Signature Theatre announces the cast and creative team for the musical Merrily We Roll Along, Stephen Sondheim’s masterwork about friendship, ambition and the compromises that shape a life. Based on the original play by George S. Kaufman & Moss Hart and featuring a book by George Furth (Company, The Act), the production will be directed and choreographed by Signature Theatre Artistic Director Matthew Gardiner (Signature’s Pippin, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum) with music direction by Jon Kalbfleisch (Signature’s Pippin, Fiddler on the Roof). Merrily We Roll Along will star Jason Gotay (Broadway’s Floyd Collins, HBO’s Gossip Girl) as Franklin Shepard, Melanie Field (Amazon’s A League of Their Own, Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Othello) as Mary Flynn, and Jake Loewenthal (Signature’s Fiddler on the Roof, Private Jones) as Charley Kringas. Performances run August 25 – November 1, 2026 in Signature’s MAX Theatre. Tickets start at $47 and are available at SigTheatre.org.
“Signature is thrilled to open our 2026/27 season with Merrily We Roll Along, Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s extraordinary musical about three friends confronting the distance between the dreams that once united them and the lives they’ve built,” said Signature Theatre Artistic Director Matthew Gardiner. “Sondheim is Signature’s signature, and I cannot wait to bring this story to life with an incredible group of artists, led by Jason Gotay, Melanie Field, and Jake Loewenthal. Few musicals are as perfectly suited to Signature’s intimate space as Merrily We Roll Along. Combined with Jonathan Tunick’s glorious orchestrations, it promises an unforgettable theatrical experience.”
Directed by Matthew Gardiner, Sondheim’s masterwork about friendship, ambition, and the compromises that shape a life takes the Signature stage after a 20-year absence. Told in reverse chronological order, Merrily We Roll Along follows three longtime friends as they navigate idealism, loyalty, and disappointment over the course of twenty years. The successes and failures of their adulthoods unwind as the cynicism of age erases back to the glowing optimism of youth. Crackling with wit and a rich musical score, Sondheim’s gem features the gorgeous songs “Our Time,” “Good Thing Going,” and “Not a Day Goes By.”
“It has been more than twenty years since Merrily We Roll Along has been produced at Signature,” said Signature’s Managing Director Maggie Boland. “That production was one of the first Sondheim musicals that played in the MAX Theatre, and we are excited to revisit this wonderful musical with today’s audiences. Sondheim’s masterful score and the show’s innovative narrative structure combine to make this one of the great musical masterworks of our time, and no director is more suited to the project than Matthew Gardiner, who repeatedly proves he’s one of the finest interpreters of musicals working today. Signature Theatre continues to be the best place to experience musicals in America, by any measure, and we hope you will join us to find out why.”
The cast of Merrily We Roll Along is rounded out by Kerstin Anderson (Broadway’s My Fair Lady, National Tour of The Sound of Music) as Beth Spencer, Maria Rizzo (Signature’s Pippin, Ragtime) as Gussie Carneige, James Whalen (Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Othello, Signature’s Primary Trust) as Joe Josephson, and Neal Gaensehals (Kennedy Center’s The Nutcracker, StageCoach Theatre’s A Christmas Story) as Frank Jr. The ensemble of Merrily We Roll Along includes Joel Ashur (Studio Theatre’s Good Bones, Arena Stage’s Tempestuous Elements) as Jerome, Ben Beckley (Broadway’s What the Constitution Means to Me, National Tour of Peter and the Starcatcher) as Terry/Mr. Spencer, Lindsay Nicole Chambers (Broadway’s Legally Blonde, Hairspray) Scotty/Mrs. Spencer, Eric Easter (HBO Max’s The Pitt, The Theater Center’s Sulfur Bottom) as Ru, Jonah Ho’okano (National Tour of Disney’s Aladdin, Theatre Raleigh’s Come From Away) as Tyler, Stephen Russell Murray (Signature’s Fiddler on the Roof, The Untitled Unauthorized Hunter S. Thompson Musical) as Bunker, Beatrice Owens (Signature’s Fiddler on the Roof, Keegan Theatre’s Hands on a Hardbody) as Dory, Sarah Anne Sillers (Arena Stage’s Damn Yankees, Signature’s Sweeney Todd) as KT, and Alondra Trinidad-Colon as Meg. Austin Anderson (Prather Productions’ Waitress), Kimberly Camacho (NextStop Theatre Company’s Footloose), Sophia Early (Round House Theatre’s Next to Normal), and Max von Kolnitz (The Rep’s HAIR) are swings. Henry Hampton Bedford (National Children’s Theatre’s Alice in Wonderland) is an understudy.
The creative team for Merrily We Roll Along includes Scenic Design by Wilson Chin (Broadway’s Cost of Living, Signature’s The Untitled Unauthorized Hunter S. Thompson Musical), Costume Design by Ivania Stack (Signature’s Fiddler on the Roof, In the Heights), Lighting Design by Cory Pattak (Broadway’s Spamalot, The Great Gatsby), Sound Design by Eric Norris (Signature’s Pippin, Safety Not Guaranteed), and Wig & Hair Design by Anne Nesmith (Signature’s Pippin, Fiddler on the Roof). Casey Kaleba is the Fight Choreographer. Casting is by Charlotte Sandor. New York Casting is by Geoff Josselson Casting. Kerry Epstein is the Production Stage Manager, Taryn Friend and Jackson Norman are Assistant Stage Managers, Clancey Yovanovich is the Associate Director, Kelly Crandall d’Amboise is the Associate Choreographer, William Yanesh is the Associate Music Director, Lily Tomasic is the Assistant Scenic Designer, Colin Franz is the Assistant Costume Designer, Catherine Girardi is the Associate Lighting Designer, and Mo Oslejsek is the Associate Sound Designer.
Awa Sal Secka, previously announced in the role of Mary in this production, will now be making her Broadway debut in Wanted this fall. Wanted (previously titled Gun & Powder) had its world premiere at Signature Theatre in 2020.
Merrily We Roll Along runs August 25 – November 1, 2026, in the MAX Theatre at Signature Theatre, 4200 Campbell Ave, Arlington, VA. Tickets start at $47 and are available online or by calling the box office at 703 820 9771.
Closed captions will be available for every show via the GalaPro app.
Pride Night: September 18, 2026
Post-show Discussions: September 23 and October 13, 2026
ASL Interpreted: October 8, 2026
Masks Required: September 15, 2026
ABOUT SIGNATURE
Signature Theatre is a Tony Award-winning regional theater that broadens and brightens the region’s cultural landscape with its bold productions of challenging new and established works and engaging education and outreach programs. Founded in 1989 by Eric Schaeffer and Donna Migliaccio, and currently under the leadership of Managing Director Maggie Boland and Artistic Director Matthew Gardiner, musical theater is Signature’s “signature,” and the Theatre is renowned for its definitive Sondheim productions, inventive adaptations of overlooked or forgotten works, and investment in fresh new projects. Signature combines Broadway-caliber productions with intimate playing spaces and aims to be a leading force in U.S. musical theater.
Since its inception, the Theatre has produced 61 world premiere works — including 20 new musical commissions. Signature opens its doors to more than 100,000 people annually from the Washington, DC region and beyond and reaches more than 10,000 students every year through its innovative education programs, including the award-winning initiative Signature in the Schools. Signature has won 152 Helen Hayes Awards for excellence in the Washington, DC region’s professional theater and has been honored with 527 nominations.
