BroadwayWorld.com recently held an online chat at with Stephen Sondheim in conjunction with the current Roundabout Theater production of Sunday in the Park With George. During the chat, both Sondheim and Todd Haimes, the Roundabout's artistic director, hinted at some intriguing upcoming projects.
First, Haimes confirmed that Roundabout is planning a revival of Stephen Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along as part of its 2009-2010 season. The show is slated to be directed by longtime Sondheim collaborator James Lapine, and not the show's original director Harold Prince. Also, Sondheim himself revealed plans afoot to film a movie version of Follies, with what he described as "a major star" and "a major director," although he wouldn't yet reveal who they are.
Sondheim seems to have reached the point in his career where, rather than forging new works, he's cultivating new versions of shows from his considerable catalog. As excited as I am about the prospect of both a Merrily revival and a Follies movie, I'd be much more excited if he was, to borrow a line from Dot in Sunday, working on something new. In the chat, he confirmed that at one point he was considering a musical version of the Bill Murray film "Groundhog Day," but he eventually dropped that idea because, and I paraphrase, the movie is already perfect the way it is and to musicalize it would be gilding the lily. (Hmm...)
But anyway, back to the stuff that actually is in the works. Merrily is arguably the most beloved flop of all time, and certainly Sondheim's. This is probably the only way the show would ever make it back to Broadway: in a limited run under the auspices of a non-profit. I list it on my page of fascinating failures: although it has a marvelous score, I've never seen the show work, in any incarnation. I will be very interested to see if Lapine can bring out the heart of this cold but admirable work.
Because the problem with the show is not that the plot goes backwards in time; it's that we don't care enough about these people. The changes that Sondheim and company have made over the years have made the show different, not better. The added and rearranged songs, if anything, make the show more cynical and heartless. Here's hoping they go back to something a little closer to the original, at least in terms of the score.
As for the Follies movie, although I'm excited personally, I can't imagine that such a property would have any real commercial value. It's an art-house film at best. A friend of mine speculated that the "major star" might could be Barbra Streisand. "They're inseparable," he says. That would certainly lift the movie above art-house status. (Would Babs play Phyllis or Sally? My bet would be Phyllis.)
Care to speculate, dear reader, as to who that major star and major director might be?
