The PHILIP QUAST Guide - Stage - Musicals - A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM

Music & Lyrics by Stephen SONDHEIM
Book by Burt SHEVELOVE & Larry GELBART
Freely adapted from the Roman comedies Miles Gloriosus,
Pseudolus & Mostellaria by Plautus

Venue: Olivier Theatre (NT), London (UK)
Dates: 28 June 2004 to 2 November 2004 (76 performances)
Opening Night: 9 July 2004

Producer: Royal National Theatre
Directed by Edward HALL
Musical supervisor & director: Martin LOWE
Set Designer: Julian CROUCH
Choreographer: Rob ASHFORD

MAIN CAST:

Prologus / Pseudolus	Desmond BARRIT*
Miles Gloriosus"	Philip QUAST
Senex	Sam KELLY
Domina	Isla BLAIR*
Hero	Vince LEIGH
Philia	Caroline SHEEN*
Hysterium	Hamish McCOLL*

* Find updates about this artist's career on our Old Friends Page

RELATED SECTIONS:	Full Cast & Crew Articles Reviews	Production Photos Photo Gallery (© Geraint Lewis Photography) Curtain-call Photos Full Libretto (external link)
WEBLINKS: (new browser windows)	Production History NT Production Page (with Photos) The Stephen Sondheim Society

INTRODUCTION
The origins of Forum go back more than 2,000 years to the Latin playwright Titus Maccius Plautus (251-183 B.C.), who wrote a prodigious number of uproarious, wild, lewd and highly theatrical farces, of which twenty survive. Shevelove and Gelbart read them all and by taking a character here and a situation there and a few inventions of their own, came up with the hilarious plot of the musical, for which Stephen Sondheim wrote - for the first time in his career - both the music and the lyrics.

The original production of Forum - which has been variously defined as "a fast moving farce", "a vaudeville-based Roman spoof" and "a musical madhouse" - opened at the Alvin Theatre, NY, on May 8th 1962 and immediately became the biggest success of the season, picking up six Tony Awards. It was later revived on Broadway in 1972 with Phil Silvers in the leading role, and had two London productions (1963 and 1986), both starring British comedian Frankie Howerd.

(Excerpts mainly from: Proscenium Publications, by Christopher Robinson, 1988)

SYNOPSIS
Pseudolus, a slave, is promised his freedom by his master's son Hero, if he acquires the courtesan Philia whom Hero is in love with. Unfortunately, Philia has already been sold to a Captain, Miles Gloriosus, who will collect her later that day. Pseudolus tells Philia's owner, Lycus, that she has the plague and offers to look after her until Miles comes. Miles arrives and demands his bride and threatens to kill Pseudolus if he cannot produce her. But Pseudolus pretends that Philia has died of the plague and persuades his fellow slave Hysterium to act as her body. During Philia's funeral Miles discovers that the body is not dead. After a chase scene and many mistaken identities, it is uncovered that Miles and Philia are brother and sister, so they cannot marry. Hero can therefore have his love, and Pseudolus his freedom.

Click HERE for a more detailed synopsis (from The Guide to Musical Theatre)
Click HERE for an even more detailed synopsis! (from Musical Heaven)

Edward Hall is the son of Sir Peter Hall - who has recently celebrated 50 years in the theatre - and is married to singer Issy van Randwyck. If you want to learn more about his past career, read an interesting interview published in The Guardian a couple of years ago.

Isla Blair played the role of Philia in the Original London Production (1963).

Pseudolus Corner
Interviews with Des Barrit

The one professional singer who really sung the cast off, I thought, was Philip Quast who plays Miles Gloriosus..., swaggering soldier... he was SO in love with himself... which was, I thought, not only a sublimely comic performance but also beautifully sung.

Writer Tom Holland
in conversation with Mark Lawson
Front Row, BBC Radio 4, July 2004

Listen to an audioclip

I think it's absolutely appropriate for the National to be doing this show and the reason is that it's done so well and it gives us a chance to see actors... I'd like to put a word in here for Philip Quast, for instance, who plays Miles Gloriosus, who is one of the most sublimely awful character… He sings brilliantly and we need to see those actors letting their hair down.

Art expert Jenista McIntosh in conversation with Tom Sutcliffe
Saturday Review, BBC Radio 4, July 2004

Listen to an audioclip

MUSICAL NUMBERS

ACT ONE
Overture - Orchestra
Comedy Tonight - Prologus, the Proteans & Company
Love, I Hear - Hero
Free - Pseudolus & Hero
The House of Marcus Lycus - Lycus & Ensemble
Lovely - Hero & Philia
[Pretty Little Picture - removed during previews]
Take Me - Philia
Everybody Ought to Have a Maid - Senex, Pseudolus, Hysterium, Lycus
I'm Calm - Hysterium
Impossible - Hero & Senex
Bring Me My Bride - Miles Gloriosus , Pseudolus & Company

ACT TWO
That Dirty Old Man - Domina
That'll Show Him - Philia
Lovely (reprise) - Pseudolus & Hysterium
Funeral sequence & Dance - Miles Gloriosus, Pseudolus & Company
Finale: Comedy Tonight - Company

The video / DVD of the Film version from 1966 are widely available (both online and not) in video stores. In the movie the role of Hero was played by a 24-yo unknown actor, named Michael Crawford...

In the 1996 Revival Production on Broadway the role of Pseudolus was played for a few months by ... Whoopi Goldberg!

The Olivier Stage

Harry Towb
(1925-2009)

There's lovely work too (...) from Harry Towb as a doddery old man in forlorn search of his missing children...

Charles Spencer, Daily Telegraph

Last modified: 30-Jan-2010

A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM

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