FILM REVIEW | Merrily We Roll Along

★★★★★ | Merrily We Roll Along

The concept of seeing a play on the big screen can seem a bit odd. Do you clap at the end? Will it be like watching a play or seeing a film? Will there be any atmosphere?

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You can rest assured that seeing The Menier Chocolate Factory production of ‘Merrily We Roll Along’ will be worth every penny spent and there’ll definitely be applause, even if the cast won’t be there to hear it.

A specially recorded version of the multi award winning West End production at The Harold Pinter Theatre was recorded earlier this year and has been edited to perfection. The show is screening in over 300 UK cinemas starting from the 24th of October. It’s part of the amazing digital theatre range of shows and the first to be screened in cinemas, with the brilliant ‘Private Lives’ to follow next year and a range of shows that can be watched at home.

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It couldn’t have a better pedigree: written by the fantastic Stephen Sondheim, the work of an acclaimed director, a fantastic cast and more 5 star reviews than any other musical in West End history. There’s not a weak link in the cast and the choreography, music and sets are truly amazing. Even Sondheim himself stated that this production is the best he’s seen.

The story follows a group of three friends (a composer, lyricist and novelist) as they start out seeking success, find success, fall out, make out, form and break relationships and generally break down. The twist of the story is that the whole of the plot is told backwards. Starting in the 1970s we two of the three friends and instantly learn what fates have befallen them. As the play progresses we gradually work back to the late 1950s and see how it all began and where the roots of their current situations began. The device works brilliantly and it’s both poignant and hilarious in equal measures.