Merrily We Roll Along film with Paul Mescal, Ben Platt and Beanie Feldstein announces further cast

A new name has been added to the Merrily We Roll Along film, based on the hit musical.

Told reverse-chronologically by a cast led by Ben Platt (Dear Evan Hansen), Paul Mescal and Beanie Feldstein (Funny Girl), Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s piece charts the decaying relationship between artists and writers who started out their careers as firm friends.

The movie is directed by Richard Linklater, who intends to shoot the film in real-time (albeit in reverse) over the course of 19 years or so. It is predicted that two of the sequences have been filmed so far.

Merrily We Roll Along has become a firm musical favourite, despite spending years in theatre ignominy following a very short-lived Broadway stint. Numbers include “Old Friends,” “Not a Day Goes By,” and “Our Time.”

Last year, it returned to New York in a Tony Award-winning Broadway production led by Daniel Radcliffe (who won a Tony for his performance), Jonathan Groff (who also won a Tony) and Lindsay Mendez. The revival was first seen at the Menier Chocolate Factory before transferring to the West End. That production has been recorded.

It has been reported by Deadline that Hannah Cruz (Suffs) is the latest name to join the adaptation. She is set to play Gussie, the wife of Mescal’s Franklin Shepard. Mallory Bechtel (Dear Evan Hansen) is also attached in an unspecified role.