Merrily We Roll Along :

Our Time: The World of Merrily We Roll Along

Posted on: February 6, 2019

by Roundabout Theatre

“...we were writing about a generation’s idealistic expectations for the future, symbolized by the launch of Sputnik, and their deterioration into compromise and deceit, exemplified by Nixon and Watergate and culminating in the Me Decade, as the 1970’s came to be labeled.”
— Stephen Sondheim 

In conceiving Merrily We Roll Along, Stephen Sondheim and George Furth were attentive to the history unfolding around their characters. These are some major events that Frank, Charley, Mary, and their peers would have lived through during the show’s timeline.

1979: “Rich and Happy”

Michael Jackson’s breakthrough album “Off the Wall” released
Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd premieres on Broadway
In 1980 Ronald Reagan will be elected POTUS & launch conservative Reagan Era

1976: Frank and Charley’s Last Fight

Democrat Jimmy Carter wins presidential election
1st Apple computer built by Steve Jobs & Steve Wozniak
"Saturday Night Live" enters 2nd season
1st punk rock band "The Damned" debuts

1973: Charley and Frank on TV

Watergate scandal hearings conducted in Senate
Roe v. Wade assures abortion as constitutional right
Sharp worldwide inflation hits consumers
Paris Peace Accord ends U.S. war with Vietnam
Billie Jean King beat Bobby Riggs in most-viewed tennis match ever

1966-1968 Frank and Beth Divorce

500,000+ U.S. soldiers fight in Vietnam—protests erupt across U.S.
Martin Luther King, Jr. assassinated
McDonald's introduces Big Mac (49¢)
Hair plays on Broadway

1964: “It’s a Hit” on Broadway

Lyndon B. Johnson is POTUS after JFK assassination in '63
Congress authorizes Vietnam War
Martin Luther King, Jr. wins Nobel Peace Prize
The Beatles make 1st U.S. television appearance

1962: Frank and Charley Meet “The Blob”

Cuban Missile Crisis nearly starts new world war
Marilyn Monroe sings “Happy Birthday” to JFK; 3 months later dies of pill overdose
Spider-Man first appears in Marvel Comics
West Side Story movie (lyrics by Sondheim) released

1960-1961: Frank and Beth Get Married

Democrat John F. Kennedy becomes POTUS
1st U.S. troops sent to Vietnam
Birth control pill approved by FDA
Chubby Checker's "The Twist" starts dance craze

1958-1960: Opening Doors!

VP Nixon & USSR Premier Khrushchev debate capitalism vs. communism on television
Cuba is 1st communist country in the west
Gypsy (lyrics by Sondheim) opens on Broadway

1957: “Our Time”