September 3, 2013 Contact: Adrian Bryan-Brown /Susanne Tighe / Michelle Farabaugh "As close to perfection as a production can get." - Stephen Sondheim CinemaLive and Digital Theatre bring the acclaimed West End production of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG to cinemas worldwide Broadcast across the United States ONE NIGHT ONLY WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 23 TICKETS ON SALE FROM SEPTEMBER 13 CinemaLive and Digital Theatre are today excited to announce Maria Friedman’s award-winning production of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG as the first production to be distributed as part of the West End Theatre Series. MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG will be broadcast in cinemas across the United States for one night only on October 23, 2013. Tickets in the US are on sale beginning September 13, 2013 at Fathom Events www.fathomevents.com For information and ticketing for venues around the world go to www.cinemalive.com In April, CinemaLive and Digital Theatre announced their partnership to distribute a series of acclaimed productions captured live in London’s West End to cinemas around the world. The West End Theatre Series marks the first time that productions from the West End’s leading commercial theatre producers are available in High Definition as a global cinema series. ABOUT MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG is the first production in the series to be distributed to American cinemas as part of a worldwide cinema event. Other countries taking part in the series include Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Sweden, The Netherlands, Russia and Brazil. With music and lyrics by renowned American composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim and book by George Furth, MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG transferred to the West End’s Harold Pinter Theatre following a sell-out run at the Menier Chocolate Factory. The production received more five-star reviews than any other musical in West End history and won the 2012 Critics’ Circle Award for Best Musical. Starting in 1980 and travelling backwards in time, this powerful and moving story features some of Sondheim’s most beautiful songs including “Good Thing Going,” “Not a Day Goes by” and “Old Friends”. Triple Oliver Award-winner Maria Friedman makes a thrilling directorial debut with this vibrant, full-scale production with an exceptional cast led by Mark Umbers, Jenna Russell and Damian Humbley. Stephen Sondheim was recently awarded one of the top honours in the arts world: the Edward MacDowell Medal for lifetime achievement. He has won an Academy Award, eight Tony Awards, eight Grammy Awards, six Olivier Awards, a Pulitzer Prize, an Oliver Special Award and the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre. Sondheim said: “This production of MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG is not only the best I've seen, but one of those rare instances where casting, direction and show come together in perfect combination, resulting in the classic ideal of the sum being greater than the parts.” MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG has been awarded five star reviews by the Independent, Daily Telegraph, The Times, Sunday Telegraph, Sunday Express, WhatsOnStage, The Public Reviews, Metro, Guardian and the Independent on Sunday. “It is, make no mistake, one of the great musical productions of this or any era.” - THE INDEPENDENT ***** “Hugely witty, tunefully inventive and brightly entertaining.” - THE DAILY TELEGRAPH ***** “Stunningly performed.” - SUNDAY EXPRESS ***** “Musical theatre at its most sophisticated.” - DAILY EXPRESS ***** “It’s impossible not to be moved.” - METRO ***** MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG was produced in the West End by Chocolate Factory Productions, Neal Street Productions, Sonia Friedman Productions, Bob Bartner & Norman Tulchin, Debbie Bisno, Scott M. Delman, Just for Laughs Theatricals, Tanya Link. ABOUT CINEMALIVE CinemaLive is one of the world’s leading producers and distributors of premium Event Cinema for cinemas and big screen venues worldwide. Its parent company, The Shooting Star Picture Company, has been producing high quality concerts and events for over 20 years and has a reputation for quality and global excellence. With offices in the UK and Australia, the CinemaLive subsidiary has quickly become one of the fastest growing theatrical distributors since establishing in 2008. It delivers the very best music, cultural and family entertainment via satellite and hard drive to over 70 countries around the world. ABOUT DIGITAL THEATRE Digital Theatre works in partnership with Britain's leading theatre companies to capture live performance authentically onscreen and makes productions available to a worldwide audience in high definition. Visit www.digitaltheatre.com. Recent Digital Theatre releases include the 2011 Olivier Award-winning revival of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Into the Woods at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre. The Public Theater later transferred the production to New York’s Central Park in the summer of 2012. Other productions include: the Almeida Theatre’s production of King Lear starring Jonathan Pryce, Long Day’s Journey into Night starring David Suchet and Laurie Metcalf, Much Ado About Nothing starring David Tennant and Catherine Tate, Royal Shakespeare Company productions of The Comedy of Errors and As You Like It, the multi award-winning A Doll’s House starring Hattie Morahan for the Young Vic, the West End revival of Jonathan Harvey’s seminal Beautiful Thing and Frantic Assembly and Abi Morgan’s Lovesong. .