EXCLUSIVE: Hannah Cruz (The Time Traveler’s Wife) has closed a deal to join Merrily We Roll Along, Richard Linklater’s adaptation of the 1981 musical from Stephen Sondheim and George Furth.
A Clarence Derwent Award-winning veteran of the theater world, Cruz is set to play Gussie, the wife of Paul Mescal’s Franklin Shepard, who after establishing himself as a talented composer of Broadway musicals, abandons his friends and songwriting career to become a producer of Hollywood movies. The story takes place over 20 years, and Linklater will shoot the film over the same time span, taking a page from his playbook on the Oscar-nominated Boyhood, shot over 12 years.
As previously announced, Ben Platt, Beanie Feldstein and Mallory Bechtel will also star. Producers of the feature are Ginger Sledge, Jason Blum for Blumhouse Productions, Jonathan Marc Sherman, Linklater and Mike Blizzard. With a book by Furth and music and lyrics by Sondheim, the musical is based on the 1934 play of the same name by George S. Kaufman and Moss Harts. Merrily ran for 44 previews and 16 performances on Broadway in 1981 and recently returned to Broadway, with a revival led by Daniel Radcliffe, Jonathan Groff and Lindsay Mendez.
So far best known for her work on stage, Cruz was part of the original Broadway cast of Suffs, Shaina Taub’s musical on the American women’s suffrage movement, which was nominated for six Tonys last year, winning Best Book of a Musical and Best Original Score. She’s also been seen in Off-Broadway productions of The Connector, Only Gold, and Suffs, and has toured with productions like Hamilton and Bullets Over Broadway.
Also seen on Max’s series The Time Traveler’s Wife, Cruz is represented by Buchwald and Brillstein Entertainment Partners.
