Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened

Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened
Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened
	Official release poster
Directed by	Lonny Price
Produced by	Bruce David Klein
Cinematography	Matthew Howe; Elaine Epstein
Edited by	Rikki Portner
Distributed by	Abramorama
Release dates	October 9, 2016 (New York Film Festival); November 18, 2016 (United States);
Running time	96 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened is a 2016 American documentary film directed by Lonny Price and produced by Bruce David Klein with Price, Kitt Lavoie and Ted Schillinger. Scott Rudin and Eli Bush serve as executive producers. The film tells the story of the making of the original Broadway production of Merrily We Roll Along. The film is a production of Atlas Media Corp. in association with Allright Productions.

In September 2016, the film was acquired by Abramorama for theatrical distribution.^[1]

The film premiered at the New York Film Festival in October 2016 and was released theatrically on November 18, 2016.^[2]

About the film

Merrily We Roll Along is a 1981 musical based on the 1934 play of the same name by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart. The book of the musical was written by George Furth with lyrics and music by Stephen Sondheim. Hal Prince directed the original production, which opened on Broadway in 1981 and closed after 16 performances.^[3] Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened features interviews with the creators and original cast of the now-classic show as well as rare and never before seen footage from the rehearsal process.

Film includes appearances by

Jason Alexander
Donna Marie Asbury
James Bonkovsky
David Cady
Liz Callaway
Terry Finn
Paul Gemignani
Adam Guettel
Steven Jacob
Ann Morrison
Mandy Patinkin
Tonya Pinkins
Abigail Pogrebin
Lonny Price
Daisy Prince
Hal Prince
Forest D. Ray
Frank Rich
Clark Sayre
David Shine
Stephen Sondheim
Jim Walton
James Weissenbach
Maryrose Wood

Critical reception

Critical reception of the film was overwhelmingly positive.^[4]^[5]^[6] The film's score on Rotten Tomatoes is 95% with 21 reviews.^[7] David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter called the film a “lovingly assembled documentary” and stated that “Mickey and Judy would have loved it, bittersweet ending and all.”^[2] Michael Schulman of The New Yorker called it a “moving documentary” and wrote: “It’s hard now to imagine the audience members who stormed out, exasperated, during the original run, but seeing the cast members reflect on the ordeal shows how devastating it was to realize they were on a sinking ship—and that those 'gods' Sondheim and Prince were mortal after all.”^[4] Odie Anderson of the Village Voice said the film "is sure to satisfy theater wonks, Sondheim fans, curious moviegoers and lovers of Broadway."^[5] Jude Dry of IndieWire gave the film an A rating, saying, "’Best Worst Thing’ is more than a story about a Broadway show; its most poignant moments examine the thrill of dreams coming true, and the inevitable comedown afterwards."^[6]