Merrily We Roll Along (Watch This)

Watch This formed in 2013 as an independent Stephen Sondheim repertory company. Merrily We Roll Along at the Lawler follows Assassins, Pacific Overtures and Company, and continues to position them as a vital part of Melbourne's theatre community.

In 1976, Hollywood producer Franklin Shepard (Lyall Brooks) throws a party for the A-list, including his ex-Broadway star wife, new young lover and oldest friend Mary (Nicole Melloy). By the end of the night, he's devastated everyone who loved him and the story (based on a 1934 play) is told in reverse chronological order, back to 1957 when Frank and his best friend Charley (Nelson Gardner) meet Mary.

Reflecting the hope of the liberal USA before and after the Kennedy assassinations, it's about how easy it is to see bad decisions after they are made. Fortunately this theme stuck after the 1981 Broadway opening of Merrily, which closed after 16 performances and a critical reaction that left Sondheim saying he wanted to leave music theatre. He didn't - his next work was Sunday In The Park With George (1984) about the frustrations of being an artist - and the re-worked Merrily now stands with his best.

Limited resources and time have restricted this production while giving it a strength that comes from limitation.

With only a piano (Cameron Thomas), the music doesn't have some of the feel-before-you-can-think complexity, but it gives a focus on the characters and on the lyrics that reveal the unspoken conflicts that explain why the characters behave at their worst.

The ensemble are consistently wonderful and all support the possibly perfect casting of the trio of friends. Brooks lets us see the private regret beneath Frank's bravado, Melloy shows every brick that builds her protective wall of acerbic confidence, and Gardner reveals the confused anger that makes him try to sabotage friendship and success.

Sara Grenfell's direction is strongest at this character level but it struggles to reflect the same themes in the bigger picture, which can leave the story feeling disjointed.

Emily Collett's costumes are a retro delight of colour and cut that define time, reference themselves and support character. However, the design (with Rob Sowinski) looks like a scrounged rehearsal set that distracts from the action with suburban McMansion chandeliers and a staircase that frustrates the choreography and confines the action to half of the stage.

Watch This feed our need for Sondheim and introduce new audiences to the painful joy of his work. Now, can someone please give them some money so they can develop into one of our best companies.

Watch This presents Merrily We Roll Along till 15 Jul at Southbank Theatre.