A really great question. Especially for a notable American non-profit theater...
Even if you loved her Merrily, it's not as if there's something so uniquely special about it that it demands to be THE production brought in, seen by NYC her way.
I'd love to see another director have a shot at doing it, and I don't mean doing an experimental massively trimmed version like the one Roundabout did a few years ago. I don't even like the version that's licensed but I'd like someone to try that version who isn't the director of the one I thought was so badly directed from NINE years ago. This isn't some one-of-a-kind vision, or production, or staging that has to be the only major one we get. But I'm sure with Sondheim's stamp of approval, it's the one people want to invest in especially now that there will never be a chance for a new production to have his approval. For for christ's sake, we have Maria's production preserved on film for all to see any time. Let's try something else.
I guess if London had to have Michael Mayer's Funny Girl before NYC, then NYC has to have Maria Friedman's Merrily after London. |
