#beth shepard

[laelior]

The Weight of the World

To: Master Operations Chief (ret.) Margaret Shepard

This letter is to inform you that your granddaughter, Lieutenant Commander Bethany Shepard, was presumed killed in action following the destruction of the SSV Normandy by unknown enemy forces on December 5, 2183. 

Lieutenant Commander Shepard’s service with the Alliance was an example to us all and her heroic actions in service both to Earth and the Citadel Council will never be forgotten. 

At this time, we are unable to publicly announce details related to the destruction of the SSV Normandy. At such a time when we are able, rest assured that the Alliance will lay Lieutenant Commander Shepard to rest with full military honors.

Please accept my sincerest condolences for your loss.

Adm. Steven HackettAlliance 5th Fleet Command

Anderson sat in the back of his skycar, numbly rehearsing the words of the letter in his hands over the neatly-folded Alliance flag and Alliance-stamped urn in his lap. God, for such a small jar it must have weighed a ton. Nevermind that it was empty.

His eyes continually wandered to the shallow, formulaic words on the flimsy paper in his hands, hoping that somehow they’d magically rearrange themselves into something less weighty than the gravitational pull of a whole damn planet before the skycar touched down.

Hackett had already sent nineteen letters just like the one in his hands to nineteen different addresses. Letters addressed to Preslies, Dravens, Tanakas and so forth. Letters only confirming what the rumor mill had already been circulating for months. Letters delivered by NCOs and junior officers with black bands around their arms as a thin show of solidarity for their losses. It had been tempting to pass this particular letter off to someone else, too, but some things just had to be done.

“We’re almost there, sir,” the driver said.

The skycar gently touched down on the street next to a neat little house with an immaculately maintained garden. Even in the dead of winter the hedges were neatly trimmed and the flower beds were freshly mulched.

The driver went out to ring the doorbell while Anderson slowly gathered himself for the news he had to deliver.

The woman who came out to the front porch to greet him after a moment was smaller than he expected. He’d never met her before, but Peggy Shepard was a legend in her own right. One of the founding mothers of the Alliance non-commissioned officer’s corp and one of the best damn sniper instructors the service ever had. Hell, her 500-meter longshot record had stood for nearly forty years and had only been broken a few years ago by Lieutenant Coats.

And she didn’t need a letter to tell her why he was here. That was obvious from the hard, steely look in her eyes that flicked to his uniform, the flag tucked under one arm, and the black band around the other. Her eyes lingered on the captain’s stars on his lapel and her hand twitched at her side, fighting the reflexive urge to salute. Old habits died hard, and habits drilled in by a lifetime of military discipline were harder to kill than most. When she looked him right in the eye, though, Anderson had to fight the urge to flinch.

Throughout his military career, Anderson had faced more threats than he cared to count, from the petty political rivalries that riddled the service right up to Saren himself. And just then he would have rather faced down Sovereign itself if it meant getting away from the look in her eyes.

She was no stranger to this ritual. A casual glimpse at the Shepard family tree told him how many of its branches had been pruned like this. But that never meant it was easy to be the bearer of this particular news.

“Ma’am,” he intoned formally. Formalities were good. They were safe. He held up the folded flag and offered it to her with both hands. But before he could so much as open his mouth to say the words that were the next part of the ritual, she held up a hand and drew in a shaky breath.

“It’s true, isn’t it? What they’ve been saying?” She asked quietly. No need to ask what they were saying.

Anderson could only nod stiffly. “I’m afraid so, ma’am.”

She quietly accepted the flag, taking the weight from him and hugging it closely to her chest. 

“The Alliance offers its sincerest condolences for your loss,” he intoned, getting back to the words of the ritual. “If there’s anything we can do for you….” He trailed off. There was nothing the Alliance could do for her that would remotely make up for the magnitude of her loss, and there was no point pretending otherwise. 

She nodded in acknowledgement of the harsh, unspoken truth that passed between them.

