Merrily We Roll Along (Stage Production)
Louise Gold
played Gussie, at The Leicester Haymarket, previews between
14 April - 9 May 1992 (Previews from the 10 April 2002).
The musical is
notable for being "The show that
goes backwards"
Cast
Mary - Maria Freidman
Frank Sheppard - Michael
Cantwell
Gussie - Louise Gold
Charley - Evan Pappas
Joe - Gareth Snook
Beth - Jacqueline Dankworth
Waitress & Evelyn - Julie Armstrong
Terry & Minister - Jon Clairmonte
Meg - Lucy Dixon
K.T. - Kate Copstick
Ru - Phillip Day
Mrs Spencer - Michelle Fine
Bunker - Daniel Gillingwater
Make-up Artiste & Reporter - Deirdre Forrest
Scotty & Mr Spencer - Matthew White
Dory - Dwan Kastelle
Jerome - Phillip Wrigley
Dresser & Secretary - Karen Skinns
Tyler - Alan Mosley
Frank Jnr - Scott Bradley,
Dominic Burr, Matthew Fraser
Party Guests, reporters, TV crew etc - played by members of
the company.
Production Team
Music and Lyrics - Stephen Sondheim
Book - George Furth
Based on the original play by George S Kaufman and Moss
Hart.
Directed and Staged by - Paul Kerryson
Designed by - Martin Johns
Orchestrations by - Jonathan Tunick
Musical Direction by - Julian Kelly
Lighting Designer - Chris Ellis
Sound - Shaun Knowles
The cast of
this production made a cast album
recording of the songs, which is available as
either a double CD or a single CD, the latter has also been produced on cassette.
It would seem
likely that Sound person Shaun Knowles
may also be the same person credited as Sound Operator Sean Knowles in The Cherry Orchard , but it is not known for sure.
It is perhaps
worth noting that, with this being regional theatre, the productions three
leading ladies: Maria Friedman, Louise Gold, and Jacqueline Dankworth, had to share a dressing room. Legend has it
(well Ms Friedman and Ms Gold have both told the story in their respective
one-woman shows, Maria Friedman By Special Arrangement and LOUISE GOLD ... By Appointment
respectively) that on opening night the trio discovered that Stephen
Sondheim had sent every actor in the company the SAME good luck card and
message, namely: A photograph of himself which he had signed with the words “...out
of the entire cast you are by far the best.”
It is perhaps
worth noting that in Merrily We Roll Along, Gareth Snook’s character,
Joe is that of a producer of Broadway Musicals. It turns out that in the same
year that he played Joe in MWRA, Gareth Snook (along with the Queen of
West End Musical Directors, Kate Young) produced a charity production of
The Hired Man at The Palace Theatre in London, and more recently he
worked as a producer on a production of The King Of Comedy.
Michael Cantwell,
Louise Gold, Gareth Snook and Michelle Fine would be
reunited later that year in another Stephen Sondheim
musical Assassins
.
Maria Friedman and Louise Gold had previously appeared together in Kids At Heart, they have gone on to appear
together in: A Time To Start Living, and Sondheim At The Barbican. They also
appeared separately in Chicago & Company, and may have
appeared together in Will-Aid
Louise Gold and Michelle Fine were also reunited on the JAY/TER
recording of Stop The World I Want To Get Off.
Louise
Gold and Gareth Snook later appeared on the JAY/TER recording of On The Town and Anything Goes (recording) - Website Recommended Album.
Michael
Cantwell, Louise Gold and Daniel Gillingwater were reunited several years later in One Touch Of Venus.
Louise
Gold returned to The Leicester
Haymarket theatre two and a half years later
to head the cast (which included Alan Mosley) in Calamity Jane.
Louise Gold, Maria Friedman, Jacqueline Dankworth, Michael
Cantwell, Kate Copstick, Lucy Dixon,
and, Gareth Snook subsequently appeared
on the JAY/TER recording of Cabaret.
