Program Image

The Play

The story concerns a group of successful theatre people in1976, moves backward in time during the course of the musical to the idealist and hopeful days of their youth. The plot focuses on three central figures; Franklin Shepard, Composer; Charley Kringas, Lyricist; and Mary Flynn, a promising writer. Noting the strong pull of ambition and friendship on their relationship, Sondheim heightens the intensity of their relationship by int4erconnecting chunks of melody, rhythm and accompaniment. One of his most reworked pieces, the show also contains some key Sondheim standards, including "Our Time", "Good Thing Going" and "Not a Day Goes By".

Cast

Mary Flynn (Becky Snary), Frank Shepard (Marc Thorne), Charley Kringas (Matthew Thomas), Beth Spencer (Rhian Checkland), Gussie Carnegie (Ann-Marie Richards), K-T (Alison John), Joe Josephson (David Carboni), Mrs.Spencer (Lisa-Zara Jones), Mr.Spencer (Gareth John Bale), Meg Kincaid (Vikki Perry), Tyler (Nick Richards), Scotty (Leon Davies), Ru (Simon Lucas), Jerome (Joseph Martin), Minister (Sophie Lewis), News Readers (Kirsten McTernan, Owen Pillai), Frank Junior (David Gamble), People of New York (Suzanne Alkarnaz, Adele Eades, Abigail Ede, Caitlin Evans, Emma Griffiths, Ben Jenkins, Lowri O'Connor, Gemma Rowlands, Miranda Roszkowski, Beth Walker, Ffion Williams)

Production Team

Chris Bradshaw (Stage Manager), Ben Austin, Hedydd Coventry, Chris Howells, Tom James, Chloe Morgan.

Musicians - David Westcott
Martin Locke

Staff

Director - Derek Cobley, David Lloyd-Jones.
Musical Director - John Quirk.
Choreography - Julie Hobday, Meleri John.
Acting - Kevin Matherick
Production - Derek Cobley, Adrian Hocking, Mary Pugh, Jeff Lewis

Course Notes

Five years after staging "Into The Woods", the Youth Theatre returned to Sondheim's work with this staging of "Merrily We Roll Along". This production used the re-worked version of the piece staged by the Leicester Haymarket in 1991.