Merrily We Roll Along Follows Lindsay Mendez’s All Rise Role

Lindsay Mendez’s winning work off-Broadway in Merrily We Roll Along as Mary Flynn connects to her TV role as Sara Castillo on OWN’s All Rise.

Lindsay Mendez is a gangbuster at New York Theater Workshop’s Merrily We Roll Along, which takes the Stephen Sondheim-George Furth musical to another level. The 2022 off-Broadway revival teams Mendez with Spring Awakening star Jonathan Groff and Daniel Radcliffe in one of theatre’s most brilliant lineups–ever. Yet to TV viewers, Mendez is beloved for playing Sara Castillo on OWN’s All rise.


The two characters seem different on the surface. In Merrily We Roll Along, Mendez’s character Mary Flynn is an alcoholic novelist whose greatest joy seems to be delivering cutting one-liners to anyone who deserves it. On All rise, Sara is a hopeful court reporter turned victims’ advocate who is everyone’s shoulder to lean on. But look closer and the common threads that the Tony Award winner has pulled between her two heroines are more obvious. Her dazzling work in Merrily is a perfect follow-up to what she’s accomplished on All rise.

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Lindsay Mendez Shines as All Rise’s Sara Castillo

Sara Castillo is a fan-favorite on All rise Because of the energy Mendez brings to her performance. Sara is most often used for comic relief, regularly bantering with Sherri Kansky (played by fellow Broadway veteran Ruthie Ann Miles). She gets to say what the audience is thinking or break up the series’ heavy drama with something funny. In the dream episode “Lola Through the Looking Glass,” All rise even turned the character into a larger than life singing star. However, the spot-on quips and big smiles come because of Sara’s huge heart. Mendez plays her with her heart on her sleeve and a warmth that makes the audience dream as big as Sara does.

All rise Season 3 has taken a much more serious turn with the character. After discovering a child abuse situation in Season 2, Sara left court reporting and became a victims’ advocate. She’s done less joking and more empathizing with Season 3, Episode 7, “Through the Fire” having her be injured in court. While the idea of ​​giving Sara a new challenge was great, the third season has also worn her down, leaving fans wondering how much she can take. Sara has always been there for all her friends at the Hall of Justice–but she needs to take care of herself. That’s the same journey Mary is on, albeit much more destructive.

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Lindsay Mendez Explodes as Merrily We Roll Along’s Mary Flynn

Merrily We Roll Along‘s Mary Flynn is Sara Castillo on a bender. Mary’s world is based on her lengthy friendship with composer Franklin Shepard (a magnetic, heartbreaking Groff doing some of his best work) and playwright/lyricist Charley Kringas (the near-manic Radcliffe following up his excellent Weird Al Yankovic turn). When someone at a party asks what she does, she quips that “I drink,” shortly before publicly eviscerating Frank for the man he’s become and storming out of his life. Mary steals scenes just like Sara, but merrily takes her witty lines from a place of pain rather than enthusiasm.

Since the play goes in reverse, audiences see Mary deconstructed. Her vitriol comes from suppressing her feelings about Frank’s self-betrayal mistake for so long (he admits early that his repeated was “saying yes when I should have said no”). He’s constantly sabotaged himself, in addition to hurting his friends and family, for success — and it’s the former that stings more because Mary saw the potential in him from the start. Mendez beautifully conveys Mary’s unrequited love for Frank, too, but that romantic attachment doesn’t define her. She falls into disrepair because her friend pushed her to get the best out of her, but then threw away the best of himself. Sara wants more, but Mary has ended up with less.

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What Lindsay Mendez does in Merrily We Roll Along is an expansion of her role in All rise. Sara is a supporting character both literally and metaphorically, while Mary is unleashed. Mendez is a cracking presence on stage, bringing her energy up to a fierce level that Sara wouldn’t reach. Mary challenges Frank and Charley, and that’s reflected in the dynamic rapport between Mendez, Groff and Radcliffe as they clearly uplift each other. Sara always supports Sherri and all her friends, and it takes a lot for her to even ask for help. But both characters are the glue that holds their friend groups together… until Mary’s had enough.

Sara is who Mary could have been if her best friend hadn’t sold himself out and sold her out in the process. Mary is who Sara would have been if the weight of the world had crushed her–which makes Merrily We Roll Along a perfect detour from All rise. When the series returns, viewers will have a better appreciation for Sara Castillo because of Mary Flynn.

All Rise returns to OWN in 2023. Merrily We Roll Along plays at New York Theater Workshop through Jan. 22 and then transfers to Broadway in Fall 2023.