Merrily We Roll Along is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by George Furth. It is based on the 1934 play of the same name by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart.

The show tells the story of how three friends' lives and friendship devolve over the course of 20 years; it focuses particularly on Franklin Shepard, a talented composer of musicals who, over those 20 years, abandons his friends and songwriting career to become a producer of Hollywood movies. Like the play on which it is based, the show's story moves in reverse chronology, beginning in 1976 at the friends' lowest moment and ending in 1957, at their youthful best.

Merrily premiered on Broadway on November 16, 1981, in a production directed by frequent Sondheim collaborator Hal Prince, with a cast almost exclusively of teenagers and young adults. However, the show was not the success the previous Sondheim–Prince collaborations had been: after a chaotic series of preview performances, it opened to widely negative reviews, and closed after 16 performances and 44 previews.

In subsequent years, the show has been extensively rewritten and enjoyed several notable productions, including an Off-Broadway revival in 1994 and a West End premiere in 2000 that won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical. The 2022 Off-Broadway production staged at New York Theatre Workshop transferred to Broadway in fall 2023, starring Jonathan Groff, Daniel Radcliffe, and Lindsay Mendez and directed by Maria Friedman. It won four Tony Awards, including Best Revival of a Musical. A film adaptation starring Paul Mescal, Beanie Feldstein, and Ben Platt is currently in production and is being filmed over the course of 20 years, having begun in 2019.

Synopsis This is a synopsis of the current, revised version of the show since the 1994 York Theatre production, not the original one performed on Broadway in 1981. The plot revolves around Frank Shepard, a famous songwriter and eventual film producer ("Overture/Merrily We Roll Along"). Moving backwards across 20 years, the show details Frank's rise from a penniless dreamy-eyed composer to a wealthy film-producing sell-out, and what he lost to get there.

Act I In 1976, the charismatic Frank Shepard hosts an opening-night party of Hollywood insiders, along with his mistress and star of his new film, Meg, who all lavishly praise him ("That Frank"). Frank initially seems jovial but tenses when a partygoer mentions Charley Kringas, Frank's former best friend and musical collaborator. His oldest remaining friend, theatre critic Mary Flynn, attends the party too but is disgusted by the other guests' shallowness and Frank's abandonment of music: his true talent. Becoming more and more jaded, Mary finally gives a drunken toast, castigating Frank and his guests, before storming out. Frank's wife Gussie arrives, angry that Meg landed the film role over her, and reveals she knows he is cheating on her with Meg. He admits that he has pursued financial success at the expense of his values and loved ones. Gussie viciously splashes iodine in Meg's face and declares her and Frank's marriage over.

The years roll back to 1973 ("First Transition"), when Frank and Charley are about to be interviewed in a New York television studio. Mary greets the bitter Charley backstage, who says Frank rarely makes time to collaborate anymore. Mary tries to soothe him by explaining she set up this interview to force Frank to publicly commit to the show the two men have been planning for years. She is nostalgic ("Old Friends – Like It Was"), and Charley is shocked that, even after 16 years, Mary clearly remains in love with Frank. Frank belatedly arrives with his new wife Gussie, who is trying to avoid lending money to her ex-husband: washed-up Broadway producer Joe. Frank is nervous to tell Charley that he has signed a three-picture deal, but the interviewer lets the news slip right before they go live on air, during which Charley launches into a sardonic rant on Frank's shift from music towards money, before urging the audience to keep Frank committed to his piano ("Franklin Shepard, Inc."). Once the interview ends, a disgusted Frank declares Charley has betrayed him, and ends their friendship despite Charley’s apology and Mary's protests.

In 1968, Mary and Charley surprise Frank in his new apartment on Central Park West ("Second Transition") with Frank's young son, Frankie, whom he has not seen since his contentious divorce from his first wife. Frank wants to option a film version of his and Charley's stage show Musical Husbands to pay for the divorce, but, when Charley passionately objects, Mary calms her friends' tensions ("Old Friends"). Frank's producer Joe and Joe's wife Gussie arrive with champagne which Mary, a teetotaler at this time, refuses. Everyone is aware that Frank and Gussie are having an affair except Mary who, appalled to now realize this, gulps down the champagne. After everyone leaves, Frank plays an old song on his piano and attempts to make sense of his choices. On the verge of composing a new piece, he is interrupted when Gussie returns, announcing that she intends to leave Joe and commit to Frank ("Growing Up").

In 1967 ("Third Transition"), Frank and his first wife Beth are fighting over custody of their son Frankie in a courthouse. Reporters flock around, eager to catch gossip since Gussie has been subpoenaed. Frank confronts Beth, who still loves him but cannot live with him knowing he was unfaithful to her with Gussie ("Not a Day Goes By"). Beth drags their son away, heading to Texas to live with her father. Frank collapses in despair but is consoled by Mary, Charley, and his other remaining friends who try to convince him that this is the "best thing that ever could have happened" ("Now You Know").

Act II In 1964, Gussie is performing a song on the opening night of Musical Husbands: Frank and Charley's first Broadway show ("Gussie's Opening Number"). The curtain comes down on the show and, as the audience applauds, Charley and Frank, backstage with Joe, Mary, and Beth, are ecstatic to learn the show is a hit ("It's a Hit!"). Charley's wife is in labor, and before he and Beth rush to the hospital, Mary begs Beth to stay behind so that Frank will not be left alone with Gussie. Beth says she trusts her husband and departs.

