3.8 Merrily We Roll Along!

The Gospel of Musical Theatre

Peter & Nathan's keep rolling through the Sondheim oeuvre with his most notorious "flop," the 1981 Merrily We Roll Along!

Is it really a bitter, nihilistic look at growing older? Or is there actually something—dare we say—holy at work in this experimental, bittersweet musical about growing up?

We Talk About:

- Is it true that, as Mary says, "God don’t answer prayers a lot?"

- How Merrily illustrates a theology of friendship and an understanding (a queer understanding?) of the spiritual life

- What Merrily says about human relationships and the need to "burn your bridges every now and then"

- Different ways of thinking about time – sacramental, liturgical, narrative – and how Merrily subverts conventional notions of the narrative and reflects a more sacred sense of time.

You’ll Hear:

- The Original Company of Merrily We Roll Along on the Original Broadway Cast Recording singing "The Hills of Tomorrow," "Opening Doors," "Now You Know," "Good Thing Going," "Our Time" and "Bobby and Jackie and Jack"

- Celia Keenan-Bolger and Lin-Manuela Miranda singing "Old Friends" and "Like It Was" from the 2012 Encores! Cast Recording

- Bernadette Peters singing "Not A Day Goes By"

Continue the conversation with Peter (@pgeinvan) and Nathan (@nathan_lerud) on Twitter, and follow the Gospel of Musical Theatre on Instagram or Twitter @gospelofmt!