"which both families attend. A number of songs written by Stephen Sondheim were used in the film. The song that Albert rehearses during the sequence with the gum-chewing dancer is entitled ""Little Dream"" and was written specifically for use in the film. Albert's first song as ""Starina"" is ""Can That Boy Foxtrot"", cut from Sondheim's ""Follies"". The song that Armand and Katherine sing and dance to in her office, ""Love Is in the Air"", had been intended as the opening number for the musical ""A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum"" in 1962. The song was cut"
"A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (film) A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum is a 1966 British-American DeLuxe Color musical comedy film, based on the stage musical of the same name. It was inspired by the farces of the ancient Roman playwright Plautus (251-183 B.C.) – specifically ""Pseudolus"", ""Miles Gloriosus"" and ""Mostellaria"" – and tells the bawdy story of a slave named Pseudolus and his attempts to win his freedom by helping his young master woo the girl next door. The film was directed by Richard Lester, with Zero Mostel and Jack"
"mistaken identity (frequently involving characters disguising themselves as one another), and satirical comments on social class. The title derives from a line often used by vaudeville comedians to begin a story: ""A funny thing happened on the way to the theater"". The musical's original 1962 Broadway run won several Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best Author (Musical). ""A Funny Thing"" has enjoyed several Broadway and West End revivals and was made into a successful film starring the original lead of the stage musical, Zero Mostel. ""A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum"" opened on Broadway on"
"could say."" When he walked away from the house that evening, Sondheim remembered a sad, sinking feeling that they had said their final goodbye. He never saw his mentor again; three days later, Hammerstein died of stomach cancer and Hammerstein's protégé eulogized him at his funeral. The first musical for which Sondheim wrote the music and lyrics was ""A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum"", which opened in 1962 and ran for 964 performances. The book, based on farces by Plautus, was written by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart. Sondheim's score was not well received; although the"
"""A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum"", for which Nathan Lane won his first Tony Award. His subsequent productions and co-productions have included ""Skylight,"" ""The Goat or Who Is Sylvia?,"" ""Seven Guitars"", ""The Ride Down Mt. Morgan"", ""Copenhagen"", ""Deuce"", ""The History Boys"", ""Beckett/Albee"", ""Closer"", ""The Blue Room"", ""Doubt,"" ""Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Year of Magical Thinking, A Behanding in Spokane, God of Carnage, The House of Blue Leaves"", and ""Exit The King."" In 2010, Rudin and Carole Shorenstein Hays produced the first Broadway revival of August Wilson's Pulitzer Prize-winning play ""Fences"", directed by Kenny Leon"
"was ""A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum"" (1962, 964 performances), with a book based on the works of Plautus by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart, starring Zero Mostel. Sondheim moved the musical beyond its concentration on the romantic plots typical of earlier eras; his work tended to be darker, exploring the grittier sides of life both present and past. Other early Sondheim works include ""Anyone Can Whistle"" (1964, which ran only nine performances, despite having stars Lee Remick and Angela Lansbury), and the successful ""Company"" (1970), ""Follies"" (1971) and ""A Little Night Music"" (1973). Later, Sondheim"
"special, ""Superfrank!"" for Channel 4. He also wrote an updated stage version of ""Up Pompeii!"" although a proposed tour was put on the shelf when Howerd was offered a chance by Larry Gelbart to reprise his role as Pseudolus in ""A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum"" at the Piccadilly Theatre In London's West End. The new play, now revised and updated, received its premiere in Chesterfield in January 2011 before embarking on a UK tour. Produced and directed by Bruce James, it starred Damian Williams, host of Sky One's ""Are You Smarter Than A Ten Year"
"The production also featured Eileen Heckart and Valerie French and premiered at the Booth Theatre on February 1, 1969. In March 1972, he portrayed the role of ""Hysterirum"" in the revival of ""A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum"", starring Phil Silvers, which Blyden also produced. He won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for his work in the play. In 1974, Blyden appeared as ""Dionysos"" with the Yale Repertory Theatre in the musical comedy ""The Frogs"", in New Haven, Connecticut. The play was written by Burt Shevelove, and based on a play"
