MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG (2025) is a film of the recent revival of Stephen Sondheim’s “cult flop,” currently streaming on Netflix. It stars Jonathan Groff as Franklin (lead character) with Daniel Radcliffe and Lindsay Mendez as Charlie and Mary, the Second and Third of Franklin’s Three Musketeers (Iit’s not the production below but I like the image better).
When the film starts in 1976, Franklin is a successful Hollywood producer. Mary’s still his friend, a once successful writer drowning her writer’s block in booze. Charlie no longer talks to Franklin. Neither does Franklin’s ex-wife. Or his mentor. Or his son (it appears he doesn’t do much to fix any of this). How did he wind up alone in a room full of shallow Hollywood types, cheating on his wife with his latest star. To find out we bounce back in time, then further, then further still to see how Franklin — once an idealist and a gifted writer — kept succumbing to temptation (sex, money, fame) and selling out both his principles and the people in his orbit. It’s based on a George Kaufman/Moss Hart play which from synopses I’ve read sounds even darker. This production is well done; Radcliffe isn’t a great singer but he’s a good enough actor to make up for it. “I think Charlie and I will handle success very well — look how well we’ve handled failure!”
THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES was a local production performing Oscar-winning songs from movie musicals, plus several from the 1230s before Best Song was a hit. Shows my taste that the only one I haven’t heard was “Toot Toot Tootsie!” about a young romeo bidding his girlfriend(s) goodbye, though I’ve heard the opening lines often enough. A lot of fun with the cast putting their heart and soul into the numbers.
I wouldn’t have gone to THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA 2 (2026) except LeAnn was a big fan of the original (we were both startled to realize it’s now 20 years old) — as it turned out, despite “meh” critical reviews, we both enjoyed it.
In the opening scene, Andy (Anne Hathaway) is now a superstar journalist; no sooner does she win a prestigious award than her company downsizes her and her coworkers as part of a cost-cutting move. By a happy coincidence, Runway, the magazine she briefly worked at under tyrannical Miranda Priestley (Meryl Streep) is in deep shit due to running an article on a fashion brand that turns out to be made with child labor. Will putting a respected journalist in as editor turn things around? Will it help Andy’s career revive? Are the trends in legacy media — everything digital, serious news in decline — too deep to overcome? Or is it possible office backstabbing is the real threats?
This has a good feel for the plight of modern journalism and it’s also fun — in some ways more than the first one, as Andy’s better equipped to hold her own with Miranda. Solidly cast with Stanley Tucci, Emily Blunt, Kenneth Branagh and Lucy Liu in supporting roles. No regrets about seeing this in the theater. “Stockholm called and they want their syndrome back.”
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