Etobicoke Musical Productions

proudly presents

A word from the director

Something familiar, something peculiar. Something for everyone - a comedy tonight! Join us this fall as EMP proudly presents A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum. A hilarious musical farce set in the streets of Rome around 200 B.C.

Follow the antics of Pseudolus, a wily, conniving slave as he tries to trick and cajole his freedom from his young love-smitten owner, aptly named Hero. Throw in a philandering father, overbearing mother, eunuchs, courtesans, heroes, cowards, soldiers, sailors, lovers, long-lost relatives, and pirates, wrap them all in a Roman toga, and you can imagine the potential for gags, giggles, guffaws, and outright belly laughs.

Forum's fantastically funny book was written by Larry Gelbart and Burt Shevelove. The show's book is based on the plays of Titus Maccius Plautus who lived from about 254 BC to 184 BC. He wrote around 100 plays for the enjoyment of the fun-loving Romans of his day. Perhaps Plautus' best-known play was called The Menaechmi ('The two brothers named Menaechmus') on which Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors is based. Gelbart is probably best known as the originator, writer, and co-producer of the hugely succesful sit-com M*A*S*H. Look for more of his brilliant comic timing in EMP's upcoming production of City of Angels. Shevelove, a well-known broadway director, also had his roots in television where in the early fifties he created programs for the likes of Art Carney, Red Buttons, Bob Hope, and Sid Caesar.

Forum is also a first for the writer of the music and lyrics: the incomparable Stephen Sondheim. This was the first time that Sondheim lent both his musical AND lyrical talents both to the same show. He had gained major attention by writing the lyrics for Leonard Bernstein's music in West Side Story' and for Jule Styne's music in Gypsy. Since Forum, he has gone on to write some of broadway's most memorable musicals including Sweeney Todd, A Little Night Music, Into The Woods, Sunday in the Park with George, Company, Follies, and Passion.

A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum was first performed on Broadway on May 8, 1962 where it stayed for a run of 966 performances. It garnered six of the 21 Tony Awards given out in 1963 including: Best musical, Best actor in a musical (Zero Mostel), Best libretto (Larry Gelbart and Burt Shevelove), Best featured or supporting actor in a musical (David Burns), Best director (George Abbott), and Best producer (Harold Prince). Subsequent revivals have featured Phil Silvers, Mickey Rooney, Milton Berle, Jose Ferrer, Nathan Lane, and Whoopi Goldberg.

So, after over two thousand years of re-writing, Funny Things will Happen On The Way To The Forum once again in Burnhamthorpe Auditorium in November of 1999 as EMP closes this century with the funniest comedy ever put to music. I dare you not to laugh!

Hope to see you there…