Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened: Lonny Price

I think Lonny Price bit off a bit more than he could chew with Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened, a documentary about the disastrous 1981 Stephen Sondheim/Harold Prince Broadway production of Merrily We Roll Along. He tries to turn it into some big commentary on life and memory and moving on after failure, but the film feels incomplete in its scope. Certain individual members of the cast (most notably Jason Alexander for...obvious reasons) get tons of screen-time while others are almost completely ignored. The first third which follows the casting and rehearsal of the production feels preposterously saccharine, practically a Hallmark movie. The real meat of the film comes when Price explores what happened to the cast members after the show closed after only 16 performances. But I wanted more. For instance, I would have really liked to learn what Merrily We Roll Along was about other than just a description of the three leads and the central gimmick of playing the plot backwards. You know what might have been interesting? Juxtaposing archival footage of the original production with modern reenactments featuring the original cast performing alongside their children. We do get some footage of the 2002 charity concert reunion, but Price doesn't do enough with it.

6/10