This Tony-Winning Broadway Star Is Making A Big Splash With Daniel Radcliffe And Johnathan Groff In The Hit Show ‘Merrily We Roll Along’

Just this month the musical Merrily We Roll Along with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by George Furth opened at New York Theatre Workshop. Directed by Maria Friedman and choreographed by Tim Jackson, the show stars Lindsay Mendez, Daniel Radcliffe and Jonathan Groff.

One of the hardest tickets to get, Merrily, which ran for just 16 performances when it originally opened on Broadway in 1981, this production has been called “a masterpiece” by the Chicago Tribune. “Finally, it’s a hit,” wrote Jesse Green in his New York Times review. In fact, the show is moving to Broadway in the fall with Mendez, Radcliffe and Groff reprising their roles.

The musical moves backwards over several decades. The show charts the course of three bitter artists—a composer, (Franklin Shepard) a lyricist (Charley Kringas) and a writer (Mary Flynn). How did these former best friends, who were once so filled with promise and passion, get to where they ended up?

As the show begins in the 1970s Franklin is no longer on speaking terms with his longtime collaborator, lyricist and playwright Charley. Mary, a disillusioned one-hit novelist-turned-theater critic is in the middle. Where the three were once best friends, filled with hope, ambition and a deep bond, only anger and resentment remain.

Throughout the show the cast sings the the musical’s ever poignant title song, “Merrily We Roll Along.” As the lyrics go, “How did you get there from here, Mr Shepard? What did you have to go through? How did you get there from here, Mr. Shepard? How did you get to be you?”

Sondheim has said that one of his most autobiographic songs is “Opening Doors” from the show. While not his specific story, as he told Terry Gross on NPR in 2012 the song represents the “speed and the excitement and the disappointment and the triumph, et cetera” of Sondheim and his follow artist friends when they were starting out.

When Merrily We Roll Along opened on Broadway in 1981 many people just couldn’t get its magic. They could not get on board with the concept of telling a story backward. The show ran for only 16 performances.

On December 26 when the show had technical issues and the performance was cancelled Radcliffe, Groff, and Mendez generously came on stage, before everyone had to leave, to answer audience questions. Mendez was asked why she thought Merrily We Roll Along was such a hit now when it couldn’t originally find success.

“I think it was originally done by people a lot younger….the spread of life that happens with these characters. I would not know how to handle the later part of these characters’ lives at the age of the people who played it originally,” said Mendez who was referring to the original cast members who were played by people who were in their twenties. (The current Merrily cast features Sherz Aletaha, Krystal Joy Brown, Katie Rose Clarke, Leana Rae Concepcion, Carter Harris, Colin Keane, Morgan Kirner, Corey Mach, Talia Robinson, Reg Rogers, Amanda Rose, Jamila Sabares-Klemm, Brian Sears, Evan Alexander Smith, Christian Strange, Koray Tarhan, Vishal Vaidya, Natalie Wachen and Jacob Keith Watson.) “It’s really intense and there’s a lot of tread on the tires by then if you will. And so for me, I wouldn’t be ready to play this role until now in my life.”

No stranger to the stage since she made her Broadway debut in Grease in 2007, Mendez has played a variety of eclectic roles on and off Broadway. Known for her powerful and ravishing singing voice she has shined in Everyday Rapture, Godspell, Dogfight, Wicked (as Elphaba) and Significant Other. In 2018, she won her first Tony award for her nuanced portrayal Carrie Pipperidge in Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel. On TV she co-stars as court stenographer Sara Castillo in the drama series All Rise.

When Mendez won her Tony award she reflected on her start as an actress in New York and how she held on to what was important for her. “When I moved to New York, I was told to change my last name from ‘Mendez’ to ‘Matthews,’ or I wouldn’t work,” said Mendez who is the daughter of a Mexican father and Russian Jewish mother. “And I just want to say how proud I am to be part of a community that celebrates diversity and individuality. And to all of you artists out there, just be your true self and the world will take note.”

Later in the evening Mendez shared more about the decision to keep her given name versus changing it to Matthews. “When I moved here there weren’t that many Latina actresses. I just thought my grandparents, [Sarah and Mario Mendez], would be so devastated,” she said. “My grandparents worked so hard to get me here.”