Maria Friedman Helms Merrily for Menier???

Looks like the Menier Chocolate Factory will also be getting in on this year’s 80th birthday celebrations for Stephen Sondheim – and quite right for a venue that’s had such success in recent years with revivals of Sunday in the Park with George and A Little Night Music. West End diva Maria Friedman – whose own Sondheim performing credits include Sweeney Todd, Sunday in the Park with George, Passion and Merrily We Roll Along – is signed up to revive the last at the Southwark venue, from the director’s chair. As Friedman told our chief critic Michael Coveney, she recently helmed a student production of Merrily We Roll Along at the Central School of Speech and Drama.

Sondheim’s 1981 musical, famously played in reverse chronological order, had its belated West End premiere in 2000 in Michael Grandage’s multi Olivier and Whatsonstage.com Award-winning production at the Donmar Warehouse. The Donmar is also reviving the piece for a one-off concert performance on Sunday 7 November 2010 as part of its own “Sondheim at 80” programme.