"run in 1963, after which Robbins directed Anne Bancroft in a revival of Bertolt Brecht's ""Mother Courage and Her Children"". Robbins was still highly sought after as a show doctor. He took over the direction of two troubled productions during this period and helped turn them into successes. In 1962, he saved ""A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum"" (1962), a musical farce starring Zero Mostel, Jack Gilford, David Burns, and John Carradine. The production, with book by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart, and score by Stephen Sondheim, was not working. Robbins staged an entirely new opening"
"(""La Cage aux Folles"", ""Sunset Boulevard""), Olivier Award nominee John Barrowman (""The Fix""), Olivier Award winner Ruthie Henshall (""She Loves Me"") and Bronson Pinchot (""Perfect Strangers""). The Broadway show was directed by Eric D. Schaeffer, with musical staging by Bob Avian. Among the shows from which the musical numbers come are: ""A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum"" (1962); ""Anyone Can Whistle"" (1964); Company (musical) (1970); ""Follies"" (1971); ""A Little Night Music"" (1973); ""The Frogs"" (1974); ""Sweeney Todd"" (1979); ""Merrily We Roll Along"" (1981); ""Sunday in the Park with George"" (1984); ""Into the Woods"" (1987); ""Assassins"" (1991);"
"Larry Blyden Ivan Lawrence Blieden (June 23, 1925 – June 6, 1975), known as Larry Blyden, was an American actor, stage producer and director, and game show host. He made his Broadway stage debut in 1948 and went on to appear in numerous productions on and off Broadway. In 1972, he won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for his performance in the revival of ""A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum"" which he also produced. That same year, he became the host of the syndicated revival version of ""What's My Line?"" At"
"Tyler Ferguson, Jonathan Groff, Ruthie Ann Miles, Solea Pfeiffer, and Vanessa Williams. A limited run was held in San Jose, California from January 18 to February 4, 2018 at 3Below Theaters. This limited run served as the inaugural production of 3Below Theaters and was produced and directed by Scott Guggenheim and Shannon Guggenheim. The musical features taped interviews with Sondheim. The songs, including well-known, less-known and cut material, are from nineteen Sondheim shows (including student shows) produced over a 62-year period, including several songs from each of ""West Side Story"", ""Company"", ""Follies"", ""A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to"
"Pertwee as Marcus Lycus, and Leon Greene as Miles Gloriosus. In 2004 there was a limited-run revival at the Royal National Theatre, starring Desmond Barrit as Pseudolus, Philip Quast as Miles Gloriosus, Hamish McColl as Hysterium and Isla Blair as Domina (who had previously played Philia in the 1963 production). This production was nominated for the 2005 Olivier Award, Outstanding Musical Production. ""A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum"" was made into a musical film in 1966, directed by Richard Lester, with Mostel and Gilford re-creating their Broadway stage roles, Leon Greene reprising his West End stage"
"for the revue ""Small Wonder."" Among his successes were ""A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum"" and ""No, No, Nanette"", for which he won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical. Burt Shevelove Burt Shevelove (September 19, 1915 – April 8, 1982) was an American musical theater playwright, lyricist, librettist, and director. Born in Newark, New Jersey, he graduated from Brown University and Yale (Master's degree). At Brown in 1935, he acted in the first ever Brownbrokers musical titled ""Something Bruin"". After serving as a volunteer ambulance driver in World War II, he began"
"Segal was a professor of Greek and Latin literature at Harvard University, Yale University, and Princeton University. He had been a Supernumerary Fellow and subsequently an Honorary Fellow of Wolfson College at Oxford University. His first academic book, """", revolutionized the great Roman comic playwright best known today as the inspiration for the Broadway hit, ""A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum"". In 2001 Harvard published his ""The Death of Comedy"", the all-encompassing literary history. In 1967, from the story by Lee Minoff, he was one of the writers of the screenplay for The Beatles' 1968 motion"
"about nations and why they fall."" Richard L. Coe of ""The Washington Post"" raved, """"Bawdy, gaudy and lawry, how funny! 'A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum' has arrived at the Cinema, where laughter should be exploding for months."" Brendan Gill of ""The New Yorker"" wrote that ""I laughed my way mindlessly through ninety percent of the picture,"" calling the jokes ""both awful and exactly right for Mostel, Silvers and company."" A review in the UK's ""Monthly Film Bulletin"" thought that Lester's fast-moving direction style made for a ""curious effect of dislocation,"" writing that Mostel and Silvers"
