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"Merrily We Roll Along": A Second Look

 One thing I love about Sondheim is that he isn't afraid of nastiness; he does not need to make his characters meek and charming.


Mary, in "Merrily We Roll Along," is like a new version of Sally, from "Follies." We may feel for Sally, but she isn't a little lamb. She would gladly toss her husband under a bus--if this means a shot at the guy she is really pining for. On her wedding night, she makes a shocking observation, in the company of her spouse: "Love will see us through till something better comes along...."

Mary has Sally-esque qualities. Trapped in her unrequited love for a worthless man, she makes bitter jokes about the people who actually do clear their schedules for her. ("I lost 180 pounds....but he still calls....") Mary's ugliness is especially flagrant at a party, where a friendly stranger compliments her book: "I've read it and re-read it." Instead of accepting the compliment, Mary offers this gratuitous response: "Didn't you grasp my meaning the first time?"

Both Sally and Mary reach unhappy ends; Sally complains that she may be losing her mind, and Mary actually does seem to lose her mind, while standing center-stage:

Charley....
Why can't it be like it was?
I want it the way that it was....
Help me stop remembering then....

Don't you remember?
It was good; it was really good...
Help me out, Charley....
Make it like it was....

The moment Mary asks to "stop remembering," she reverses course: "Don't you remember?" The repetitiveness evokes thoughts of a whiny, irrational child: "Make it the way that it was....I want it the way that it was....."

This is bold writing for Broadway. Mary understands that she is drowning--but she can't address the problem. "You gotta save me," she says to her friend. Then--once again--she reaches for her flask. 

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