Review (PDF)

Merrily We Roll Along Vocal Score: Revised Edition

Stephen Sondheim and George Furth's popular musical runs backwards in time from 1976 to 1955 to explore the lives of three people whose friendship is tested by time, events, ambition and fate. Our vocal selections folio contains 14 of the musical's enduring songs including: Growing Up * Not a Day Goes By * Old Friends * Opening Doors * Our Time * and more.

Paperback: 304 pages

Publisher: Rilting Music, Inc.; Revised edition (April 1, 2013)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 145841485X

ISBN-13: 978-1458414854

Product Dimensions: 9 x 0.8 x 12 inches

Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

Best Sellers Rank: #1,889,844 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #68 in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Sheet Music & Scores > Composers > Sondheim #270 in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Sheet Music & Scores > Forms & Genres > Musicals #270 in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Sheet Music & Scores > Historical Period > Modern Popular

This gets five stars because it deserves it but truthfully, this version of "Merrily We Roll Along" is not anywhere as good as the original, particularly where music and lyrics are concerned. But the original vocal score is out of print so this may be it unless you luck out on eBay. I own both scores and have directed both productions. Typical of Sondheim, it's difficult for playing AND singing. But it's a very diatonic, form structured score so it never feels avant garde and once you get the music under your hands you'll play it well every time. The songs are all 16 and 32 measure form and the score is modular, pieces used and reused throughout the show, chunks of one song as an accompaniment to another and where "West Side Story" is based entirely on the tri-tone, "Merrily" is based entirely on the I chord to IVsus. All of it. And it's done brilliantly. But in this version the reason isn't clear because two critical scenes and the most important song in the show was cut. Let me explain: Both shows move backward through time from 1980 to 1957. The show begins with our lead, Franklin Shepard, a famous composer and film producer, giving a speech at his alma mater's graduation. The graduates sing a song that he and his best friend, Charley Kringas, wrote for THEIR graduation 23 years before. It's a beautiful a capella piece in six part chorus called "The Hills of Tomorrow." We hear the song again at the end of the show (1957) at their own graduation. The entire score is based on the first four pitches of that song and the two chords beneath. But in THIS version, that song is gone, so unless you're really paying attention you don't notice and if you DO, you have no reason to know why.

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