In case this blog reaches anyone that the Daily Telegraph doesn't, here's the opening of the rave review by Charles
Spencer of 'A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum' at the
National Theatre. By the way, the review continues in this enthusiastic
vein, and ends by pointing out that there are seats available for just
£10. Go for it!
Friends, readers, countrymen, lend me your ears; I come to praise this glorious show, not to bury it.
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There may have been more tuneful, more touching, more ambitious musicals than A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962), but I can think of none that is more spectacularly generous when it comes to the gags.
It
was the first show for which Stephen Sondheim wrote both music and
lyrics, and it kicks off with one of the most exuberant opening numbers
that he, or anyone else, has ever penned, Comedy Tonight. The promise
of that song is abundantly fulfilled in the delirious two hours that
follow, as scriptwriters Larry Gelbart and Burt Shevelove adapt the
comedies of the Roman dramatist Plautus.
