Character Breakdown: MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG Cast Unpacks Their Roles

So I play Charlie Kringus, who is Frank Shepard's writing partner

I'm the lyricist to his composer. And Charlie is one of the only people that I think can really be heard by Frank at certain

moments in the play. But he loves Frank, he loves Mary, and I think there's a lot of Charlie's energy that is

very similar to mine. There's a kind of a nervous, slight hyperactivity thing that I think we definitely share, so

that makes it very fun to play. I think that life is complicated, and he's had to make a lot of dicey choices

But when I leave the show, there's also a gift in getting to perform it in reverse

And when I'm left at the end of the show with his pure heart and energy, and there's this

line at the end of the show where he says, if I didn't have music I'd die

And I feel him in regards to theater. If I didn't have theater, I'd die

And I think that he does die through the journey of his character, because he loses

touch with that. But being able to tell his story and end with that connects me back to his truth, which

is the power of the arts and the power of self-expression. So that's my favorite thing about him

I mean, I love that she's so dedicated to her friends. I love her wry humor

My heart breaks for her as someone who is a little bit aimless and feeds other people

to tether her. I think it's one of the best roles that's ever been written in theater

And I didn't know about this role until I got this job

And I just am like, why is not every woman wanted to play Mary

I love how brave she is and how fearless she is with her love

And I think Beth just is not afraid to be vulnerable and not afraid to love without

any agenda, without any hindrance. She just loves and she loves really well

And I think that's such a beautiful message that loving someone is just it's never a mistake

You could get hurt. It may not stay in your life, but loving someone is never a mistake

I play Gussie Carnegie and she is a larger than life Broadway and movie star

She marries Frank and she was married to Joe and she had two other marriages. So she's been married a lot

But really, she's a really ambitious woman who's coming up in a time where she's probably

the only one. And she's coming up in a time where she has a lot against her, but it's also she's creating

who she thinks will be the most palatable, profitable person to survive because she loves

what she does. Number one, she loves music and acting and art and artists and being in that world

And so she's kind of created this person that could fit into that world

And I find that to be truly amazing. And also like, yeah, Gussie can on the page immediately seem like, oh, no, that's a lot

She's a lot. She can be kind of prickly, but I really have tried to make sure that we remember the humanity

and vulnerability of her because she is fully a human. She has deep, deep emotions and connections

And I do think she really does love Frank in particular. I play Joe Josephson

He's a producer, but he starts, you know, it starts at the end and goes to the beginning

And I get to go from just the bottom to the top, which is always better, you know, because

like literally I get through Act One and I go, oh, I can do whatever I want now because

it's not so sad anymore. You know, it just gets better and better

It gets better and better for Joe