Gossip

Maria’s Merrily rolls along to West End after Menier?

Maria Friedman‘s Whatsonstage.com Award-nominated revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along is tipped to transfer to the West End following its run at the Menier Chocolate Factory.

The revival, which recently extended booking at the Chocolate Factory to 9 March 2013, stars Damian Humbley, Jenna Russell, Mark Umbers, Josefina Gabrielle, Clare Foster and Glyn Kerslake.

Based on the 1934 play of the same name by George S Kaufman and Moss
Hart, the musical scrolls back through the career of talented composer
Franklin Shepard, who has abandoned his friends, family and Broadway
songwriting career to become a producer of lucrative Hollywood films.

As
key moments of his life are replayed, decisions, choices, priorities
and the price of success are equally reevaluated. The show features some
of Sondheim’s most notable songs including “Good Thing Going”, “Not a
Day Goes By” and “Old Friends”.

The production, which was widely acclaimed by critics, marks Friedman’s directing debut. According to the Daily Mail, it will transfer to the Harold Pinter Theatre after the run of Old Times finishes on 6 April. A representative of the production told Whatsonstage.com that a deal still to be signed.

If it is confirmed, the production will become the latest in a string of Menier revivals to transfer to larger stages. Recent examples include the Whatsonstage.com Award-nominated Abigail’s Party and A Little Night Music.

The Menier Chocolate Factory is nominated for eight Whatsonstage.com Awards, winners of which
will be announced at the star-studded Awards Concert on 17 February at the Palace Theatre. Click here for tickets.