UP THE HILL BACKWARDS

I said the same thing.

I was made aware of my age when AMC proudly announced that it would air the restored version of Help! 

It was the first time I had seen the word "restored" in connection to a movie I had seen on its original release; as sports announcers say when a football player is taken off the field in an ambulance, it puts everything in perspective. And that perspective was, Jesus Christ, I'm old.  I was 32 at the time.

That same feeling recently came over me when director Richard Linklater announced he would be shooting the movie version of the Stephen Sondheim musical Merrily We Roll Along. To make sure the actors accurately look their age throughout, it will be filmed over the course of 20 years. Looks like I won't be making plans to catch the sneak preview.

This isn't new territory for Linklater, having spent 11 years filming the aptly titled Boyhood. But that's nine years shorter than the two decades he's planning for Merrily We Roll Along. It's something of a leap of faith on his part that he's assuming that he or his lead actors will still be alive and well by the time of the wrap party (they recently finished filming the first scene). By that time, the coronavirus will be far beyond the chi, psi, and omega variants, forcing scientists to move on to Klingon, Esperanto, and Leonese Leonese. Good luck surviving that!

How will people watch it in 2042? Will movie theaters even exist, or will it be on virtual reality headsets? 3D holograms projected in your living room? How much will Netflix cost then?

Whether it's 1934...

It's not only the shooting schedule that seems daunting. Told in backwards chronological order, Merrily We Roll Along has never been an audience favorite. The original 1934 non-musical stage production was a financial flop and never revived. The 1981 musical closed after two weeks.  

Subsequent revivals of the musical have proven that there aren't enough Sondheim fanatics in the world to make it a financial or critical hit. Will there be any 20 years from now?

...Or 2019, not many people
have rolled along to see it.

My wife and I saw the 2019 revival, which, in an effort to repair its difficult reputation, was pared down to 95 minutes, no intermission. It was the best stage musical I've ever seen. It also gave me an idea why audiences have never taken to it.

Sondheim was never an Irving Berlin; he tended to be a favorite with serious theater fans. And many of them are frustrated actors, writers, and composers themselves. 

 Merrily We Roll Along likely reminds them of their own broken dreams. The final scene, with the two aspiring playwrights and their friend -- all recent college graduates -- looking forward to an exciting future that we know from the beginning will end in angry, depressing disappointment, must hit home with them. It sure did with me.

I can't think of an unpopular stage musical that became a hit movie. But if plans for a 2022 Broadway revival come to pass and prove to be a success, perhaps Linklater will break that jinx. He'll be 82 when he shouts "Cut! It's a wrap!" The least he deserves is a strong opening weekend before his dream project winds up on your $700 monthly VR service two weeks later.

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