A bittersweet, Tony Award–winning musical about friendship, ambition, and the choices that shape a life—told entirely in reverse.

Spanning 20 years and moving backward through time, Merrily We Roll Along traces the unraveling of a once inseparable trio of friends and creative collaborators: composer Franklin Shepard, writer Charley Kringas, and novelist Mary Flynn. Beginning at the height of Franklin’s fame—wealthy, celebrated, and isolated—this innovative musical journeys back to the hopeful early days of their artistic dreams 

Featuring some of Stephen Sondheim’s most iconic songs, this cult favorite serves as a resonant capstone to TimeLine’s 30th Anniversary, echoing the company’s own origins as a group of passionate young theatre-makers asking: How did we get to be here? 

Merrily We Roll Along received the 2024 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical. It first premiered on Broadway in 1981. Featuring orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick, it was originally directed on Broadway by Harold Prince and originally produced on Broadway by Lord Grade, Martin Starger, Robert Fryer, and Harold Prince in association with Ruth Mitchell and Howard Haines.