One of Broadway's greatest farces will play Fisher Theater at Iowa State University for the annual Stars Over VEISHEA (SOV) production.
This year's SOV musical, "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum," will run for two weekends instead of the customary one. And the venue has changed from the traditional site of Stephens Auditorium to Fisher Theater.
According to ISU Theatre faculty member and the musical's director Brad Dell, the switch from tradition was made for a multitude of reasons.
"Ultimately our desire is to move SOV every other year from Stephens to Fisher," he said. "The Stephens stage is so large that it limits the type of show we can do. ‘Forum' is a smaller musical than say ‘Music Man' or ‘Grease' which we have done in recent years. It would be difficult to mount at Stephens."
Dell says the move to Fisher has an added benefit – the chance to offer additional performances of "Forum." All told, the cast will present eight shows including two high school matinees. Regular performances will be offered VEISHEA weekend (April 11-13) and the following weekend (April 18-20). Friday and Saturday evening curtain times are 7:30 p.m. with 2 p.m. matinees set for the Sunday offerings.
"A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" combines situations from the 2000-year-old Roman comedies with the infectious energy of classic vaudeville. It tells the bawdy story of a slave named Pseudolus and his attempts to win his freedom by helping his young master woo one of the courtesans who lives next door. As things go wrong, Pseudolus is forced to keep changing his complicated and ludicrous plans if he wishes to be a free man.
The SOV production will lash onto the vaudeville theme and will mount a production that "would be how Vegas would do it." That means feather fans, bubbles, chase lights, mirror balls and more.
"There is a wonderful vaudeville feel to the show," Dell says. "The script is has an over the top silliness and hilarity to it. We always want SOV to be a crowd pleaser and there isn't more of a musical crowd pleaser than ‘A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.'"
The Broadway musical was the winner of five Tony awards including best musical and best book. The book was written by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart with music and lyrics by Broadway legend Stephen Sondheim including the most well-known tune from the show, "Comedy Tonight."
Chris Ebke leads the SOV cast as Pseudolus. Other major cast members include William T. Mort, Senex; Samantha McCurry, Domina; Laura Rudolph, Philia; Bryce Larsen, Hero; Mat Wymore, Hysterium; Amanda Mullen, Erronius; Brian Weiss, Miles Gloriosus; and Michael Heath, Lycus.
The show is under the musical direction of Donald Simonson, professor of music. It is choreographed by ISU Dance faculty member Taryn Packheiser and designed by ISU Theatre members Robert Sunderman, sets; Doris Nash, costumes; and Jim Trenberth, lighting.
Tricia Stubbs is the VEISHEA producer of "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum."
Tickets are $12 for students and $16 for adults and are available at the Iowa State Center Ticket office at 515-294-2479.
