. As befits its subject matter, the loss of innocence and
human warmth, it is easily the most melodic and approachable of Sondheim’s works. The songs …
exemplify the unique synthesis of intellectual depth and emotional passion that characterizes
Sondheim’s best scores.
Joanne Gordon, Art Isn’t Easy: The Achievement of Stephen Sondheim, 1990

In all of his scores Sondheim yearns musically, just as he does verbally, for a better world. Nowhere is
this subtle, complex verbal and musical longing, the question of the living of lives and the contemplation
of action, taken more in evidence than in Merrily We Roll Along.
Mari Cronin, "Sondheim: The Idealist," from Stephen Sondheim: A Casebook, edited by
Joanne Gordon, 1997

Merrily We Roll Along only makes sense as a tale of unrequited love. Mary and Charley love Frank, who
cannot return their devotion. Everything Frank does is a betrayal not of their values, which are never
clear, but of their love. Mary knows that what she mourns "never ever was," but it haunts her
nonetheless. The "friendship" Charley wants back never really existed. Franklin didn’t sell out; he
moved on.
John M. Clum, Something for the Boys: Musical Theater and Gay Culture, 1999

The backward structure emphasizes the irony connected to such naïve idealism, and the cyclic influence
history employs to destroy such honest desire. This correlation of one’s social experience with the
historical moment underscores the cynicism and sadness we (the audience) feel as the curtain comes
down on the "happy ending."
S. F. Stoddart, "Visions and Revisions: The Postmodern Challenge of Merrily We Roll
Along," published in Reading Stephen Sondheim, edited by Sandor Goodhart, 2000

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 THE GUTHRIE PRODUCTION
Notes from the Director, John Miller-Stephany
Editor’s Note. In the following interview, John Miller-Stephany, director of the Guthrie production
of Merrily We Roll Along, answered some questions about the play and the work of Stephen
Sondheim.

Two years after directing Sweeney Todd you are about to tackle another Stephen Sondheim musical. Is
that just a coincidence?

Not entirely. Joe [Dowling, the Guthrie’s artistic director,] knows I have great affection for quality
musical theater, in general, and for Sondheim musicals, in particular. Merrily We Roll Along is one of
Joe’s all-time favorite musicals and he suggested that I might enjoy directing a production of the show
for our 2001-2002 season. Although I was a bit concerned at first that I might get pegged as "that guy
who directs Sondheim musicals at the Guthrie Lab," I soon got over my anxiety. After all, I had the
pleasure of directing the Anouilh/Hatcher play To Fool the Eye on the mainstage last year. And Merrily
is an entirely different "animal" than Sweeney. After a quick read of the Merrily libretto and listening to
that amazing score, I knew I’d have to be absolutely crazy to turn down such a terrific opportunity.

Do you see an artistic through-line in your recent Guthrie stagings?

I’m probably not the best person to answer that question with any sense of objectivity. I’m definitely
attracted to strong stories peopled with characters of substance. An interesting plot alone, however,
doesn’t make for a compelling play. How the story is told is really what distinguishes a master
playwright’s work. Plays (with or without music) that have a musicality in their writing are most
appealing to me, whether they are written by Shakespeare or Sondheim.

What makes Sondheim’s work so theatrically engaging?

Sondheim is a dramatist who uses both words and musical notes as building blocks for the creation of
plays. He doesn’t seem to be much interested in writing songs, per se. His musicals completely integrate
text and music. There is a sophistication to his writing, both musically and dramatically, which is unique
and totally distinctive. In addition to being tremendously entertaining (a basic objective of any theatrical
undertaking), Sondheim musicals usually leave the audience with something substantial to think about.
They’re musicals for adults—they challenge and question. Although I doubt this is conscious on his
part, personally I find there is a common theme which threads its way through several of Sondheim’s
musicals, including Company, Follies and Merrily—it concerns the importance of making a
commitment and then, once a decision has been made, the second thoughts one wrestles with when
considering the road not taken. I think the point is best summed up in a Sondheim lyric from Sunday in
the Park with George: "I chose, and my world was shaken—So what? The choice may have been
mistaken. The choosing was not."

The book of Merrily We Roll Along is adapted from a 1934 Kaufman and Hart comedy with the same
title. What is, in your view, the main appeal of the story, and in what way does it appear relevant today?

Like all worthwhile plays, Merrily touches upon some universal and timeless matters. In particular, I
think the dramatization of the protagonist’s failure to remain true to his personal vision resonates in the

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fast-paced, split-focused world we live in today. How often does each of us have to make decisions
which could potentially compromise our values? Perhaps daily. The tricky thing is knowing how much
you can bend before you break. Merrily is especially moving because the story also concerns a long-
term friendship. Part of my fascination with the musical comes from its structure—the plot unfolds in
reverse chronological order. This device gives the audience insights into the characters’ development in
a most poignant way.

Are there some well-known tunes included in Merrily We Roll Along?

Absolutely. The score is magnificent. It includes a number of songs that are well on their way to
becoming "standards," such as "Not A Day Goes By" and "Good Thing Going."

Who are the main collaborators joining you as the creative team for this production?

For me, one of the most satisfying aspects of working on Merrily is that it gives me the chance to work
with some amazingly talented people once again, including Musical Director/Conductor Andrew Cooke;
Choreographer Marcela Lorca; Designers Mathew LeFebvre (designing both sets and costumes); Scott
Edwards (sound design); and Dramaturg Michael Lupu. It is also deeply reassuring to know that we can
count (as always) on expert technical support. The Guthrie’s production departments (set, prop and
costume shops; wardrobe and sound; stage management; etc.) are superb, probably second to none in the
country. For the upcoming show dozens upon dozens of us are pitching in, (to borrow yet another
Sondheim lyric) "putting it together."

John Miller Stephany, from an interview published in the September/October (Volume 2, issue 2) of the
Guthrie Theater’s Intermission newsletter

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