Video: Old Friends Lonny Price & Jim Walton Reunite to Celebrate MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG

How did they get to be here? Well, 42 years ago today, on November 16, 1981, Lonny Price and Jim Walton took the stage at the Alvin Theatre (now the Neil Simon Theatre) to celebrate opening night of Merrily We Roll Along. The brand new show, created by musical theatre luminaries Stephen Sondheim, George Furth, and Hal Prince, turned out to be one of their biggest flops, but it went on to have an incredible legacy, leading up to this very theatre season...

Earlier this fall the first Broadway revival of Merrily We Roll Along, starring Jonathan Groff, Lindsay Mendez and Daniel Radcliffe, opened at the Hudson Theatre- this time to rave reviews from the critics. The company is quick to acknowledge, however, the impact of the show's original stars. 

"[As an original cast member], at a certain point your fingerprints are on the show. Forever," said original Charley, Lonny Price. "In the same way that we look back at Dean Jones or Yvonne De Carlo, those shows are what they are because of who they were."

"It's still unbelievable to me that I was cast," added original Frank, Jim Walton. "[Merrily We Roll Along] has had such an afterlife... the great revival that is happening now! It just keeps giving and giving."

watch as the old friends reminisce about their time in the original production, tell stories of how the creative team pieced the show together, and so much more!

Photo Credit: Martha Swope, Billy Rose Theatre Division/Library for the Performing Arts