“I need to make arrangements,” she said, her voice barely a whisper, before turning back into her house and letting the door slam shut behind her. The large wooden door closed with a resounding thud that made him flinch with its finality. He set the urn and the letter down on the porch table next to the door and went back to the car, his duty thus discharged.

If it was a tragedy for a parent to bury their child, then it was an utter goddamn travesty for a grandparent to lower their grandchild’s casket into the ground.

The driver cleared his throat, cutting across the uncomfortable silence that filled the car. “Where to next, sir?”

“Norfolk,” he said, picking the closest Alliance base he could think of off-hand. The car began its ascent, leaving the view of the Shepard household behind.  “Drop me off at the officer’s club, and tell them to have a glass of Ardbeg 16 ready, no ice.”

Something to wash away the ashy taste of having been the one to send Peggy Shepard’s granddaughter to her empty grave.

#mass effect #david anderson #peggy shepard #beth shepard #cw: grief #cw: major character death #(she gets better) #but yeah this isn't a happy piece #i'm in a mood apparently #ficlet #my writing #lae writes #but hey every time i write about peggy i force myself to learn more about gardening #in this case how to winterize flower beds

[immawraffle]

19, 29, 39 and 49 from the fifty first shep questions if you’re takin em!

Hi! Sorry this took so long to respond to, I was on a bit of a hiatus from tumblr!

Beth Shepard

19. Are there any companions your Shepard just absolutely cannot vibe with or relate to?

I don’t think so. Beth makes an effort to get along with everyone on her crew, even if it might take a bit longer to connect with some. That said, they do occasionally have their points of disagreement, which she tries to resolve before they turn into a larger conflict.

29. How active is Shepard? Are they hitting the gym, playing sports, or do they prefer quieter downtime?

She has a daily workout routine she follows to keep in shape, but she also enjoys a bit of downtime curled up in an armchair with a book in her lap and glass of wine in her hand.

39. Do they keep around any sentimental items?

Beth prefers to keep her more sentimental possessions on the ground so they’re less likely to get lost between posts, but she does keep her father’s dog tags on her person.

49. What is Shepard’s happy ending? What’s the dream that keeps em going?

Beth is happy going on adventures with her crew, but after retirement she looks forward to settling down, ideally with a spouse and two kids.

Original questions

#mass effect #beth shepard #my ocs #ask game #oc ask game #ask game answers #🧇

[betsyswolfes]

Id hate to be in an audition and then all of a sudden being yelled at. “Up a tone!” Bitch stfu make the sheet music with the key you had in mind do not yell at me to go up a tone thats farrrrr to stressful for my little brain

- me but also beth probably

#i hate frank #merrily we roll along #beth spencer #frank shepard

[theoscarsproject]

Crimes of the Heart (1986). Three southern sisters try to come to grips with the meaning of their mother's suicide.

Any movie starring Jessica Lange, Sissy Spacek and Diane Keaton as sisters is automatically a 10/10 in my heart! Unfortunately, it's otherwise a bit of a mess. It feels overly convoluted, and while it's focus on the way grief can shape a life is a compelling throughline, it's not as sharply felt as I wish it was in this. 6/10.

#crimes of the heart #1985 #Oscars 59 #Nom: Actress #Nom: Supporting Actress #Nom: Adapted Screenplay #bruce beresford #beth henley #diane keaton #jessica lange #sissy spacek #sam shepard #tess harper #david carpenter #sisters #america #american #death #family drama #6/10

[suddenlyschwinn]

"i just met the girl i oughta marry" uhm what if i kill myself

#can u imagine if frank married mary #no bc i cant stop thinking abt it #it would have been so perfect idc #like i LOVE beth #but can u imagine. #i need a fic. #is there a fic #PLEASE #im srsly not well rn #also can u tell ive been rewatching mwra #mary flynn #franklin shepard #merrily we roll along

[onenakedfarmer]

Currently Watching

CRIMES OF THE HEART Bruce Beresford USA, 1986

#watching #Beth Henley #Diane Keaton #Jessica Lange #Sissy Spacek #Bruce Beresford #Sam Shepard #Tess Harper #1986 #personal favorites

[lamphous]

need to reiterate that during every song being sung at frank (and this is like. everything from the opening to franklin shep inc to now you know) jonathan groff's main reacting choice is just a silent tear from each eye. and he is so real for that. this is to reflect that during every song I also am crying.