In 1962 ("Fourth Transition"), Frank, Beth, Charley, and Mary have been invited to a party at Gussie and Joe's elegant Sutton Place apartment, where they stand starstruck by the influential crowd ("The Blob"). Deliberately spilling wine on Beth's dress, Gussie pulls Frank away from the partygoers, confiding her unhappiness to him, and convinces him to write the commercial show Joe is producing, Musical Husbands, rather than the political satire he and Charley are trying to get produced ("Growing Up" (Reprise)). Returning to her guests, she invites the songwriters to perform their latest song, "Good Thing Going". The guests love it and Gussie implores them to do an encore, but the guests quickly lose interest and resume their noisy cocktail chatter ("The Blob" (Reprise)). Charley storms out as Mary looks on worriedly.

In 1960 ("Fifth Transition"). Charley, Frank, and Beth are performing at a small nightclub in Greenwich Village, with Mary lending a hand. Trying to appear bright and sophisticated, they perform a song celebrating America's new First Family ("Bobby and Jackie and Jack"). Joe is in the tiny audience and is quite impressed, as is his new fiancée and former secretary Gussie. After the show, Frank explains to them that he and Beth are marrying. It becomes clear that the wedding is due to her pregnancy, but Frank professes his happiness anyway. With Mary, Charley, and Beth's disapproving parents looking on, the happy couple exchanges vows as a lovelorn Mary tries to swallow her feelings for Frank ("Not a Day Goes By" (Reprise)).

In 1958 to 1959 ("Sixth Transition"), Frank, Charley, and Mary are busy in New York, working their way up the career ladder, taking any job they can and working feverishly on their songs, plays, and novels. Frank and Charley audition for Joe, but he wants more "hummable" tunes, and instructs them to leave their name with his secretary, Gussie. So they decide to do their own show and, in an ensuing montage, audition and hire Beth, forming a cabaret show together ("Opening Doors").

In 1957 ("Seventh Transition"), early one morning, college-attending Frank and Charley are on the roof of an apartment building on New York City's 110th Street, waiting to spot the first-ever Earth-orbiting satellite, Sputnik. Frank tells Charley how much he likes Charley's plays and proposes that they turn one, a political satire, into a musical. Mary, their neighbor, arrives to view the satellite, and meets the boys for the first time. She has heard Frank's piano from her apartment, and tells him how much she admires his music. He speaks of how much composing means to him. Suddenly, Sputnik appears in the sky, and now, for the young friends, anything is possible ("Our Time").

Differences from the original Broadway version The original 1981 version had much the same plot as the revised version, with a few notable differences. The original version begins and ends with an actor playing an older Frank giving a cynical speech to a group of high school graduates, who play the characters in the rest of the show. At the end, he joins with his younger self in a symbol of hope. "That Frank" replaced a song called "Rich and Happy", which had a more childish view of Hollywood parties. Both instances of "Growing Up" were also not present, and the "Old Friends" scene ended with Mary drinking. "Not a Day Goes By" was originally sung by Frank; "Now You Know" and "It's a Hit" had different lyrics, and the ensemble was composed of a different set of characters. In the scene with "It's a Hit", Beth is the one who is pregnant instead of Charley's wife. There was also an additional scene, between "Rich and Happy" and "Franklin Shepard, Inc.", in which Mary attempts to bring Charley and Frank together at a restaurant to reconcile. This scene, and the song "Like it Was", were folded into the following scene in the revised version. Aside from these changes, the two versions are mostly the same.

Musical numbers

Current songlist

Act I Overture – Orchestra "Merrily We Roll Along" – Company "That Frank" – Franklin Shepard, Mary Flynn and Guests "First Transition" – Company "Old Friends" (Part I) – Mary and Charley Kringas "Like It Was" – Mary "Franklin Shepard, Inc." – Charley "Second Transition" – Company "Old Friends" (Part II) – Mary, Franklin and Charley "Growing Up" (Part I) – Franklin "Growing Up" (Part II) - Gussie "Third Transition" – Company "Not a Day Goes By" – Beth "Now You Know" – Mary and Company

Act II Entr'acte – Orchestra "Act Two Opening" – Gussie "It's a Hit" – Franklin, Charley, Mary, Joe and Beth "Fourth Transition" – Company "The Blob" – Gussie and Company "Growing Up" (Part II) – Gussie "Good Thing Going" – Charley "The Blob" (Part II) – Company "Fifth Transition" – Company "Bobby and Jackie and Jack" – Charley, Beth, Franklin and Pianist "Not a Day Goes By" (Reprise) – Beth, Franklin and Mary "Sixth Transition" – Company "Opening Doors" – Franklin, Charley, Mary, Joe and Beth "Seventh Transition" – Franklin Shepard Jr., Beth and Mrs. Spencer "Our Time" – Franklin, Charley, Mary and Company Exit Music – Orchestra

Original Broadway songlist (1981) Source:"1981 Production". Sondheim Guide. Accessed March 4, 2020.

Act I

"The Hills of Tomorrow" – Company "Merrily We Roll Along" – Company "Rich and Happy" – Franklin Shepard and Guests "Merrily We Roll Along" – Company "Old Friends" – Mary, Charley "Like It Was" – Mary "Franklin Shepard, Inc." – Charley Kringas "Merrily We Roll Along," (Reprise) – Company "Old Friends" (Reprise) – Franklin, Charley and Mary