Hannah Cruz Joins MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG Film

Another cast member has joined Richard Linklater's ambitious film adaptation of Merrily We Roll Along. Deadline reports that Hannah Cruz, recently seen on Broadway in Shaina Taub's Suffs, will play Gussie Carnegie in the film, joining a cast that already includes Beanie Feldstein, Ben Platt, and Paul Mescal. Gussie is the wife of Paul Mescal's character Franklin Shepard.

The movie, based on the musical by Stephen Sondheim, follows three friends throughout their lives and careers. The production is being shot every couple of years over 20 years, similar to Linklater's 2014 movie Boyhood. The film adaptation was initially announced in 2019, two years before Sondheim's passing.

The story begins in 1976 with Frank, who, having once been a talented composer of Broadway musicals, has now abandoned his friends and his songwriting career to become a producer of Hollywood movies. The show's narrative presents the events of the trio's lives in reverse chronological order, ending in 1957. Sondheim wrote both the music and lyrics for the musical, which features a book by George Furth. The original production was directed by Harold Prince. The recent Broadway production, directed by Maria Friedman, starred Jonathan Groff, Daniel Radcliffe, and Lindsey Mendez. The production was a hit, receiving 7 Tony nominations, and winning 4.

In addition to Suffs, Cruz's other stage credits include off-Broadway's The Connector and Only Gold, along with tours of Bullets Over Broadway and Hamilton.