#franklin shepard genre aware icon maybe? #another great choice when he goes after the paparazzi it is just THE SADDEST and WIMPIEST lunge #literally fell on the floor before even grabbing the camera guy it was pathetic i loved it it hurt so much lmao #not a day goes by was fucking ROUGH btw beth collapsed on the stage literally 4 feet from my head they were both laying there crying #txt

[books-in-media]

Beth Behrs, (Instagram, August 18, 2019)

—Motel Chronicles, Sam Shepard (1982)

#Beth Behrs #Motel Chronicles #Sam Shepard #books #celebrities #instagram

[jurassicpark1990]

just found out i probably killed miranda in me3 because i broke up with her

#poor lady i keep killing her in my playthroughs #sorry but my shepard wants to get dicked down by kaiden #beth stuff

[laelior]

The scars are no longer there, but they still ache.

Late at night, sometimes, when the cabin lights are  off and the environmental systems are just a quiet hum against the hull. When she’s just grasping at the first strands of sleep.

That’s when she absently rubs her thumb across the ache that wells up in her left leg, or the twinge on her forehead. Simple acts that had once been habit. Only to startle to full wakefullness when her fingers encounter only smooth skin.

Phantom pains, Chakwas had called it the one time she’d brought them up. The pain felt in a limb that’s no longer there. 

But phantom pains are for what has been taken, not what has been given. A new body, one that has none of the memories she’s earned. Something perfect and smooth like she’s never, ever been. A freshly pressed uniform for a solider to step into on command.

That’s all.

Just another weapon with the serial numbers filed off.

#mass effect #beth shepard #my writing #lae writes #oh look another angsty piece about shepard's post-alchera existential crisis #first thing i've written in months naturally

[jgroffdaily]

CRITIC’S PICK

Review: ‘Merrily We Roll Along,’ Finally Found in the Dark - Jesse Green

Jonathan Groff, supported by Daniel Radcliffe and Lindsay Mendez, is thrillingly fierce in the first convincing revival of the cult flop Sondheim musical.

Jonathan Groff’s central performance in “Merrily We Roll Along” at the Hudson Theater is “unmissable” and helping to give “the show the hard shell it lacked,” our critic writes. Credit...Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

[Excerpts]

But with the opening of its first Broadway revival, after 42 years in the wilderness and the death of Sondheim in 2021, “Merrily” is no longer lost. Maria Friedman’s unsparing direction and a thrillingly fierce central performance by Jonathan Groff have given the show the hard shell it lacked. Now heartbreaking in the poignant sense only, “Merrily” has been found in the dark.

The contrast between the pleasures that music can provide and the damage obvious in Frank’s demeanor immediately frames what follows as a solo psychodrama. Yes, Charley Kringas, who writes the words, and their friend Mary Flynn, a novelist turned theater critic, are there throughout, trying to encourage his better angels and corral his worse ones. But despite high-wattage, laser-focused performances by Daniel Radcliffe and Lindsay Mendez, they have no effect on him; they are clearly Frank’s pawns, willing or otherwise.

How he destroys Mary, and nearly Charley as well, not without their assistance, is revealed as the musical’s formerly absent spine. In the first scene, a 1976 party for “Darkness Before Dawn,” a hack hit movie Frank has produced now that he no longer writes music, Mary is dispatched with barely a blink, or drunkenly dispatches herself.

In the next scene, as Charley enumerates Frank’s misplaced priorities in a 1973 television interview — Radcliff handles the song “Franklin Shepard, Inc.” superbly — Groff’s coldblooded rage is terrifying. Collateral damage along the way includes Frank’s first wife, Beth (Katie Rose Clarke); his second, Gussie (Krystal Joy Brown); his probable third, Meg (Talia Simone Robinson); his producer, Joe (Reg Rogers); and even his adorable young son. Who but a monster would betray such a punim?

