The filmed version of the multi–Tony Award-winning revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along, released in theaters this past week, is nothing short of extraordinary. Directed by Maria Friedman, both on stage and on screen, this adaptation sharpens the emotional clarity of the characters and themes in ways previous productions never fully captured. It preserves the electric immediacy of the live performance while embracing the visual precision and stylistic intention that only film can offer. The result is a remarkably seamless fusion of stage and cinema, and one of the most successful blends of the two forms in recent memory.

TOP FIVE OF “MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG”

5. The Songs

Is it any real surprise that a batch of vintage Sondheim songs manages to be both irresistibly catchy and sharply cerebral? Not at all. Still, the sheer flair with which they’re delivered here deserves attention. The central trio — Jonathan Groff, Daniel Radcliffe, and Lindsay Mendez — bring stunning vocal and dramatic power to every number. The band is top-tier, the chorus airtight, and together they turn the score into something vivid, muscular, and fully alive.

The result is a classic songbook reborn with real fire, and it absolutely soars.

4. The Direction

From the very first frame of Merrily We Roll Along, Friedman sidesteps the usual pro-shot musical playbook and builds something unmistakably crafted for this production. Instead of opening on a wide view of the stage or a sweeping backdrop, the film begins with an intimate close-up of Jonathan Groff’s face. The camera isn’t stationed in the audience, craning in from a distance. It’s right there with him — close enough to feel breath, hesitation, and emotional weight.

That choice becomes the guiding principle for the entire film. Through a distinctly cinematic lens, Friedman anchors the audience inside these performances rather than around them. Film, after all, offers a proximity Broadway seating never can, and she exploits that power beautifully. The result is a production that pulses with motion and intention — dynamic, kinetic, and thoroughly cinematic.

Instead of simply documenting a stage show, the film reimagines it, using inventive framing and movement to cut directly to the core of Sondheim’s work. It’s a bold approach, and it pays off in full.

3. The Writing

Not enough praise can be heaped onto George Furth’s original book for this production. Working with Sondheim in 1981, Furth adapted the 1934 Kaufman and Hart play into something tighter, sharper, and more emotionally laser-focused. By trimming away the excess, he centered the story squarely on the trio at its heart, and on the way their ambitions warp, strain, and eventually fracture their bond over time.

The reverse-chronology structure — beginning with the characters triumphant but hollow, estranged from one another and from the versions of themselves they once loved, and then rolling backward through the years — has always been the bold swing that defines Merrily. But in this iteration, it lands with astonishing clarity.

Friedman’s direction remains in constant conversation with the text, matching Furth’s thematic intent beat for beat. The production design mirrors the emotional unraveling. The songs sharpen the tragedy and the nostalgia. And the performances feel locked into the architecture of the script in a way that makes every reversal, every reveal, every lost moment hit harder.

The whole machine clicks together more beautifully than ever, and the story absolutely sings as a result.

2. The Performances

Speaking of, the performances in this thing are astounding. Groff, Radcliffe, and Mendez are all insatiably good. Radcliffe, in particular, is a scene-stealer, channeling all the off-the-wall gonzo energy that has come to define him in recent years (special shoutout to his performance in Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, which should have netted him an Oscar), and his performance of “Franklin Shepard, Inc.” is a bona fide showstopper.

Elsewhere, Groff’s ability to evolve in reverse over the course of the show is entrancing. You feel as if you are watching a performer remove layers of guarded cynicism before your eyes, to the point that the man who starts the show and the man who ends it could not be further apart. It’s a huge arc, and one that Groff sells with vigor pouring out of every pore. And Mendez? She’s straight-up one of the best performers to grace Broadway stages in the last decade and is the glue that makes this entire trio work so well. Unbelievably good stuff, and we are so blessed that this iteration of the cast has been immortalized on film in such articulate fashion.

1. The End

Disclosure time: I had never actually seen Merrily We Roll Along in full, in any iteration, until now. I’ve listened to various soundtracks dozens of times and watched clips of different casts performing numbers online, but I had never seen the full show. So, I had no idea how Merrily We Roll Along ends. I had always assumed the story would loop back around to where it began after that final musical number, right?

The production spends its entire runtime painstakingly showing the tragic disillusionment of these friends over decades, told in reverse, so surely it would end on a triumphant note, with all of them learning from their mistakes, right? Well… no.

In reality, Merrily We Roll Along ends with that final flashback. And while the scene itself is sweet, it’s also unbearably tragic, because the audience already knows where those paths will lead. The tension between hope and inevitability hits like a freight train.

The result is something transcendent, bold, and quietly audacious. The end credits roll, and you’re left to sit with the emotional weight of all of it, swallowed by the inescapability of their choices. It’s brilliant, and it left me genuinely gobsmacked.

RGM GRADE

(A)

Merrily We Roll Along is a fantastic musical that is now a fantastic movie. Remarkable stuff.

Will Jones