A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum
OPENING: May 1, 1962
CLOSING: August 29, 1964
Date Seen: July 1962
LOCATION: Alvin
I think it goes without saying that as theatre goers, especially frequent ones, we begin to figure out what kind of shows we like and those which we don’t. In July of 1962, when my dad was eleven, I think his distaste for Vaudevillian comedy began. He hates Noises Off and can’t stand anything that resembles a farce. It’s just not the kind of show he enjoys. It’s interesting – while my grandfather famously “couldn’t stand a show with a message” (This was his explanation as to why he walked out of a performance of the original Oklahoma), my dad seems to need the message to enjoy a good piece of theatre. He will never admit this, of course, but it’s fun to think about.
I believe it was around this time that this taste of his began to develop. Namely, from the show he saw in July of 1962. So what show was it, you might ask? It was none other than A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum.
I have a confession to make: As much as I like to think of myself as a walking theater encyclopedia, there are a handful of shows that I am painfully unaware of. Forum is on that list. My experience and familiarity with it extends to singing the opening number (A Comedy Tonight) in a middle school chorus concert and watching the film around the same time when I was home sick from school. At the time, I enjoyed the slapstick but overall thought it was just another movie from the sixties.
I am rewatching the film as I write this. My thoughts on it as an adult, when I am not dying from the flu?
1. Definitely very sixties. Delirious Morgana had that one right.
2. Michael Crawford definitely worked his way up – From Forum to Hello Dolly to the original Phantom of the Opera.
3. I can see why my theater buddy Steve wants to play Pseudolus.
4. I can also see why my dad did not have the soundtrack on the CD rack with the other classics.
5. I probably shouldn’t have been allowed to watch this as a kid.
Forum, at it’s core, is a slapstick comedy. Based on Platus’s Roman Farces, it follows the story of Pseudolus, a Roman slave who wants nothing more than his freedom. Using Vaudeville gags and physical comedy, Pseudolus bumbles his way through Rome trying to procure the lovely Philia from the neighboring House of Lycus for his young master, Hero. In exchange for Philia, Hero has promised Pseudolus his freedom. In the typical comedy of errors-type play, everything that could go wrong does.
If the journey of any show mirrored its trip to Broadway, Forum was it. Milton Berle, originally offered the role of Pseudolus, was eventually dropped from the project when his demands began to rival those of a producer. The script, whittled down for comprehension, was received as flat in the out of town tryouts. Tensions within the cast and crew manifested on stage. When it finally opened in May of 1962, it took several months for ticket sales to be anywhere close to respectable.
I would like to make one thing clear: though my dad will rant and rave and tell you that shows such as Forum and Noises Off are awful and should never be revived again – when I lost a part in Noises Off, he emitted a visible sigh of relief – he is able to acknowledge pieces that he finds respectable. In the case of Forum, that piece is Zero Mostel. In my research, I have discovered that he was an absolute treasure of a man who never truly got his moment.
Born into a large Orthodox Jewish family 1915, Samuel Joel Mostel had a gift for the arts from an early age. Originally slated for a life as a rabbi, “Sammy” excelled in school. He graduated from City College of New York in 1935, where he reportedly performed in Hamlet. Through the depression, he had a job with the Public Works of Art Project and was performing comedy routines at any night club with an amateur night. Eventually, his prowess on stage became more and more well known and Sammy, rebranded as Zero by his agent, began booking acting gigs.
However, nothing is ever that easy. Zero found himself in front of a certain Senator McCarthy in 1952 and landed on the Hollywood blacklist for eleven years. His accuser was none other than Jerome Robbins, who also named Madeline Gilford – wife to Jack Gilford who costarred in Forum. (Brown).
Despite the struggle, Forum endures as a benchmark of Musical Theater Comedy. It ended up bringing home nine Tonys after being nominated for eleven. Of those nine wins, one went to Zero for Best Actor in a Musical and one was for Best Musical. My dad and aunt, of course, barely remember the experience. My dad remembers Zero being “Very Comedic” and my aunt remembers merely the togas. Still, it’s another Playbill I can hold proudly and imagine what it must have felt like to sit in the presence of the irreplaceable Mr. Mostel.
CAST: ORIGINAL
PROLOGUS: Zero Mostel
THE PROTEANS: Eddie Phillips, George Reeder, David Evans
SENEX, A CITIZEN OF ROME: David Burns
DOMINA, HIS WIFE: Ruth Kobart
HERO, HIS SON: Brian Davies
HYSTERIUM, SLAVE TO SENEX AND DOMINA: Jack Gilford
LYCUS, A DEALER IN COURTESANS: John Carradine
PSEUDOLUS, SLAVE TO HERO: Zero Mostel
TINTINABULA: Roberta Keith
PANACEA: Lucienne Bridou
THE GEMINAE: Lisa James, Judy Alexander
VIBRATA: Myrna White
GYMNASIA: Gloria Kristy
PHILIA: Preshy Marker
ERRONIUS, A CITIZEN OF ROME: Raymond Walburn
MILES GLORIOSUS, A WARRIOR: Ronald Holgate
Atkinson, Brooks. “Broadway.” New York: Macmillian Publishing Co, Inc, 1970.
Bordman, Gerald. “American Musical Theatre: A Chronicle.” New York: Oxford University Press, Inc., 1978.
Brown, Jared. “Zero Mostel: A Biography.” New York: Athenium, 1989.
Butterfield, Roger. “Zero Mostel: He Is A Funny Man With A Method In His Madness.” Life Magazine. January 18, 1943. https://books.google.com/books?id=mE4EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA61#v=onepage&q&f=false
Internet Broadway Database. Accessed September 2022. www.ibdb.com
Millstein, Gilbert. “A Funny Man Happened; His Name is Zero Mostel, And He is 235 Pounds of Comodian Who Can Imitate A Percolator But Would Also Like To Play King Lear Someday. A Funny Man Happened.” New York Times, June 3, 1962. https://www.nytimes.com/1962/06/03/archives/a-funny-man-happened-his-name-is-zero-mostel-and-he-is-235-pounds.html?searchResultPosition=10
Taubman, Howard. “’’A Funny Thing Happened’: Musical at the Alvin Stars Zero Mostel” New York Times, May 9, 1962. https://www.nytimes.com/1962/05/09/archives/theatre-a-funny-thing-happened-musical-at-the-alvin-stars-zero.html?searchResultPosition=3
Zolotow, Sam. “Mostel Leaving Fiddler August 14.” New York Times, July 19, 1965. https://www.nytimes.com/1965/07/19/archives/mostel-leaving-fiddler-aug-14-to-join-funny-thing-film-adler-taking.html?searchResultPosition=1