“Merrily” is thus no longer, as it seemed in 1981, the story of the gradual, almost inevitable dimming of youth’s sweet illusions but rather the story of their falsity in the first place. Frank is only devoted to Mary and Charley when he doesn’t have access to anyone more useful. To think he turned into that monster is a mistake: He always was one, as Sondheim clearly understood. “That’s what everyone does,” Mary sings once the three-way friendship has collapsed. “Blames the way it is/on the way it was/On the way it never ever was.”

If in seeking to sweeten the main story it still leans too heavily on thin satire for laughs — morning news shows, Hollywood sycophancy — the trajectories for the secondary characters, especially Beth and Gussie, who are now more than cannon fodder, at last make some sense.

In this production, though, it wouldn’t matter much if they didn’t. Radcliffe’s wit and modesty, combined with Mendez’s zing and luster, provide perfect settings for what is now (as it has never been previously) the inarguably central performance. Groff, always a compelling actor, here steps up to an unmissable one. With his immense charisma turned in on itself, he seems to sweat emotion: ambition, disappointment and, most frighteningly, a terrible frozen disgust.

I don’t know whether that’s what Furth intended, but Sondheim is brutally clear about the insidiousness of great talent. In Frank, it eats everything it can find, eventually including itself. “Who says ‘Lonely at the top’?” he sings amid the end-stage cynicism of his loveless Bel Air party. “I say, ‘Let it never stop.’”

What a strange and daring thing for the great and greatly missed Sondheim to dramatize, and for Friedman to forefront. I’d call it heartbreaking if the result weren’t finally such a palpable hit.

#jonathan groff #merrily we roll along #reviews #daniel radcliffe #lindsay mendez #maria friedman

[betsyswolfes]

Betsy in merrily with colin donnell

#merrily we roll along #merrily we roll along encores! #betsy wolfe #colin donnell #beth spencer #frank shepard

[vigilskeep]

do you guys prefer eve “evie” shepard or elizabeth “beth” shepard or perhaps mara shepard

#throwing some options around i will research for more #i lean towards biblical for shep

[trappers-cloak]

Introducing: Diana Wegner (RDR2 OC)

My new OC Diana has burst onto the scene so here ya go

Diana (29 yo) was the wife of 60 yo Eugene Wegner, the owner of Emerald Ranch

she was married off to him by her wealthy parents after not finding a husband in her conservative hometown due to her disruptive nature

her stepdaughter is Miriam Wegner, the girl in the window at Emerald Ranch

Miriam's lover (Joshua Burgess) and JB Cripps taught both Miriam and Diana how to shoot in secret

Miriam did NOT like Diana at first due to typical you're-not-my-mother angst and grief over her birth mother

Diana is a bold woman, and an educated one.

she is an okay shot, but wants to learn how to use many different weapons since it was never allowed.

her favorite gun is the lancaster repeater, and I HC that she uses the Collector Variant from RDO

to make up for her subpar aim, she learns to make explosive bullets and poisoned arrows.

she is an avid reader, similar to Mary Beth, and holds romantic and fantastical ideals at her heart despite being a bit jaded

her animal representation is a red fox (like Arthur's is a whitetail buck, John's is a wolf, yk)

She has a border collie named Pluto

her main job at Emerald Ranch is to take the sheep out - shes the shepard

more to come :)

totally not writing these posts instead of writing the actual fic

#rdr2 #arthur morgan rdr2 #rdr2 oc #arthur morgan #rdr2 fandom #rdr2 community #arthur morgan x oc #rdo ocs #fan fic #rdr headcanons

[taleswritten]

Under the cut is a list of muses I have for those who can’t open the google doc. Note: the google doc has detailed information about them so if you can, please open it up.

Bold is primary, italic is secondary, regular is by request.

