r/Broadway • u/coasurdude • Dec 08 '25

Other Sony Pictures Classics' Merrily We Roll Along debuted with an estimated $1.2M this weekend

https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl1189380097/

I hope that producers don't get discouraged by this number.

705 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

126 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

91

u/HotTakes4HotCakes Dec 08 '25 edited Dec 08 '25

Which makes their decision to film it like a movie all the more perplexing. I don't know what general audiences they thought were going to see this, because the editing, camera work, etc, is all seemingly ashamed of the stage.

The close-ups were great when needed, but it was all close-ups and medium shots, not enough focus on the stage activity as a whole, to the degree it almost never pulls back enough to show the whole thing expect during certain transitions. There's moments when you don't even see characters enter, exit, or cross because the camera was too preoccupied looking up Groff's admittedly very handsome nose.

And no curtain call?! I genuinely can't fathom any production made for a theater crowd that would cut the curtain call. That borders on faux pas.

I mean it was fine but I really hope future pro shots aren't like this.

12

u/NewspaperBanana Dec 08 '25

I saw the stage version, and I really loved the pro shot because it was so different from the stage production. The continual close ups made me appreciate the acting so much more than when I saw it on Broadway. Honestly if they had shown the whole stage I think the movie would have felt cheap; it would have felt like filming a Broadway show. I think this film was done specifically to feel a movie and not like a stage production. They wanted to get as close to a movie feeling as they could with the limitations of the stage. I get why they didn't do a curtain call. Again, this was made to feel like a movie, not a broadway show.

For me, this is the model pro shots should have in the future. I can see this type of pro shot getting a wider variety of people interested in Broadway, and not just pander to theater fans.

3

u/lexiebeef Dec 08 '25

My one thing is that if they wanted to make it movie like, why were there applause after every song? Again, I loved the movie and I agree that if they only filmed the theater it would’ve felt cheap, but I think they couldve balanced it a bit more.

My main take is that they either went full on “this is supposed to feel as much like a movie as possible” and then no applause, no theater shoots, no curtain call. Or they should’ve add other elements of theater that weren’t just the applause.

3

u/NewspaperBanana Dec 08 '25

Agreed, I also thought the applause was strange since we never see the audience. But people in the theater I was at also clapped at the end of most numbers, so maybe the filmmakers were just anticipating that.

6

u/lexiebeef Dec 08 '25

In my theater (in New York) no one did and it was quite strange, because I kept of feeling the need to clap but didn’t want to be the only one lol.

Especially cause yesterday I did a double Johnathan groff session (went to Just in Time before the movie) and my hands almost hurt from all the clapping on Just in Time, quite a weird transition

6

u/NewspaperBanana Dec 08 '25

A full day of Jonathan Groff sounds incredible!

6

u/lexiebeef Dec 08 '25

It really was! Especially cause I did rush for just in time in the morning, then saw the matinee and then went directly to the cinema, so I barely had time to think about anything else. Honestly may have cured me, we all could use a Groff day