Merrily We Roll Along Director Maria Friedman with Jonathan Groff

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Күн бұрын

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@georgiaboydwade7763 6 ай бұрын

She wants to “show a gentle mirror” to the audience and have them ask questions about themselves! That’s why we need artists! So brilliant. 👏👏👏

@kellynkell9 3 ай бұрын

An hour is too short, I could hear both Maria and Jonathan talk for three hours! Beautiful questions, answers and thank you for reviving Merrily. Still feeling so fortunate to have caught it this year❤ 50:46

@jeffwatkins352 6 ай бұрын

Oh crud...Groff's made me weep again. And how brilliant and generous is Ms. Friedman. No wonder Merrily's such an amazing hit. Well, thanks to both of them, and all the cast and crew of course.

@stevielove4778 5 ай бұрын

I really heard this talk thru an interesting lense, ((that I fear was NOT intended…)) Maria (basically) opened by telling us she DOES NOT see Frank as selfish nor narcissistic!! And then later, when describing her parents, she opened with how they are both EXCEPTIONAL people! Then went in to give two absolute PERFECT descriptions of two types of narcissists. It is of little wonder she was finely primed to tell this story.

@mjz6984 5 ай бұрын

She should have won the Tony for this show. They really got it wrong. This production of Merrily is truly one for the ages, and she spent practically a third of her professional life figuring out how to make it work. I feel so bad for her, even with the other accolades for the show.

@lestatsluver666 6 ай бұрын

I sat here thinking ‘I know her…I KNOW her’, then it hit me. She was the Narrator on my Joseph video! I watched her so many times throughout my childhood

@BlakemanTribe 2 ай бұрын

You’re right! She was great in that ❤

@FrankWood-ry7ko 6 ай бұрын

I just love Jonathan!

@bettygorman4545 5 ай бұрын

I’m so glad this came across my feed. Maria is amazing. Now that I know more about her I have to find out more.

@Macrogue65 5 ай бұрын

Maria Friedman is genius. She has played so many roles and should be celebrated accordingly!

@lindakahler4799 6 ай бұрын

Saw Maria in Woman in White. Amazing talented fabulous performer

@josephlim6854 6 ай бұрын

@41:50. Thank you for sharing. Whenever I watch a Sondheim musical, I'll watch it with that perspective on how Sondheim wrote all his songs with love in mind.

@MermaidCore_ 6 ай бұрын

She’s so right about age… we contain all of it in every moment!!

@repboy1 6 ай бұрын

Maria is an increadible performer too ❤

@suzannadannaTARDIS 5 ай бұрын

Agreed. Her Narrator in Joseph was great - and a great singer, too.

@Cassandra-..- 5 ай бұрын

Wow, Maria Friedman is my new hero!

@pathenman4513 5 ай бұрын

She is speaking my language - lots and lots of questions for the actors!!

@chenshuen524 3 ай бұрын

This was the best interview I have ever seen.

@MermaidCore_ 6 ай бұрын

Good GOD! I hope they film it. I want to see it so bad… but west coast sadly.

@DavidN369 6 ай бұрын

It's being filmed today & tomorrow, likely scheduled for Great Performances for a future season. All depends on rights issues and whether a streamer picks it up first

@frazzyblue1384 6 ай бұрын

@@DavidN369IS IT??? OML please tell me where you found this information

@DavidN369 6 ай бұрын

@frazzyblue1384 NYT, Theatermania, Deadline, ad infinitum, on the fact of its being pro-shot 7/17 7/18; insiders whom we can not disclose as to when/where it will air. Much like "Sunday" striking a deal w/Showtime and then GP, or "Passion" going directly to PBS, OR"Come From Away" going to Apple +, the producers are going to want to snag the best deal and longest ranging outlet for the production. It is definitely being filmed for posterity, and Great Performances keeps coming up in the mix.

@DavidN369 6 ай бұрын

@frazzyblue1384 NYT, Theatermania, Deadline, ad infinitum, that it's being filmed for posterity 6/17 & 6/18; insiders whom we cannot name as to its eventual destination; depends on rights issues & other things, as when 'Sunday" struck a deal w/Showtime first & then GP, or "Come From Away" went directly to Apple+, etc. They aren't doing a proshot just to have it languish in the Lincoln Center library, and GP is the final destination that keeps coming up. Sooner or later, it will surely hit PBS.

@movingforwardLDTH 5 ай бұрын

@@DavidN369 7/17 & 7/18? So that would be July, not June.

@MermaidCore_ 6 ай бұрын

Incredible!

@beltingtokra 5 ай бұрын

Of course, these screams are for you Maria! Narrator in the Joseph movie, OG Marian in WiW and Sukie in WoE. The woman's a legend!

@johnkarlquist7787 5 ай бұрын

She should have won the Tony for direction.

