Merrily We Roll Along Movie

[edjames]

This announcement confuses the hell out of me. Filming for the next 20 years?

Sorry, but I seriously doubt I'll be around to see it.

If Steve lives, he'll be 110!!!

 

‘Merrily’ This Film Will Roll Along. For the Next 20 Years.

Richard Linklater will direct a screen adaptation of the short-lived Stephen Sondheim musical, starring Ben Platt, Beanie Feldstein and Blake Jenner.

 

“Merrily We Roll Along” spent just two weeks on Broadway after it opened in 1981. Now, a film adaptation of the Stephen Sondheim and George Furth musical — which fans have grown to love, despite its rather floppy start — will be in production for more than 500 times as long.

Over the next 20 years, Richard Linklater will direct the “Merrily” movie, starring Ben Platt, Beanie Feldstein and Blake Jenner, Mr. Sondheim confirmed on Thursday evening.

The musical moves in reverse, chronicling over two decades the fortunes of three best friends in show business. Frank, a Broadway composer, starts the show jaded and successful before regressing to his bright-eyed past. Charley, his regular lyricist, and Mary, a writer, also move back toward their idealistic beginnings in a show that features such Sondheim standards as “Good Thing Going” and “Not a Day Goes By.”

“It’s experimental for a lot of people, and it’s hard for people to imagine,” Ginger Sledge, who is producing “Merrily We Roll Along,” said in a phone interview on Friday. “We have to shoot in reverse.”

Mr. Linklater, 59, is no stranger to yearslong production schedules: His 2014 film “Boyhood” was shot over 12 years and followed the same young actor as he grew up. Mr. Linklater has also worked with Mr. Jenner on his 2016 film

“I first saw, and fell in love with ‘Merrily’ in the ’80s, and I can’t think of a better place to spend the next 20 years than in the world of a Sondheim musical,” Mr. Linklater said in a statement. “I don’t enter this multiyear experience lightly, but it seems the best, perhaps the only way, to do this story justice on film.”

Mr. Jenner, known for his time on Fox’s teen musical series “Glee” and Netflix’s “What/If,” will play Frank, while Mr. Platt and Ms. Feldstein — real-life best friends — will portray Charley and Mary. The news of the screen adaptation and its cast was first reported by Collider.

In a statement, Mr. Jenner called the show “a beautiful, relatable story, with music I’m in love with, and I know this is going to be an amazingly creative journey for the next 20 years.”

Mr. Platt vaulted to fame with his Tony Award-winning title performance in “Dear Evan Hansen.” He will also star in the Netflix series “The Politician” later this year.

“This project has already been one of the most special blessings of my life,” Mr. Platt wrote on Twitter.

Ms. Feldstein has had plum roles in films like “Booksmart” and “Lady Bird,” and she was recently tapped to play Monica Lewinsky in the new season of “American Crime Story.” She has a Broadway background as well, as Minnie Fay in the revival of “Hello, Dolly!”

She and Mr. Platt attended the same high school, and, if a 2016 tweet is any indication, their casting in “Merrily” together has been a dream of hers for quite some time.

[bostonman]

In the original news on this that I saw, it didn't seem clear if they were really planning on a 20-year span of filming - but I guess they really are.

 

I hope to be around to see it (I'll be 75 if they really stick to schedule), but you know, it better be damn good - or better than that. I don't like waiting 20 years for a movie. If it doesn't live up to the hype, I'm going to be very bummed.