Fifty years ago this August, the inaugural production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum finally closed after nearly 1,000 performances. Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart's book had won a Tony Award, as had star Zero Mostel and director George Abbott. Stephen Sondheim's score, though, hadn't even scored a nomination--despite the fact that the show itself had also taken the Tony for Best Musical. A funny thing, indeed.
At least it wasn't one of those historical ironies in which a loser becomes a classic while a winner is promptly forgotten. The Best Original Score that year was Lionel Bart's for Oliver!--not too shabby.
In the first of two successful Broadway revivals of Forum, Phil Silvers took on the role of Pseudolus in 1972 and promptly won a Tony of his own. Nathan Lane did the same in the 1996 production. Today we learned that the musical's fourth coming may be forthcoming, its biggest selling point the possibility that James Corden, Tony winner for his performance in the 2012 Broadway hit One Man, Two Guvnors, will take on the role of Pseudolus.
Corden is in talks with producers to star in a spring 2015 production, with Alex Timbers (Rocky, Here Lies Love) in negotiations to direct. Cast, creative team, and the production itself have not been confirmed, though anonymous sources told The Times that the deals looked promising.