Maria Friedman’s recording credits include The History Of The Musical
Julian
Kelly’s conducting can be heard on Simply Musicals, The
Great Musicals - Wonderful Tales, The Great Musicals – Dashing Heroes, Blushing Maidens,
and, The Best Of The Musicals.
Louise Gold under the direction of Paul Kerryson and the musical direction of Julian Kelly went on to appear in the Sondheim musical Follies: Follies
Orchestrator Jonathan
Tunick’s own conducting can be found on The Greatest Musicals of the 20th Century.
Louise
Gold spoke about this show on Tim McArthur Interview.
Louise
Gold has gone on to sing in the Side By Side By Sondheim 30th Anniversary Gala,
in which Stephen Sondheim himself put
in an appearance.
Lucy Dixon, and, Michelle Fine may have gone on to appear in Dear Ralph.
Jacqueline
Dankworth, Maria Friedman, and, Louise Gold’s recording credits include Centre Stage Showtime!.
Michael
Cantwell, and, Louise Gold went on to appear in Mary Poppins, and as part of The Company Of Mary Poppins in a late
night FUNdraising special.
Jacqueline
Dankworth’s recording credits include The Great Musicals – Laughter And Tears.
Jacqueline
Dankworth’s recording credits also include Magic Of The Musicals, on which Julian
Kelly’s conducting can also be found.
Gareth Snook,
Jacqueline
Dankworth, Evan Pappas,
and, Deirdre
Forrest may have previously taken part in Thing A Thon,
which Maria Friedman was
involved with.
Jacqueline Dankworth,
Maria
Friedman, and, Julian Kelly’s recording
credits include 100 Hits Musicals.
About
six months after this production, Louise
Gold’s mother was appearing on the same stage in a play called Blood
Wedding.
Critics
Comments
"Louise Gold sets the pulse racing
as the vampish destroyer of Frank's first marriage" Michael
Coveney, THE OBSERVER, 26 April 1992
“Another Leicester coup was Sondheim’s Merrily
We Roll Along, featuring some of our top young talent like Maria Friedman,
Louise Gold and Michael Cantwell.” Liz Gilbey, Plays
International, June 1992
"Louise
Gold's Broadway vamp has an almost burlesque style" Martin Hoyle,
THE TIMES, 16 April 1992
"Louise Gold
looks the part and belts out her music in rip style; she handles her flamboyant
party-talk with a certain disdain, like someone who would prefer not to know
anybody who talked like that" David Murray, FINANCIAL TIMES, 18
April 1992
""Good
thing going" cheapened to a vulgar torch song for the vulgar Gussie (the
excellent Louise Gold)" Edward Seckerson INDEPENDENT, 15 April 1992
"Louise Gold
gives us a canny, uncliched parody of the predatory prima donna of
Broadway." Robin Thorner, THE GUARDIAN, 20 April 1992
Links about Merrily
We Roll Along (Stage Production)
The Guide To Musical
Theatre, Synopsis of show: http://www.nodanw.com/shows_m/merry_we_roll_along.htm
Sondheim
Guide page for Merrily We Roll Along: http://www.geocities.com/sondheimguide/merrily.html
About
Maria page for Merrily We Roll Along: http://www.aboutmaria.com/merrilywerollalong.html
Theatre
Radio’s interview with Louise Gold http://www.officiallondontheatre.co.uk/news/display?contentId=88986
TheatreNow.Com
interview: Gold On Stage: Louise Gold
In Follies: http://www.theatrenow.com/asp/link.htm?news.asp?art=3430&cat=1 This
is an interview carried out by Theatre.Com’s Paul Webb, one hot summer’s day,
while Louise was appearing in Follies at The Royal Festival Hall. Although the interview
is ostensibly about her role in Follies she also talks about her other Sondheim
performances (including Merrily We Roll Along), along with: Memphis Tennessee,
Political Theatre, and Spitting Image.
Return To Site Guide | Return To Stage Musicals | Merrily We Roll Along (Recording) |