Broadway shows rarely play in cinemas. ‘Merrily We Roll Along’ could change that

When the latest revival of Stephen Sondheim’s “Merrily We Roll Along” premiered on Broadway in 2023, starring Jonathan Groff, Daniel Radcliffe and Lindsay Mendez, the show broke the Hudson Theatre’s house record, grossing $1.3 million in one week of previews. The actors became internet darlings, taking part in publicity gimmicks usually reserved for movie rollouts, like Vanity Fair’s lie-detector test. “Merrily” went on to win four Tony Awards and closed in July 2024. For those who weren’t there to see it in person, that should have been the (sad) end of the story. But not so fast. A month before the show’s closing, RadicalMedia announced it was filming the production for a theatrical release, which has finally arrived: “Merrily We Roll Along,” distributed by Sony Pictures Classics, hits 1,500 theaters on Dec. 5.

While stage-to-screen adaptations are common — “Wicked: For Good” crossed $150 million on its opening weekend just last month — Broadway show recordings, also known as pro-shots, are less common, especially at such scale. BroadwayHD viewers get access to a variety of shows for $19.99 a month, but they’ve often aired on public television at some point, and National Theatre Live, which routinely screens in movie theaters, is limited to West End productions. George Clooney’s performance in “Good Night, and Good Luck” aired on CNN this year but didn’t expand beyond the channel into cinemas.

SPC, which similarly released “Vanya on 42nd Street” in theaters in 1994, grossing nearly $2 million domestically, isn’t presenting “Merrily” as an art-house feature but as an opportunity to have the best seat in the house for a Broadway performance. “It’s not a theater presentation. It is a movie,” said Michael Barker, co-president and co-founder of Sony Pictures Classics. “And what makes it a movie is, it has the intimacy. It’s more intimate than the live performance.”

To wit, as Barker noted, its target audience goes beyond core Broadway fans to include women and members of the LGBTQ+ community who have felt left out of cinematic offerings this year. It’s an ideal strategy for a theatrical landscape in which viewers are open to seeing much more than just new releases. “This has been a year where there’s been so much [of] what we traditionally call alternative content on big screens,” said Paul Dergarabedian, head of marketplace trends at Comscore.

So why isn’t a release like “Merrily’s” a regular occurrence? One of the biggest hurdles is, unsurprisingly, money.

“That’s the thing that keeps a lot of this from ultimately being recorded, let alone given a big theatrical release,” said Jeremy Wein, one of the producers behind “Gutenberg! The Musical!” “It’s prohibitively expensive to record a Broadway show, whether it be [for] television broadcast or film broadcast, due to the amount of unions, designers and the performers. Because you’re essentially saying, ‘We’re paying you for 16 weeks of work’ and then saying, ‘Actually, we want to take your work and make money off of it forever.’”

For productions that cost on average $25 million to $30 million to mount, according to Forbes, and only rarely turn a profit in the first place, the financial hurdles are particularly daunting.

“To shut the theater down, take an audience out and put cameras on a stage, financially, it’s just not viable,” said “Merrily” director Maria Friedman. “We only had nine hours special where we were able to build out a stage and get the Steadicam in and get reaction shots.” (The budget for the film version of “Merrily” hasn’t been disclosed, but the 2023 revival recouped its $12-million capitalization costs.)

Working in the film’s favor was the partnership with RadicalMedia, whose established track record includes filmed versions of “Hamilton” and “Come From Away.” Also to “Merrily’s” advantage is consumers’ desire to mind their pocketbooks in a challenging economic environment.

“It brings this art to more people who might not otherwise be able to afford it,” said Dergarabedian. “Or choose not to spend that part of their discretionary income or disposable income for a pair of Broadway tickets.” Indeed, with the average price for a Broadway ticket at about $130, the opportunity to bring the show to more audiences was a key reason Friedman wanted to work with SPC on releasing “Merrily.”

“My dear friend Stephen Sondheim wrote this line, which is, ‘Musicals are popular. They’re a great way of stating important ideas, ideas that can make a difference’ … and I want to tell stories to people who can’t get to Broadway,” she said.

It’s unclear whether filmed Broadway shows like “Merrily” can become the new concert film, but as always in showbiz, success begets success.

“If these instances of stage plays being presented in movie theaters fills seats and moves popcorn, they’ll make more,” said Dergarabedian. Even so, he adds, odds are that shows with an established audience will take priority. A key reason “Hamilton” was recorded was its popularity and historical import: “They knew how historic the show was. They knew the alchemy of that cast, and they had the financials in place to be able to do it.”

In the meantime, those involved in “Merrily” are just happy for the chance to bring the power of Broadway to audiences everywhere. “It’s a celebration,” says Friedman. “I know that Steve wanted everything that he did to be seen by as many people as possible.”