As you may know, my favorite musical is A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. I've seen an awful lot of productions of it, good and bad. I'm looking forward to the version that the Reprise! group is doing up at U.C.L.A. from March 16 through March 28 because they usually do very fine work, even if their shows only run for a handful of performances.
David Lee is directing and they've announced the cast: Lee Wilkof, Larry Raben, Michael Kostroff, Alan Mandell, Ron Orbach, Erich Bergen and Ruth Williamson. The ensemble will consist of Annie Abrams, Stuart Ambrose, Bradley Benjamin, Matthew Patrick Davis, Meg Gillentine, Tonya Kay, Laura Keller, Mercy Malick, Russ Marchand, Candace Olsen and Justin Wilco. I'm not sure exactly who's playing who but there are some terrific people in there and you might want to get tickets now before they're all gone. Here's a link to do that.
On two Saturday afternoons — March 20 and 27 — the 2PM matinees will be preceded at Noon by a free lecture on the history of this show. They are open to all, even if you don't attend the performances, and they will be conducted by that eminent authority on Forum, me. When I agreed to do these, it was partly because the show's co-author, Larry Gelbart, told me he'd be glad to come in and let me interview him. Then, a few weeks later, he reneged on that commitment by dying. So I'm not sure what I'm going to do…maybe just babble on for an hour as I did when I lectured there last year on Li'l Abner. I will not be wearing a toga or singing so it's safe to attend.