"Larry Gelbart Larry Simon Gelbart (February 25, 1928 – September 11, 2009) was an American television writer, playwright, screenwriter, director and author, most famous as a creator and producer of the television series ""M*A*S*H"", and as co-writer of Broadway musicals ""City of Angels"" and ""A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum"". Gelbart was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Jewish immigrants Harry Gelbart, ""a barber since his half of a childhood in Latvia,"" and Frieda Sturner, who migrated to America from Dąbrowa Górnicza, Poland. Marcia Gelbart Walkenstein was his sister. His family later moved to Los Angeles and"
"various musicals. His album CD ""John Hamilton Davidson Is a Funny Guy"" was released late 2006 to show both his skills at comedy and singing. He acted in many movies including ""The Happiest Millionaire"" (1967), ""The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band"" (1968), ""Coffee, Tea, or Me"" (1973), ""The Concorde . . . Airport ’79"" (1979), ""Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders II,"" (1980) and ""Edward Scissorhands"" (1990). Davidson has appeared in recent productions of ""A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,"" ""Kismet,"" ""State Fair,"" ""Man of La Mancha,"" ""Chicago,"" and ""Will Rogers' Follies,"" at the Surflight Theatre in"
"always tending towards realism, give the film a surreal quality. This film was Frankie Howerd's first musical, and it led to his starring in ""A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum"" on stage and in several conventional Gilbert and Sullivan productions, including Sir Joseph Porter in ""H.M.S. Pinafore"" and the Learned Judge in ""Trial by Jury"". However, Howerd said that ""not only was it the worst film ever made, but was the one production in show-business that I'm positively ashamed to have appeared in"". The following music and styles appear in the film. Except for the ‘Mikado’s"
"Lewis J. Stadlen Lewis J. Stadlen (born March 7, 1947) is an American stage and screen character actor. Born in Brooklyn, New York to voice actor Allen Swift, Stadlen studied acting with Sanford Meisner and Stella Adler. He made his Broadway debut as Groucho Marx in the musical comedy ""Minnie's Boys"" in 1970. Other noted broadway roles include Senex in ""A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum"", Banjo in a revival of ""The Man Who Came to Dinner"", Milt in ""Laughter on the 23rd Floor,"" and Dr. Pangloss in the 1973 production of ""Candide."" He has been"
"in his own testimony to the committee. The couple had difficulty finding work during much of the rest of the 1950s due to the Hollywood blacklist, and often had to borrow money from friends to make ends meet. Gilford found work towards the end of the 1950s and during the early 1960s with the end of the Joseph McCarthy era. He made his comeback as Hysterium in the 1962 Broadway musical ""A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum"". He co-starred in the play with his close friend, Zero Mostel, who was also blacklisted during the McCarthy era."
"Harry Towb Harry Towb (27 July 1925 – 24 July 2009) was an actor from Northern Ireland. Towb's father was Russian Jewish and his mother was Irish. He attended the Finiston School and Technical College, Belfast. He then appeared on stage with a touring theatre company in Ireland, in repertory theatre in England and in London's West End, where he had a role in the musical adaptation of ""Bar Mitzvah Boy"". He also appeared in ""A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum"" at the National Theatre in 2004. He made numerous appearances on UK television including popular"
"""ran for 826 twice-nightly performances from December 1960 until an emotional farewell on 19 May 1962"". In 1963 Gray played Senex in the first London production of Stephen Sondheim's ""A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum"". Reviewing the show in ""The Observer"", Bamber Gascoigne wrote that the piece had roles for five comics: Frankie Howerd, Kenneth Connor, Jon Pertwee, Robertson Hare and Gray. ""All are good, but the highest laurels must go to Eddie Gray and Frankie Howerd for a wonderful quality of detachment. They both make a comic routine 10 times funnier by plodding through it"
"Zero Mostel Samuel Joel ""Zero"" Mostel (February 28, 1915 – September 8, 1977) was an American actor, singer and comedian of stage and screen, best known for his portrayal of comic characters such as Tevye on stage in ""Fiddler on the Roof"", Pseudolus on stage and on screen in ""A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum"", and Max Bialystock in the original film version of ""The Producers"". Mostel was a student of Don Richardson, and used an acting technique based on muscle memory. He was blacklisted during the 1950s, and his testimony before the House Un-American Activities"
"controversial play, ""PIG"" for Buddies in Bad Times. In 2014 he was also nominated for a Helen Hayes Award, as Best Actor, Resident Musical, for Pseudolus in ""A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum"", for the Tony Award winning Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, D.C. He appeared as Timothy Sweetman in ""Dr Silver: A Celebration of Life"", a new Canadian musical, presented by Outside The March and The Musical Stage Company in Toronto in 2018. In 2005, he recorded his debut CD ""Lucky to Be Me"". In 2008, he released a second CD ""Keepin' Out Of Mischief""."
