Comedy tonight!
Written by Ken Lawton Sunday, 08 January 2012 22:49
The farcical musical comedy A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum opens the 2012 year for East Kilbride Rep Theatre Club to chase away the winter blues and raise the spirits. Forget the weather, forget the economic times and let EK Rep transport you back to ancient Rome when the sun shone all the time, the wine flowed and the girls… well, were girls!
The plot hinges on three Roman houses next door to each another. One is the home of Pseudolus' Masters, the philandering Senex; his domineering wife, Domina and their handsome but empty-headed son, Hero. The second house is a brothel belonging to unctuous procurer Lycus. The third house has long been empty, in that its owner, the senile Erronius has gone on a long journey to find his children, who were kidnapped in infancy by pirates. Other characters include Pseudolus' fellow slave, the aptly named Hysterium, a vain warrior Miles Gloriosus who marches triumphantly into Rome declaring "I am a parade!"; and the virginal Philia, a resident of Lycus' "domicile" who is loved by Hero but who has been promised in marriage to Miles Gloriosus.
The story includes classic elements of farce including puns, cases of mistaken identity (frequently involving characters disguising themselves as one another), and satirical comments on social class and of course… these girls!
Something for everyone, including the memorable songs and music of Stephen Sondheim.
The musical's original 1962 Broadway run won several Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best Book. A Funny Thing... has enjoyed several Broadway and West End revivals and was made into a successful film starring the original lead of the musical, Zero Mostel. In the hit in the West End, the lead was that well loved comic Frankie Howard.
EK Rep Theatre last performed this in 2000 when it had a very successful run. Good, sound plays and musicals are always worth retelling, if for no other reason than to a new audience.
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
Music & lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by Burt Shevelove & Larry Gelbart
Originally produced on Broadway by Harold Prince
Produced by Aileen Waite
This amateur production is presented by arrangement with JOSEF WEINBERGER LIMITED on behalf of MUSIC THEATRE INTERNATIONAL of NEW YORK
Wednesday 15th - Saturday 18th February, 2012. 7.30pm
The Village Theatre, Maxwell Drive, East Kilbride
Tickets: £7.50 / £5.50 concession
Village Theatre Box Office Tel: (01355) 248669
Tickets also available from EK Arts Centre, Tel: (01355) 261000
