Ben Platt, Beanie Feldstein, Blake Jenner to Headline Merrily We Roll Along Film

Stephen Sondheim and George Furth's musical Merrily We Roll Along is heading to the big screen, with a cast led by Tony winner Ben Platt (Dear Evan Hansen), Beanie Feldstein (Hello, Dolly!), and Blake Jenner (Cyrano).

Told in reverse chronology, Merrily We Roll Along explores the friendship of writing partners Franklin Shepard and Charley Kringas, and their journalist pal Mary Flynn, from its dissolution to its idealistic start. Platt will take on the role of Charley, with Jenner as Franklin, and Feldstein as Mary. In keeping with the musical's decades-spanning conceit, director Richard Linklater (Boyhood) will shoot the film over the course of 20 years. Principal photography has already been completed for the first segment of the production.

"I first saw and fell in love with Merrily in the '80s, and I can't think of a better place to spend the next 20 years than in the world of a Sondheim musical. I don't enter this multiyear experience lightly, but it seems the best, perhaps the only way, to do this story justice on film," Linklater said in a statement.