Customer Reviews

A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum (1962 Original Broadway Cast)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Innitially, when i first listened to this recording after buying it, i was slightly dissapointed. I certainly enjoyed the different music styles and clever lyrics, but i felt that the stars, and Zero Mostel in particular, were not as great as i had been led to believe they were. Comedy Tonight proved something of a dissapointment, and i winced several times during Free, where it seemed to me that Mostel had stopped singing and had started yowling. The only numbers that immediately made a favorable impression upon me were Lovely and Impossible, and these are still my favorite moments in the CD. What i didnt realize was that i had been listening to the recording with the ears of someone who expected to find the classic,overwhelming style of the period, full of showstoppers and sweeping romantic moments. This piece is none of those things. Indeed, in many ways, it is not like any musical i had ever heard before, and i have heard quite a few. It is...I suppose the only way to describe it is to call it a phenomenon that occured purely by chance when three men came together with a vision of a musical that would mesh the comic style of the Roman playwright Plautus with classic American vaudeville and do it so effectively that it would become a timeless classic of musical theater that would continue to delight audiences for over fourty years. This piece has been performed so often, and is such a well known favorite that it is a wonder to me that i, devoted musical fan that i am, could have gone so long without having any knowledge of it. I now know how deprived i was, and how deprived you will be if you do not buy this recording. And whatever you do,dont buy a different one until you own this one. While i have only heard extracts from other recordings, i can safely say that no musical collection is complete without THIS recording of the material. It isn't only because there is a freshness, a tentative bubble of excitement hanging over this recording, or because the orchestrations and the quality of the CD are very good. After you have bought it, and listened to it several times, ask yourself, honestly if you could imagine A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum without Zero Mostel, or indeed without any of the other stars. The cast are so superbly suited to the piece that it is little wonder that it became an immediate hit, and they have a lot to do with the fact that this musical has made its mark in an industry that is one of the most popular forms of live entertainment the world has ever known. The whole thing is wonderful...there is not one song in it that does not grow on, or appeal instantly to the listener. How i could have ever been less than overwhelmed with Comedy Tonight is beyond me, and there are many other memorable moments on this CD. Do not hesitate over this one. Just buy it. You can always give it away if you find it less than satisfactory, but i seriously doubt that you will. Sorry for taking up so much of your time, but when i am passionate about something, i want the whole world to share it with me.

Being the first musical wherein Stephen Sondheim did both music and lyrics, it was not expected to be a hit. Many of the critics of the musical in its 1962 run were proven wrong when this smashing musical has endeared itself, musically or otherwise, with the theater-going public. Even to this day, the revival run continues to fascinate audiences, who are not too easy to believe that this is (still not was, eh George) Sondheim's full first.

The recording itself is quite a masterpiece. It really captures every bit of the emotions exhibited on stage. Listening to it, even if you don't know the storyline behind the show, will give you the imagination-aid to see and hear the musical in your mind. Compared to the original London cast (Frankie Howerd et al) and 1996 Broadway revival cast (Nathan Lane et al), this recording is the best. Buy this CD. Also, if you are into jazz, try the Varese Sarabande release of The Trotter Trio's instrumental version.

I have very little doubt that this original cast album will always be the best recording of this show. Who else but Zero Mostel could make this role/show so memorable? This show also has the distinction of being the first with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. While his craft would grow considerably in the years following this effort, the work here is solid and enjoyable. "Comedy Tonight" is a classic and "Pretty Little Picture" gives us our first glance into Sondheim's future. While the comedy of the script may overshadow the comedy of the songs, they are funny in their own right. "Lovely" and "Everybody Ought to Have a Maid" are both very funny. Still, the historical relevance of this work is more of a reason to buy it than the score itself. If you're Sondheim fan, this CD is a must.

After providing the libretto for the musicals "West Side Story" and "Gypsy", Stephen Sondheim decided to write both music and lyrics for his next project, which turned out to be A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM, a raucous, musical comedy (with the emphasis on comedy) set in Ancient Rome, and featuring a book by Larry Gelbart and Burt Shevelove.

The original production opened on Broadway at the Alvin Theatre on May 8, 1962, and went on to run for 964 performances. The lead role of Pseudolus was originally earmarked for Milton Berle and Phil Silvers - for various reasons both were unavailable - and the part wound up going to Zero Mostel, who created one of his most well-remembered roles.

Brian Davies (fresh from playing Rolf in Broadway's "The Sound of Music") is a very well-sung Hero, nicely-partnered by Preshy Marker in the role of Philia. Their duet "Lovely" is adorable, and Marker's 11 o'clocker "That'll Show Him" is good value.