"to A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Peggy, Sal, and Pete have a meeting regarding Clearasil’s ad campaign. American Bandstand is referenced. Don and Betty are at an event. Betty is talking to friends and The execution of the Rosenbergs is referenced. Don is also talking to a friend. Lem, Jones Associates, and Rogers and Cowan are referenced. They talk about The Cuban Revolutionary Council, The Bay of Pigs, John F. Kennedy, Versailles, and bomb shelters. During a speech a man who was a Rough Rider was honored. Pete and Trudy and having lunch with his"
"Milton Rosenstock Milton Rosenstock (June 9, 1917, New Haven, Connecticut - April 24, 1992, New York City) was an American conductor, composer, and arranger. Trained at the Juilliard School, he was highly active as a musical director for Broadway musicals from 1942 through 1980; serving in that capacity for 29 productions, including the original productions of ""Gentlemen Prefer Blondes"" (1949), ""Can-Can"" (1953), ""Bells Are Ringing"" (1956), ""Stop the World – I Want to Get Off"" (1962), ""Oliver!"" (1963), ""Funny Girl"" (1964), and ""A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum"" (1972). He also composed the music for the"
"""A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum"" (1962) and ""Fiddler on the Roof"" (1964). Bob Fosse choreographed for Abbott in ""The Pajama Game"" (1956) and ""Damn Yankees"" (1957), injecting playful sexuality into those hits. He was later the director-choreographer for ""Sweet Charity"" (1968), ""Pippin"" (1972) and ""Chicago"" (1975). Other notable director-choreographers have included Gower Champion, Tommy Tune, Michael Bennett, Gillian Lynne and Susan Stroman. Prominent directors have included Hal Prince, who also got his start with Abbott, and Trevor Nunn. During the Golden Age, automotive companies and other large corporations began to hire Broadway talent to write"
"simple coincidence. 20th century musicals based on Plautus include ""A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum"" (Larry Gelbart and Burt Shevelove, book, Stephen Sondheim, music and lyrics). ""Roman Laughter: The Comedy of Plautus"", a 1968 book by Erich Segal, is a scholarly study of Plautus' work. The British TV sitcom ""Up Pompeii"" uses situations and stock characters from Plautus's plays. Plautus Titus Maccius Plautus (; c. 254 – 184 BC), commonly known as Plautus, was a Roman playwright of the Old Latin period. His comedies are the earliest Latin literary works to have survived in their entirety."
"A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Moon A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Moon is a 2001 film written, produced and directed by Nashville-based filmmaker Bart Sibrel. Sibrel is a critic of the Apollo program and proponent of the conspiracy theory that the six Apollo Moon landing missions between 1969 and 1972 were elaborate hoaxes perpetrated by the United States government, including NASA. Sibrel presents assertions of an alleged hoax, including: supposed photographic anomalies; disasters such as the destruction of Apollo 1 in which crew members Roger B. Chaffee, Gus Grissom and Ed White"
"Funny Face (musical) Funny Face is a 1927 musical composed by George Gershwin, with lyrics by Ira Gershwin, and book by Fred Thompson and Paul Gerard Smith. When it opened on Broadway on November 22, 1927, as the very first show on the newly built Alvin Theatre, it starred Fred Astaire and his sister Adele Astaire. It was in this show that Fred Astaire first danced in evening clothes and a top hat. Originally called ""Smarty"", it first opened in Philadelphia on October 11, 1927 to poor reviews. This led to major rewrites and caused critic-humorist Robert Benchley, who had"
"credited as a member of the board in addition to production and lighting manager, although not as lighting designer. She was lighting designer for hundreds of productions, including numerous Broadway shows, Martha Graham's dances, the New York City Ballet, and the Metropolitan Opera. On Broadway she lit musicals such as ""West Side Story"" (1957), ""The Sound of Music"" (1959), ""Take Me Along"" (1959), ""A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum"" (1962), ""Fiddler on the Roof"" (1964), ""Hello, Dolly!"" (1964), ""Cabaret"" (1966), and ""The Happy Time"" (1968). Some of her major contributions were the elimination of shadows by"
"Gelbart to reprise his role as Pseudolus in ""A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum"" at the Piccadilly Theatre in London's West End. The play was eventually revised and updated and had its premiere in Chesterfield in January 2011 and then embarked on a UK tour. Produced and directed by Bruce James, it starred Damian Williams, host of Sky One's ""Are You Smarter Than A Ten Year Old?"", as Lurcio the slave. An acting edition of the play was published by Josef Weinberger Ltd in 2012. For many years, no complete home video release had been undertaken"