TVD/TO/LEGACIES:

ELENA GILBERT

KATHERINE PEIRCE

DAMON SALVATORE

ALARIC SALTZMAN

LIZZIE SALTZMAN

josie saltzman

caroline forbes

bonnie bennett

Klaus Mikaelson

FINAL FANTASY:

CLOUD STRIFE (ff7r)

aeirth (ff7 remake)

tifa (ff7 remake)

Jill Warrick (ff16)

Clive Rosfield (ff16)

snow villiers

THIRTEEN REASON’S WHY:

Justin Foley

Bryce Walker

Jessica Davis

Clay Jenson

911/911 LONE STAR:

ATHENA GRANT

MADDIE BUCKLEY

OWEN STRAND

TK STRAND

GRACE RYDER

AHS:

Brooke Thompson

Montanna Duke

donovan

BBC SHERLOCK:

SHERLOCK HOLMES

BRIDGERTON:

Simon Bassett

Daphne Bridgerton

kate sharma/bridgerton

BTVS/ATS

Buffy Summers

CORDELIA CHASE

CAOS:

SABRINA SPELLMAN

ONE CHICAGO:

natalie manning

JAY HALSTEAD

ADAM RUZEK

KIM BURGESS

Hank Voight

CRIMINAL MINDS:

Spencer Reid

Emily Prentiss

DAREDEVIL:

MATT MURDOCK

DEXTER:

DEXTER MORGAN

DCTV:

SARA LANCE

JOHN CONSTANTINE

SPOONER

EUPHORIA:

JULES VAUGHN

RUE BENNETT

FROM DUSK TIL DAWN:

Seth Gecko

Kate Fuller

GOOD GIRLS:

BETH BOLAND

Greys’ Anatomy:

meredith grey

JO WILSON

CARINA DELUCA

Ameila Shepard

GAME OF THRONES:

DANY

Jon Snow

Sansa Stark

NCB HANNIBAL:

WILL GRAHAM

HAUNTING OF BLY MANNER:

DANI CLAYTON

PETER QUINT

HEMLOCK GROVE

PETER RUMANCEK

HTGAWM:

CONNOR WALSH

LAW AND ORDER SVU:

OLIVIA BENSON

Elliot Stabler

kathleen stabler

alex cabot

casey novak

LOST GIRL:

BO DENNIS

LUCIFER:

CHLOE DECKER

lucifer morningstar

mazikeen

MINDHUNTER:

Holden Ford

POSE:

ANGEL EVANGALISTA

BLANCA EVANGALISTA

PRODIGAL SON:

MALCOLM BRIGHT

RIVERDALE:

ARCHIE ANDREWS

BETTY COOPER

TONI TOPAZ

CHERYL BLOSSOM

FP Jones

JUGHEAD JONES

ROSWELL NEW MEXICO:

MAX EVANS

LIZ ORTECHO

STRANGER THINGS:

NANCY WHEELER

BILLY HARGROVE (BILLY’S TATTOOS POST SEASON THREE HERE )

STATION 19:

Vic Hughes

SUPERNATURAL:

Dean Winchester

THE MAGICIANS:

ELIOT WAUGH

MARGO HANSON

THE WITCHER (GAME, TV SHOW, AND BOOK MIXED MEDIA):

GERALT (please note, geralt has cat-eyes. not the eyes we see in the show. if you need a visual, think game geralt)

CIRI

TRUE BLOOD:

SOOKIE STACKHOUSE

TARA THORTON

jessica hamby

JASON STACKHOUSE

SAM MERLOTTE

WYNONNA EARP:

WYNONNA EARP

WAVERLY EARP

NICOLE HAUGHT

THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY:

KLAUS HARGREEVES

ALLISON HARGREEVES

VAN HELSING:

Vanessa Van Helsing

YOU:

BECK

JOE GOLDBERG

LOVE QUINN

THEO

FORTY QUINN

DCU:

WONDER WOMAN/DIANA PRINCE

HARLEY QUINN (au verse 1 here)

DESCENDANTS:

