Coming off a string of critical hits in the 1970s (Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd) composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim and Director Harold Prince seemed like the unstoppable duo with boundless creative collateral going into the 1980s. Their next project together, however, did not ignite as previous productions had and the 1981 calamitous flop Merrily We Roll Along would bring their happy collaboration to an end for two decades. That is not to say that Merrily We Roll Along did not eventually prove to be an effective (if complicated) musical that would have an enduring shelf life and myriad theatre companies taking innovative approaches to the material to solve its alleged problems.