Daniel Radcliffe comes unglued singing 'Franklin Shepard Inc.' in “Merrily We Roll Along”

Maureen Lee Lenker
·2 min read

Get an exclusive listen of the actor's breakout number in the musical.

Sorry, Charley!

Daniel Radcliffe shouts this refrain in Merrily We Roll Along singing "Franklin Shepard Inc.", which is essentially his character, Charley Kringas, having a nervous breakdown on live television.

EW has an exclusive first look at a music video rendering of Radcliffe unraveling and singing his way through the track, which is now available on the show's original Broadway cast album. The music video uses animation to display the song's words, recreating the ribbon of a typewriter and the lettered cutouts of a ransom note.

We see Radcliffe not in costume as Charley, but wearing headphones and singing the song live in the recording studio. The video also showcases images of Radcliffe in character, alongside images of Jonathan Groff as Franklin Shepard.

The musical follows three friends — Charley, Franklin, and Mary (Lindsay Mendez) — in reverse, from their disillusioned middle age backwards to their youthful optimism when they first meet on the rooftop of a New York apartment building. With music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by George Furth, Merrily We Roll Along first premiered on Broadway in 1981 and was a massive flop, closing after only 16 performances.

"[Radcliffe's] zippy performance of "Franklin Shepard, Inc." is undoubtedly one of the absolute highlights of the evening," said Entertainment Weekly in our review of the show.

<p>Matthew Murphy</p> Dan Radcliffe and Jonathan Groff in 'Merrily We Roll Along'

Matthew Murphy

Dan Radcliffe and Jonathan Groff in 'Merrily We Roll Along'

"From his sweater vests to his Chuck Taylors, Radcliffe, who spent a decade as part of a famous wizarding trio, plays Charley as a quiet, introverted outsider with a natural buzzy charm that often explodes out of him — both in fear and in excitement." EW said of Radcliffe. "He deftly balances his character's frenetic energy with Charley's strong, principled nature that loathes the industry machine he's found himself trapped within alongside Frank."

The current iteration of Merrily marks its first Broadway revival outside of a 2012 New York Encores! staged concert production. It is running at the Hudson Theater through July 7.

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Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.