The colourful supporting cast included some big names on the Broadway musical comedy scene (Ruth Kobart, David Burns, Jack Gilford). John Carradine and Ronald Holgate (as the preening he-man Miles Gloriosus) add some fun to the numbers, too. Songs like "Comedy Tonight!", "Dirty Old Man", and "Everybody Ought to Have a Maid", are the kind of fall-down funny numbers that one seldom hears in musicals these days.

While ...FORUM established Stephen Sondheim as Broadway's "golden boy of the moment", his next big show, "Anyone Can Whistle", folded after only nine performances. In 1965, he decided to go back to doing the libretto for Richard Rodgers' "Do I Hear a Waltz?", only for it to be another middling failure. Success would come in the 1970s and 80s with a series of highly-stylised works (beginning with "Company").

Here in ...FORUM, you can hear Sondheim in full musical comedy mode, with a score that fairly bubbles with merriment and mirth.

[Angel Broadway/EMI 0777 7 64770 2 2]

There are so many productions of FORUM each year that Sondheim could easily have retired and lived off the royalties of this one show. (Fortunately for us, he didn't)

Usually the first original cast recording is prferable over later revival and film versions. In this case, the 1996 revival cast with Nathan Lane is slightly better and more closely resembles the score the way it is presented in the theatre.

This original 1962 cast is not quite as polished a recording, but it does have Zero Mostel, Jack Gilford and the other members of the original cast sailing though Sondheim's music and lyrics with a spririt of fun.

The London cast with Frankie Howard is now out-of-print but it s a very amatureish recording. And avoid at all costs the film soundtrack!

I recently saw a great production of "Funny Thing Happened," in Roanoke not so long ago with my girlfriend. We had both listened to the CD prior to seeing it and loved the songs from it and the play was a riot! It was just so funny I couldn't stop laughing. I especially liked Hero, and want the part so badly. No wonder this musical is such a big High School and Summer Stock fave. Everybody ought to have a copy of this CD.

As a high school senior I played Domina in A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM. I then owned the original Broadway cast recording on cassette, and recently I bought the CD version. Revisiting the score after seven years brought back many wonderful memories for me. I dare to say that FORUM is the funniest musical ever written as well as the least likely to "date," simply because its humor is based on conventions of comedy that date back to ancient Roman times, as well as on those of classic American vaudeville. In other words, the kind of jokes that are in FORUM have always been funny and always will be. But the brilliance of the libretto should not overshadow that of the score, the first for which Stephen Sondheim wrote both music and lyrics. From the lush and tuneful overture its freshness must have struck 1962 audiences. I agree that "Pretty Little Picture" is the most typically Sondheim-esque song in the show, though each number bears his characteristic stamps: unexpected rhymes and unusual melodies. "Comedy Tonight" sets the scene; "Love, I Hear" is a lyrical delight, "Everybody Ought to Have a Maid" a vaudevillian showstopper, and both "Bring Me My Bride" and "That Dirty Old Man" mock arias.
Zero Mostel, who stars as Pseudolous (the "tricky servant" who wants freedom) sings well, though it is his outsize personality and presence that really matter, of course. Brian Davies and Preshy Marker have lovely, fresh, youthful voices as the two lovers; Ron Holgate and Ruth Kobart have the high-quality voices to do justice to their semi-operatic numbers; and Jack Gilford, with his distinctively high-pitched, timid-sounding voice, is adorable as Hysterium, the nervous slave. The CD booklet includes a fine essay on the show by Mark Kirkeby and several photos, including a wonderful color one of Mostel, Gilford, John Carradine, and David Burns in "Everybody Ought to Have a Maid." This FORUM is a classic recording, because it has a great cast and preserves Sondheim's first Broadway score.

Zero Mostel, John Carradine, David Burns, Jack Gilford, Ronald Holgate, Ruth Kobart, Brian Davies; can there be a better cast? When this crowd gets into numbers like COMEDY TONIGHT and EVERYBODY OUGHT TO HAVE A MAID, you'll see what I mean. Plus you should listen to LOVELY, with Davies and Preshy Marker.

I ordered A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum for one song:That Dirty Old Man, and found myself enchanted with the whole CD. I saw the movie a few years ago on Encore and loved it, and found the CD just as good. If you like old movies and old Broadway shows you will find A Funny Thing delightful.

Faye Macey

I really enjoyed the sound quality of this CD. My LP had worn out, especially on my favorite pieces. It was really great to hear "Dirty Old Man" with no skips or scratchy static.