@MermaidCore_ 6 ай бұрын

People find what they need in this piece…

@joshdrayton1230 6 ай бұрын

I've no doubt the new production of Merrily is great. But enough with the myth of Merrily being a flop until Friedman and this miraculous production came along. The show was revived very successfully well over 20 years ago, most notably with Michael Grandage's Donmar Warehouse production in 2000. That production was universally acclaimed and won all kind of awards. I've since seen several totally successful productions, from the Kennedy Centre in 2002 to Australia. In fact, the rehab started with James Lapine's production in San Diego in 1985. It's also worth noting that the revisions to the show are actually pretty minor; it's still essentially the same show with the same characters and the same structure. It flopped because of certain aspects of the original Broadway production and because the critics by that stage were determined to take Sondheim and Prince down a peg or two. The rest of us knew the show was great from the release of the Original Broadway Cast album.

@bt60613 6 ай бұрын

Wow. Well said. And widely agreed.

@PaulZeller-x1i 6 ай бұрын

I couldn't agree more. There is not much difference between this production and the 1994 York Theater production. That production was well received. the show's success revolves around the chemistry of the 3 leads and it's clear that Jonathan, Lindsay, and Daniel like each other on and off stage. And Groff's performance as Frank, making him more likable and making his intentions more clear with the best performance of "Growing Up" puts this production among the best I've seen. It is second only to a production that the Arden Theater Company did back in the 1990s with the best Mary Flynn I've ever seen Jillene Ringle, a Philly legend.

@EricMontreal22 6 ай бұрын

I have to disagree on one thing--geek that I am, I've had a chance to compare page by page, the 1981 book with the present (well the filmed 2012 London one) and Furth's book is, dialogue wise, almost a complete rewrite until the last few scenes, though keeps some of the same jokes. Of course the intent and scene order are the same (framing device aside)--with the weird exception that now the scene with Like it Was and Franklin Shepherd Inc are combined so that chronologically Mary sings Like it Was right before the TV meltdown--in 1981 that was a separate scene set in a restaurant a year or two after Franklin Shepherd Inc which makes more sense. So being anal, technically, it's a very heavy rewrite (much more so than the revisions made to Company in 1996 or Follies in 1998 and unfortunately the only version of those shows you can license, but that's a different issue.) I think in fact that Sondheim and Furth kinda threw the baby out with the bathwater when revising it. The final 1981 script (I have a copy of the galley proofs with Sondheim's notes when it was going to be published in 1982--ultimately it wasn't) is good. But I guess Furth (and Sondheim) felt the reason the show flopped was due to their work. As others, like the great critic Erick Neher have argued, the revised script makes some mistakes. The first party scene for example--the revised version is significantly longer and more fleshed out and everyone is, somehow, even more unpleasant. In 1981 Mary wasn't remotely as mean a drunk and at least initially tried to keep herself controlled, Frank wasn't such an asshole, Gussie pushes Meg in the pool but doesn't try to blind her with iodine, etc. It's a lot in the revised version. Gussie wasn't originally an actress, but a socialite who wanted to co-produce with her husband and I don't think expanding her character *so* much for the revision and putting a lot of the blame for what happens to Frank on her is an improvement. I could, but won't go on. That said--if anyone is even still reading this--I still agree with what you say 100%. I think this is a solid production of the revised version, but I don't think it treats the material in a revolutionary/new way. I think people were just more ready for it now (the production already was a success--if not nearly to this degree--in London in 2013) AND the chemistry of the three leads seems to make a huge difference. Also, thanks for bringing up the Donmar/Grandage production (with a young Julian Ovenden!) I saw it as a teen and was blown away, it won the Olivier and the only reason it didn't extend was... Because they combined elements that had been dropped since 1981--the Hills of Tomorrow High School framework, the Rich and Happy opening, with elements of the revised version (I remember Growing Up, for example.) And... somehow they never got permission to do this. As I've heard it, the production was going to be shut down in previews, but Sondheim and Furth flew out to see it, loved it, and they all agreed it could play out its Donmar run *but* couldn't transfer to the West End and that version of the script could not be used again. Foolish I think, as I think it worked better than any version since. Ah well....

@joshdrayton1230 6 ай бұрын

@@EricMontreal22 I agree with your "throwing the baby out with the bathwater comment". I'm inclined to believe most of the revisions achieved very little; they just moved stuff around and in many instances made characters less likeable. Sondheim & Furth were over-reacting to the criticisms; the problem wasn't the book, it was the production. I have seen both versions and a couple that were somewhere in between. I still think the Donmar Production was better than any other I've seen. That was partly due to the fantastic three central performances, but also because it kept elements of the original that absolutely worked.

@EricMontreal22 6 ай бұрын

@@joshdrayton1230 Completely agreed. I will add that, oddly, I think, at least in the opening scene they make the characters LESS likeable.

@moxieinfinity9453 5 ай бұрын

As Maria describes her interpretation of Frank’s story here, it makes me wonder if the actual moral of Merrily We Roll Along is that “wishes come true, not free.”