Baker
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Title?I know this is kind of random... but I saw the show and I don't understand how the title has anything to do with the musical...  Could someone clue me in?
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what_the_heck013
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I honestly have no idea and have wondered the same thing. I know that there is that scene which I believe is only in the movie where they actually go to the forum. Perhaps that's why. I find the title misleading because "a funny thing" means only 1 funny thing but in actuality, there are several funny things in the show.
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JelliclePat
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In vaudeville, and later radio and television, it was a standard intro for a comedian to come on stage, say something like: 'A funny thing happened to me on the way to the theater tonight', and then launch into his routine. The title for '...Forum' is a send-up of this tradition, that's all.
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bwaybrunette21
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I think the reason is when Domina goes to the Forum and stuff - on the way ... I guess a funny thing happened (but I agree with what the heck, a ton of things happen)
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JelliclePat
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Actually, *no*body goes to the Forum. Senex and Domina are on their way to visit her mother in the country, but never make it. Everything happens in and around the three houses. So, the title is on a par with 'I just flew in from San Francisco...and boy! are my arms tired!!' Simple.
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what_the_heck013
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Actually, I really like the whole vaudeville fact. It would be neat to work that into a production of Forum. Perform the show in an old, art deco sort of theatre with people serving drinks in a cross between a toga and a flipper outfit and perform "Comedy Tonight" like a vaudeville act, and then have the set change to the three houses during the song. I'm so clever! I'm so clever! I'm so clever forever and bright!
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JelliclePat
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Actually, a local group did something like that a few years ago. Domina look like Margaret DuMont from the Marx Brothers movies, the Courtesans were Mack Sennett Bathing Beauties, Erronius was a vaudeville comedian, etc. Unfortunately, it didn't work as well as planned, at least, not for me. It was forced, and there was none of the pizzaz that there is when it's done in Roman style. (It is, after all, a theater history lesson in disguise.) The cast did a lovely job; it was just the updating that didn't work.
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what_the_heck013
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I wouldn't like the entire show to be updated. Just the opening number. It would be Roman Theatre with a Vaudeville flair.
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Salome
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The original Broadway cast had tons of Vaudeville and Borsht belt comics... David Burns,Jack Gilford,Raymond Walburn, and the first revival featured Phil Silvers and Nacy Walker.
So the whole vaudeville theme was never left out of the productions at all.
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JelliclePat
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Don't forget Zero Mostel, Salome! He was another graduate of the Borscht Belt circuit.
BTW, if you want to see Zero in a serious role, try to get hold of 'The Front'. He plays an actor whose career is ruined by the McCarthy hearings. Quite poignant, esp. when you realize that it nearly happened to him in reality.
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