| frankie howerd |  |
| a funny thing... | ...happened on the way to the forum |
| frankie howerd | |
| a funny thing... | ...happened on the way to the forum |
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Stephen Sondheilm (of West Side Story fame with Leonard Bernstein) wrote the music and lyrics for Forum and it was premiered in Broadway in early 1962. Two actors took on the role - Milton Berle and Zero Mostel - the latter taking the performance onwards and upwards. The show was unlike anythiong doing the rounds of Broadway at that time. It was funny, odd and nodded towards British pantomime. It received rave notices and played for over a yeat before a British staged version was mooted. John Geilgud originally suggested that Frankie would be the ideal stand-in for Zero Mostel in the London adaptation. One of the two writers of Forum (Larry Gelbart and Burt Shevelore) tagged along with Sondheim to catch a performance of Frankie in, of all luck, a pantomime in Coventry. They sat through Puss in Boots - amazed and transfixed. Never having seen (or part of) a pantomime they came away with minds racing - Frankie was purrrfect - oh yes he was! |
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Frankie was offered the part of Pseudolus - but on no account was he allowed to adapt the script - as he was wont to do. Other cast members included Carry on stalwart Kenneth Connor (Hysterium). Jon Pertwee (Lycus), Robertson Hare (Erronius) and Eddie Gray (nay, Monsewer Gray to you) as Senex. Initial rehearsals began in the autumn of 63 and opened at the Strand Theatre on 3 October and ran until July 1965 - a staggering success. The basis for Forum were the remaining works of Titus Plautus from 200 BC - since borrowed by Shakespeare and other writers. A short excerpt from "Comedy tonight" in MP3 format is on this page - see if you can find it (a hotspot on a photo is the only clue...) Frankie was awarded Critc's Award for Best Musical Actor in 1964 for his starring role. During the run Frankie also managed to appear in the tv series The Frankie Howerd Show, recorded on Sundays - his day off from Forum. |
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| Frankie and Dennis named their holiday villa in Malta - the Forum. A film version of the play was made - but the part that Frankie took to his heart went to the Broadway stage version actor Zero Mostel. |
 With Robertson Hare and Kenneth Connor |
 With Zero Mostel |
