Merrily We Roll Along - Coming May 2024!
We are thrilled to announce that our 2023-24 season show is the storied Sondheim classic Merrily We Roll Along! Join us May 22-26, 2024 at the RMTC Tom Hendry Warehouse for the Manitoba Premiere of this exciting, poignant and emotional story.
About the Show
Based on George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart's 1934 play of the same name, Merrily We Roll Along traces the lives of wealthy, jaded composer, Franklin Shepard, and his two estranged friends - lyricist Charley and writer Mary.
Throughout the course of the show, during which time regresses from 1976 to 1957, we learn how Frank accomplishes his dreams - all the while losing and alienating his beloved friends and family along the way. As the audience travels back through time, we see firsthand the cost of his fame and fortune, and how our trio of friends abandon their original dreams. Those who began the journey with Franklin become collateral damage along the way, and though he has fame, fortune, and success, he realizes that he is left alone.
As we follow the trio through each rocky and triumphant milestone of their personal and professional lives, the show concludes with a touch of rueful irony. The talented best friends are at the start of their careers, facing a bright future: idealistic and enthusiastic about the worlds waiting to be conquered.
The authors of the landmark Company reunite to turn the traditional showbiz musical on its head in this compelling Broadway fable about friendship, compromise, and the high price of success. Stephen Sondheim and George Furth expertly blend the excitement of a backstage musical with a poignant and emotional story about the importance of staying true to one's ideals.
With a brilliant Tony Award winning "Broadway-style" score, and a deep insight into the human condition, Merrily We Roll Along crackles with the wit, pathos and humor Dry Cold audiences have come to expect from a Sondheim show. Merrily We Roll Along is a gift - a spirited, poignant, and moving cautionary tale for anyone who has ever pursued a dream.
Meet the Director & Music Director
Donna Fletcher - Director (she her)
Returning to Dry Cold where she directed The Light in the Piazza, Nine, The Bridges of Madison County, The Addams Family, A Man of No Importance and Sweeney Todd, Donna is thrilled to be flirting once again with a Sondheim classic. Her directing credits include Annie & the WSO/Rainbow Stage's South Pacific; OOTA's Phantom of the Opera, Into the Woods & The Sound of Music; NOVA's The Melody Lingers On, Kiss Me Kate, Carousel and City Workers In Love; Brundibar for the MCO; and the WSO concert Send in the Clowns where she took the stage with Winnipeg's own TONY Award winner Len Cariou. A respected Voice, Musical Theatre Instructor and Rainbow Stage Wall of Fame honoree, Donna has appeared coast to coast from the Charlottetown Festival to the Belfry Theatre.
Joseph Tritt - Music Director (he/him)
Joseph's relationship with Dry Cold began as the apprentice music director for Company moving into the MD position for Follies and A Man of No Importance. He has worked extensively in Manitoba (RMTC, Rainbow Stage, PTE, WST) and Ontario (The Grand Theatre, Theatre Aquarius, Dayton Entertainment, Ross Petty Productions, and the Shaw Festival). Also a composer, Joseph holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the U of M's Desautels Faculty of Music, contributed incidental music to plays at the Shaw Festival, and was a participant in The Musical Stage Company's Noteworthy lab for emerging music theatre writers.
Help bring another Sondheim Classic to our stage…
We look to you, our biggest champions, to help us bring the Manitoba Premiere of Merrily We Roll Along directly from Broadway to our Dry Cold audience. Your individual gifts are the backbone of our success and make a real contribution to the work and artists vou see on and behind our stage!
A donation of...
$75 gifts us our Rehearsal Hall for one day
$100 dresses an actor in a fabulous Costume
$105 allows us to populate our pit with a talented Musician for One Performance
$125 supports one day of an Equity Actor's Weekly Salary
S150 covers a month of our Keyboard Rental - You can be a part of making the music!
$500 gives us our stage for one day of Theatre Rental
$750 sponsors an Apprentice Actor or Apprentice member of our Design or Creative Team
$1000 earns our eternal gratitude and bestows you the title of Sondheim - loving thespian!