HARRY HOOK

MAL BERTHA

EVIE GRIMHILDE

MCU:

DEADPOOL/WADE WILSON

EDDIE BROCK/VENOM

STEVE ROGERS/CAPTAIN AMERICA

WANDA MAXIMOFF

BUCKY BARNES

NATASHA ROMANOFF

YELENA BELOVA

THOR

LOKI

MICHAEL MORBIUS

Peter Parker (the amazing spiderman)

POTC:

CAPTAIN JACK SPARROW

ASSASSIN’S CREED SERIES:

JACOB FRYE

EVIE FRYE

EIVOR

KASSANDRA

DETRIOT BECOME HUMAN:

Connor

DRAGON AGE:

MORRIGAN

FENRIS

GARRETT HAWKE

MARIAN HAWKE

CYBERPUNK:

V (both male and v, both streetkid and corpo)

JOHNNY SILVERHAND

JUDY ALVAREZ

LAST OF US:

joel miller

ELLIE

LEGEND OF ZELDA:

LINK

RESIDENT EVIL:

ADA WONG

LEON KENNEDY (previously traumamade)

ETHAN WINTERS

LADY DIMITRESCU

Claire Redfield

dimitrescu daughters

TOMB RAIDER:

LARA CROFT

UNCHARTED:

NATHAN DRAKE

BLEACH:

ichigo kurosaki

GRIMMJOW JAEGERJAQUEZ

VAMPYR:

JOHNATHAN REID

BLACK BUTLER:

SEBASTIAN MICHAELIS

BLUE EXORCIST

RIN OKAMARU

HELLSING:

SERAS VICTORIA

INTEGRA HELLSING

NARUTO:

NARUTO UZUMAKI

TSUNADE

SEVEN DEADLY SINS:

BAN

VAMPIRE KNIGHT:

yuuki cross/kuran

ZERO KIYRUU

OUAT:

Regina Mills

Emma Swan

SOA:

JAX TELLER

VENUS

GEMMA TELLER

WHITE COLLAR:

Neal Caffrey

FAR CRY:

FAITH SEED

NEW AMSTERDAM:

MAX GOODWIN

CRUELLA:

CRUELLA DE VILLE

MASS EFFECT:

JOHN SHEPARD

JANE SHEPARD

KAIDAN

SAMARA

KASUMI

MIRANDA

DOCTOR WHO:

rose tyler

GOSSIP GIRL REBOOT:

ZOYA LOTT

MAX WOLFE

DOOM PATROL:

JANE

LARRY TRAINOR

A WAY OUT:

LEO CARUSO

CASTLE:

RICHARD CASTLE

BITTEN:

ELENA MICHAELS

TEEN WOLF:

CHRIS ARGENT

ALLISON ARGENT

SCOTT MCCALL

LYDIA MARTIN

STILES STILINSKI

THE FLASH:

BARRY ALLEN

NORA WEST ALLEN

BART WEST ALLEN

IRIS WEST

CAITLYN SNOW

KILLER FROST

SUCKERPUNCH

BABY DOLL

SHADOW HUNTERS

ISABELLE

ALEC

HOUSE OF ASHES

JASON

THE MEDIUM

MARIANNE

THE LAST KINGDOM

UHTRED RAGNARSON

Iseult

MOON KNIGHT

STEVEN GRANT/MARC

FIRST KILL

Calliope Burns

Juliette Fairmont.

THE QUARRY

Kaityln Ka

Dylan Lenivy

Laura Kearny

THE SANDMAN

Dream/Morpheus

INTEVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE

Louis De Pointe

Claudia

HORIZON SERIES

Aloy

THE VAMPIRE ACADEMY (TV SERIES)

Rose Hathaway

NETFLIX’S WEDNESDAY

Wednesday Addams

Morticia Addams

Enid Sincliar

DAYS GONE

Deacon St. John

QUEEN CHARLOTTE - A BRIDGERTON STORY

Queen Charlotte

MAYFAIR WITCHES

Rowan Fielding

Critical Role (currently caught up to episode 97 and both seasons of the animated show)

Vax

Vex

Keylith

THE EVIL WITHIN

Sebastian 

Baldur's Gate 3:

Astarion

Karlach

Orin

Hazbin Hotel:

Angel Dust

Charlie Morningstar

Niffty

Alastor

#mobile muse list

[belizedeservesbetter]

Merrily We Roll Along is a Hit!

featuring career best performances from Jonathan Groff, Lindsay Mendez, and Daniel Radcliffe!

