Rooftop Moments with Merrily We Roll Along’s Jonathan Groff, Daniel Radcliffe and Lindsay Mendez

At the end of the Stephen Sondheim-Hugh Wheeler musical Merrily We Roll Along, three characters meet on a rooftop after nightfall. It’s the innocent, idealistic beginning of a friendship that—as we’ve already seen, given the show’s reverse-chronology—will grow more fraught over time.

Ahead of a rooftop photo shoot for Broadway.com, the three stars of the Broadway revival—Jonathan Groff, Daniel Radcliffe and Lindsay Mendez—took part in a wide-ranging conversation with Broadway.com Editor-in-Chief Paul Wontorek, reflecting on their own rooftop moments, when it seemed that all their wildest dreams were finally coming true.

Jonathan Groff

“December 31, 2004. So almost 20 years ago now. It was New Year's Eve, and I had just moved to the city that fall, and I was living with Lyndy Franklin, who was my roommate, and my friend Cody, who was my boyfriend for the next three and a half years.

I was waiting tables at the Chelsea Grill of Hell's Kitchen on New Year's Eve, and it was a half an hour before midnight and Cody and Lyndy came into the restaurant. And [fellow server] Christie was like, “Here, Jonathan, just take the cash from the night and go sit with your friends.”

And I remember this feeling. It was very like Merrily, of it being the new year, I’d just moved to the city, I had this wad of cash. I had this secret boyfriend that I was so excited about and so in love with, and my friend Lyndy, and we were like, ‘We live in New York.’ This was the first time I'd ever lived there. And just feeling like everything was possible.”

Lindsay Mendez

“My first apartment was on the Upper West Side. I live on the Upper West Side now. There's a bagel shop on Amsterdam Ave, and I remember going there to get a bagel when I first moved here and feeling... I walked out with it, and I remember I went to the Natural History Museum and sat and ate, and I was like, ‘Wow, I am a part of this. I live here.’

I just took my daughter there recently and it made me so emotional. I was like, ‘I can't believe I'm actually living my dreams here, and living my life, and now sharing it with my child.’ It's incredible. I have to ground myself a few times a week when I walk into that theater and see our pictures up there and feel an audience that is so excited to see us and know how freaking lucky we are to be doing this play in this city.”

Daniel Radcliffe

“There's a few things that are popping into my head, but honestly is ‘now’ an acceptable answer? I've had a son this year, and it's been incredible. And getting to do that, and then also be in this show every night with these guys and play to these audiences… It's insane. Receiving that response is really, really cool. So, yeah. Now.”

The Broadway Show Credits: Directed by Zack R. Smith | Producers: Paul Wontorek and Beth Stevens | Senior Producers: Caitlin Moynihan and Lindsey Sullivan | Videographers: Luis Ferrá and Nick Shakra | Audio: Anton Ponomarev

Photo Credits: Photography by Emilio Madrid |  Photo Assistants: Jakob Alesandro, Henry Claudy and Cooper Hammel | Location: Corner Studio