A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum: From Stage to Screen

The Cast

Pseudolus
Zero Mostel

Lycus
Phil Silvers

Erronius
Buster Keaton

Hero
Michael Crawford

Hysterium
Jack Gilford

Philia
Annette Andre

Senex
Michael Hordern

Miles Glorious
Leon Greene

Roy Kinnear .Gladiator Instructor
Alfie Bass .Gatekeeper
John Bluthal .Gladiator Trainer
Pamela Brown.High Priestess
Patricia Jessel .Domina
Beatrix Lehmann.Domina's Mother
Frank Thornton .Roman soldier
Jennifer Baker. Geminae
Susan Baker .Geminae
Lucienne Bridou.Panacea
Helen Funai . Tintinabula
Bill Kerr .Gladiator-in-Training
Inga Neilsen .Gymnasia
Jon Pertwee .Crassus
Janet Webb. Fertilla
Myrna White .Vibrata

The Crew

Directed by
Richard Lester

Writing credits
Burt Shevelove (play) &
Larry Gelbart (play)
Melvin Frank &
Michael Pertwee

Produced by
Melvin Frank

Original music and lyrics by
Stephen Sondheim (songs)
Ken Thorne (additional music)

Cinematography by
Nicolas Roeg

Film Editing by
John Victor-Smith

Production Design by
Tony Walton

Costume Design by
Tony Walton

Trevor Crole-Kees
makeup artist
Bernadette Ibbetson
hair stylist
Carmen Sánchez
hair stylist
José María Sánchez
makeup artist

Miguel Gil
production manager
Roberto Roberts
production supervisor

José López Rodero
assistant director
Bob Simmons
second unit director

Bill Butler
sound editor
Don Challis
sound editor
Leslie Hammond
sound
Gerry Humphreys
sound

Cliff Richardson
special effects

Richard Bryan
assembly editor
Syd Cain
executive art director
Rita Davison
continuity
Austin Dempster
camera operator
Dinah Greet
assistant costume designer
José López Rodero
assistant production administrator

Ethel Martin
choreographer
George Martin
choreographer

Harold S. Prince
play producer
Alex Thomson
camera operator
Ken Thorne
musical director
Barry Vince
music editor
Richard Williams
title designer
Paul Wilson
camera operator:
Elisabeth Woodthorpe
production administrator

     Comedy
        Tonight

This song was added to the stage show late in the game and boy, are we glad it was. It is not used to tell the story, only as a bookend to say "We are going to tell you a story". Pseudelus (Mostel) takes over the screen as he introduces the players. Tony Walton's scenic design quickly become a character in the story itself.

The extremely well structured comedy has been flying at us at break-neck speed and its been a long time since we've had a song. "Lovely" is a simple piece that does not move the story forward and even distracts from all the interesting stuff up to that point. Already, the use of songs seems to offer the audience a chance to run to the kitchen. Richard Lester's dated romp through the woods is even more self-parody. The humor of the songs never matches the humor of the book. Lovely would have been better off silent.

Everybody Ought
to Have a Maid

We interrupt this story for a comedy number. This, like all the songs in this stripped down musical is a stop sign in the story and does not move the story forward. At least this one has four wonderfully funny people performing Sondheims sharp lyrics. The staging is very similar to the original broadway staging and director Lester even has fun with that by putting the camera behind the 'performers' as they sing facing the empty street.

     Bring Me
        My Bride

Although not a great or memorable tune, this song sticks out as the one used most appropriately in the film. The song is used to help introduce the pompous military man. Leon Greene is fabulous in the tongue in cheek role of Miles Glorious.

     Lovely
        (reprise)

The one joke song "Lovely" gets a one-joke reprise here when Pseudolus sings it to the dressed in drag Hysterium. This works very well because of Mostel and Gilfords commitment to the moment. And the recreation of the romantic romp through the woods is priceless.

     Comedy
        Tonight
    (finale)

And so, everything has tied up nicely and we repeat "Comedy Tonight".

From Stage
to Screen

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum was a very important project indeed. Not only was it the first show that American Theatrical Sweetheart Stephen Sondheim did both the music and lyrics, but it also brought the amazing Larry Gelbart (M*A*S*H*) to the musical theater, a journey he would take again in 1990 with "City of Angels." I love the show but, it was for Gelbert's laugh-a-minute book, not the one-joke-songs of Sondheim. Not to say that Sondheims lyrics are not clever, only that the quick paced book dialogue actually stops for each repetitive"Lovely" or redundant"I'm calm."(cut from the film) Its been said that Stephen said he did that intentionally to break up the pacing. That sounds like after the fact justification to me. I think this pacing problem explains why, upon initial release, this show was a "Zero Mostel" show, not a "Stephen Sondheim" show. This pacing becomes even more apparent in the film where most of the songs were cut. In watching the film you successfully forget it is a musical after each number and the sudden singing is as jarring as I've ever seen onscreen. (The first song in the story - Lovely- is after 20 minutes or so of screen time. and the remaining 2 songs appear after long intervals spanning the hour forty minute running time.) So, this was not to be a staged play. Richard Lester, who had successfully mounted a couple Beatles films, was brought in with his quick cut editing and a firm reliance on film techniques that will always look 1960s. They also brought in the late Tony Walton whose scenic design and costumes are just wonderful. Finally, the cast (including such wonderful funny folk as Zero Mostel, Phil Silvers, Buster Keaton and Jack Gilford) shows one of the great examples of screen teamwork. But, yet, the experience is lost in a sea of Benny Hill-esque action. This was not needed on stage - but to be fair, could not have been accomplished. So, the film is a watcher for the wonderful words of Larry Gelbart and for the 4 leading men. Michael Crawford, funny man turned Phantom man, plays the aloof one dimensional hero "Hero". All the female roles are even flatter. Many, many songs were cut from Sondheims original material.

Love I hear
Free
I'm Calm
Pretty Little Picture
Impossible
That Dirty Old Man
and
That'll show him

are nowhere to be found.
Enjoy a Comedy Tonight.