Merrily We Roll Along has always been called one of Sondheim’s problem musicals and yet it remains a beloved classic. Whenever a new production is announced, there’s always talk of if this will be the production to “fix it,” or the one to solve the problems of the musical and make it a bonafide hit. 

Personally, I’ve never really seen it as a true “problem musical.” I understand each and every complaint about the show’s book, but for the most part, George Furth’s book really works for me. I still have my complaints about it, mainly the way Beth and Gussie are a bit too one dimensional, but overall I’ve never thought the show needed “fixing” per say. 

I suppose that’s because I’ve always really connected with it? Three young artists wanting to make it in their respective fields and struggling with what to do with fame and change and growing up always seems to hit me very hard. 

And of course the score is absolutely gorgeous. 

With all that being said, I absolutely loved the new production of Merrily We Roll Along currently playing at New York Theatre Workshop, directed by Maria Friedman and starring Jonathan Groff as Franklin Sheppard, Daniel Radcliffe as Charley Kringas, and Lindsay Mendez as Mary Flynn. 

Let’s get right to it - the performances are phenomenal. 

Jonathan Groff is truly giving a career best performance in this show. He was absolutely fantastic and the perfect Franklin Shepard. He hit every emotional beat perfectly and sang the hell out of all his songs. It is hard to sell Franklin as a character to root for since he’s fallen and tumbled into the Hollywood abyss at the top of act one and is a complete asshole, but Groff really sells that underlying desperation to be loved that still makes you feel for him. He’s also Jonathan Groff, who literally everyone loves, which honestly really helps. 

There is also a moment where he’s lying face down on the stage absolutely sobbing, which was really wonderful and moving.

Lindsay Mendez was absolutely wonderful and played Mary Flynn with an ambitious bite. She also has this deadpan delivery of a lot of her jokes that was really fantastic. Her performance in this felt really mature and really grounded, and completely different than her Carrie in Carousel. 

Then we have Daniel Radcliffe, who was a surprisingly amazing Charley Kringas. He got the “anxious and eccentric playwright on the verge of a breakdown” down perfectly. He isn’t the best singer, but makes up for it in acting and honestly I think it works for Charley. Charley isn’t the music guy, he’s the story guy. But Radcliffe did have two of the highlights of the show, both “Franklin Shepard, Inc” and “Good Thing Going.” I’ll talk about the latter later, but “Franklin Shepard, Inc” brought the house down. Radcliffe hit every emotional beat and every joke in that song absolutely perfectly and really showed that he is absolutely perfect for this part. 

Shoutout to Katie Rose Clarke as Beth and Krystal Joy Brown as Gussie - both were lovely. Clarke delivered a lovely “Not a Day Goes By” and Brown had a really nice take on “Growing Up.” 

I know director Maria Friedman has done this production of Merrily before, but I wanted to go in blind to her take on the show. Overall, I really loved it and might have interpreted something deeper than she intended, but I’ll get into that as we go along.

For starters, the whole show was staged really beautifully, particularly “Opening Doors” and “Good Thing Going.” 

“Opening Doors” is definitely a song any young artist relates to and I thought it was staged perfectly in this production. It was totally simple, with Frank at his piano and Mary and Charley at typewriters. The focus was on the three friends, which is representative of the entire show. Everything revolved around Frank/Charley/Mary, and a lot of the rest was pushed to the side, quite literally actually. The three main friends are the core of the story, and the most developed characters, so it makes sense to squarely focus on them. Even their costumes reflected this, but we’ll get into that in a second. 

