When the most recent revival of Stephen Sondheim’s “Merrily We Roll Alongside” premiered on Broadway in 2023, starring Jonathan Groff, Daniel Radcliffe and Lindsay Mendez, the present broke the Hudson Theatre’s home document, grossing $1.3 million in a single week of previews. The actors grew to become web darlings, collaborating in publicity gimmicks normally reserved for film rollouts, like Self-importance Honest’s lie-detector check. “Merrily” went on to win 4 Tony Awards and closed in July 2024. For individuals who weren’t there to see it in particular person, that ought to have been the (unhappy) finish of the story. However not so quick. A month earlier than the present’s closing, RadicalMedia introduced it was filming the manufacturing for a theatrical launch, which has lastly arrived: “Merrily We Roll Alongside,” distributed by Sony Footage Classics, hits 1,500 theaters on Dec. 5.
Whereas stage-to-screen variations are frequent — “Depraved: For Good” crossed $150 million on its opening weekend simply final month — Broadway present recordings, also referred to as pro-shots, are much less frequent, particularly at such scale. BroadwayHD viewers get entry to a wide range of exhibits for $19.99 a month, however they’ve usually aired on public tv in some unspecified time in the future, and Nationwide Theatre Stay, which routinely screens in film theaters, is restricted to West Finish productions. George Clooney’s efficiency in “Good Evening, and Good Luck” aired on CNN this 12 months however didn’t broaden past the channel into cinemas.
SPC, which equally launched “Vanya on forty second Road” in theaters in 1994, grossing practically $2 million domestically, isn’t presenting “Merrily” as an art-house function however as a chance to have one of the best seat in the home for a Broadway efficiency. “It’s not a theater presentation. It’s a film,” mentioned Michael Barker, co-president and co-founder of Sony Footage Classics. “And what makes it a film is, it has the intimacy. It’s extra intimate than the stay efficiency.”
To wit, as Barker famous, its audience goes past core Broadway followers to incorporate girls and members of the LGBTQ+ neighborhood who’ve felt disregarded of cinematic choices this 12 months. It’s a perfect technique for a theatrical panorama wherein viewers are open to seeing rather more than simply new releases. “This has been a 12 months the place there’s been a lot [of] what we historically name various content material on huge screens,” mentioned Paul Dergarabedian, head of market developments at Comscore.
So why isn’t a launch like “Merrily’s” an everyday prevalence? One of many largest hurdles is, unsurprisingly, cash.
“That’s the factor that retains a variety of this from in the end being recorded, not to mention given a giant theatrical launch,” mentioned Jeremy Wein, one of many producers behind “Gutenberg! The Musical!” “It’s prohibitively costly to document a Broadway present, whether or not or not it’s [for] tv broadcast or movie broadcast, as a result of quantity of unions, designers and the performers. Since you’re primarily saying, ‘We’re paying you for 16 weeks of labor’ after which saying, ‘Truly, we need to take your work and earn a living off of it endlessly.’”
For productions that price on common $25 million to $30 million to mount, in line with Forbes, and solely not often flip a revenue within the first place, the monetary hurdles are notably daunting.
“To close the theater down, take an viewers out and put cameras on a stage, financially, it’s simply not viable,” mentioned “Merrily” director Maria Friedman. “We solely had 9 hours particular the place we had been in a position to construct out a stage and get the Steadicam in and get response pictures.” (The funds for the movie model of “Merrily” hasn’t been disclosed, however the 2023 revival recouped its $12–million capitalization prices.)
Working within the movie’s favor was the partnership with RadicalMedia, whose established monitor document contains filmed variations of “Hamilton” and “Come From Away.” Additionally to “Merrily’s” benefit is customers’ want to thoughts their pocketbooks in a difficult financial atmosphere.
“It brings this artwork to extra individuals who won’t in any other case have the ability to afford it,” mentioned Dergarabedian. “Or select to not spend that a part of their discretionary earnings or disposable earnings for a pair of Broadway tickets.” Certainly, with the common value for a Broadway ticket at about $130, the chance to deliver the present to extra audiences was a key purpose Friedman needed to work with SPC on releasing “Merrily.”
“My expensive buddy Stephen Sondheim wrote this line, which is, ‘Musicals are widespread. They’re an effective way of stating vital concepts, concepts that may make a distinction’ … and I need to inform tales to individuals who can’t get to Broadway,” she mentioned.
It’s unclear whether or not filmed Broadway exhibits like “Merrily” can turn out to be the brand new live performance movie, however as at all times in showbiz, success begets success.
“If these cases of stage performs being introduced in film theaters fills seats and strikes popcorn, they’ll make extra,” mentioned Dergarabedian. Even so, he provides, odds are that exhibits with a longtime viewers will take precedence. A key purpose “Hamilton” was recorded was its recognition and historic import: “They knew how historic the present was. They knew the alchemy of that forged, they usually had the financials in place to have the ability to do it.”
Within the meantime, these concerned in “Merrily” are simply comfortable for the possibility to deliver the ability of Broadway to audiences in all places. “It’s a celebration,” says Friedman. “I do know that Steve needed the whole lot that he did to be seen by as many individuals as attainable.”