“Good Thing Going” is one of my favorite songs in the show, particularly because it’s essentially the thesis statement of the show. Again, Friedman went for simple here. There was a simple spotlight on Daniel Radcliffe with a soft glow on Jonathan Groff at the piano. It was stunningly beautiful and you could almost see Charley picturing his entire future in front of him. 

I thought the costumes were really cool! This is a show that reflects a lot of time period changes, especially a lot of drastic changes in fashion. The ensemble kept a basic color palette but continuously changed styles to reflect the time, which I really liked. Gussie and Beth had a similarly muted color palette. 

What was interesting to me is that throughout the entire show, Frank wore the exact same outfit. Occasionally he would have a jacket on, but he always had the same base outfit on. Likewise, while Mary and Charley had different costumes (and a distinctly different color palette than the rest of the ensemble), they wore the exact same shoes for the entire show, except for the very very last scene. I thought this was a really nice choice and feeds into what I interpreted Friedman’s concept as. 

Now the set is going to be the thing most people will have differing opinions on. No one can deny how spectacular Groff, Mendez, and Radcliffe are, but they sure can have wildly different opinions on the set. Many will think it is ugly. Many will think it looks unfinished. I liked it, and the only way I can really describe it is, “Malibu Barbie Dream House” 

All this to say, I interpreted Friedman’s direction as Frank kind of replaying his life in almost a dollhouse kind of setting trying to retrace his steps as to where he went wrong. The Malibu Barbie Dream House (though I don’t think Friedman would quite appreciate me referring to it as such) is the backbone for every single scene, with slight changes to denote different times and locations. But it’s always Frank’s house, it’s always his world.

Even the costumes - while the ensemble and small characters change into flashy new outfits, he always stays the same and Mary and Charley never change shoes. They are the core Frank is trying to work with and trying to see through. 

I like this concept for the show, and it even “fixes” parts of the book - at least I think so. In this way, you could almost say Beth and Gussie are only one dimensional/almost comicly foils of each other because that’s how Frank has posed them in his attempt to understand why his life is in shambles. And maybe people constantly telling Mary how visible it is that she’s in love with Frank is a projection on his own feelings instead. Frank is smart, surely he isn’t dense enough to not have known she was in love with him/would have said something by now. 

Which I guess makes my one complaint of this production that Friedman could’ve pushed this concept a bit more. The show ends with the final “Merrily We Roll Along” as the ensemble brings us back to the present with Frank in the center of it all. Frank who has not changed costumes once. So I guess my one wish would’ve been to have him more involved in these multiple transitions throughout the show. 

I suppose my ideal production of Merrily has Frank never leaving the stage at all, but that’s for another time. 

Before I wrap it up, a quick lightning round of comments: 

This production uses “That Frank” as the second song instead of “Rich and Happy” -- the Roundabout/Fiasco Theatre Company production a couple years back used “Rich and Happy” 

There is truly not a bad seat in the house 

I won lotto tickets for this show, and they were front row four seats in from the left. From what I gather, those four seats are the only lotto seats TodayTix is giving out, but I could be wrong there. 

it is always glorious to hear this score live 

I understand this production is sold out for the entirety of its run - NYTW only has like 200 seats in that space so it was always going to be a hard ticket to get - but I did notice Sonia Friedman’s name attached as a producer and she’s smart enough to know not to have a one month only production of a show starring Harry Potter himself. So it’s definitely not if this production is transferring to Broadway but when. 

Anyways, this production is an absolute delight and reminded me how much I love this show and how hard it continues to hit no matter how many times I see it. It reminded me that Jonathan Groff is a true leading man, Lindsay Mendez is an absolute powerhouse of a performer, and that Daniel Radcliffe truly belongs on stage above all else. It reminded me that this isn’t a “problem musical” at all and has remained a classic for a reason. 

Right?

#Merrily We Roll Along #daniel radcliffe #jonathan groff #lindsay mendez #broadway #theatre #review