Archive: Arts & Entertainment

The Hangar Theatre will present A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum as this season's musical from June 29 until July 15, 2017. The musical combines the classical Broadway fare, the comedy of ancient Rome, and a healthy shake of vaudeville. A witty and hilarious book by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart is accompanied by upbeat and beautiful music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. With classic numbers like 'Comedy Tonight' and 'Everybody Ought to Have a Maid' Forum turns the ancient Roman farces into a big, spectacular, Broadway musical you won't want to miss.

A Funny Things Happened on the Way to the Forumwill be directed by the Hangar's Artistic Director Michael Barakiva and choreographed by Mimi Quillin.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum follows Pseudolus, a Roman slave who bargains for his freedom by assisting his master, Hero, in wooing the girl next door, Philia. The bawdy tale that ensues is complete with mistaken identity, slamming doors, and clever satire- promising 'something for everyone'.

In the role of the freedom seeking Pseudolus, making his Hangar Theatre debut, is Michael Goldstrom, has been seen on Broadway in Mambo Kings and off-Broadway in Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), Kitty Kitty Kitty, Can-Can, and A Soldier's Tale (Carnegie Hall). Ithaca based actor Aundre Seals joins Golstrom as his fellow plebian, Hysterium. Seals' local credits include Peter and the Starcatcher, and Hand to God (Kitchen Theatre) and most recently as Aldolpho in The Drowsy Chaperone at the Cider Mill Playhouse.

Herndon Lackey and Linda Marie Larson, both making their Hangar Theatre debuts, play the master and mistress of the house. Lackey's Broadway credits include Erich Geibel in LoveMusik, Hugh Dorsey in Parade, and Tom Davenport in Inherit the Wind. Larson, who has previously collaborated with director Barakiva on a regional production of The Clean House, has Broadway credits including Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Deuce, Jackie: An American Life.

The young lovers, Hero and Philia, are played by Ithaca College Theatre Arts alumni Jacob Shipley and Alexandra Nicopoulos both of whom are also making their Hangar Theatre debuts. Shipley was most recently Willmore in the Ithaca College production of The Rover and was previously seen at the Infinity Theatre Company in Baby and Ring of Fire: The Music of Johnny Cash and at the Mac-Haydn Theatre in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas and Les Misérables. Nicopoulus was most recently Joanne in the Ithaca College production of Company. Her other recent credits include Loves Labours Lost, Tis Pity She's a Whore, and Bat Boy: the Musical, all at 4615 Theater Company in Washington D.C.

Robyn Payne, who very recently made her Hangar debut as Jory in Disgraced earlier this month, will be playing the gender-swapped madam in the local house of ill-repute, Marcia Lycus, usually portrayed as Marcus Lycus. Chris White, who plays the Roman captain Miles Gloriosus, was most recently seen touring the country in Of Ebony Embers, a one-man play chronicling the trials of four Harlem Renaissance artists. Rounding out the cast is Ithaca native Greg Bostwick who was last seen on the Hangar stage in 2014 in Other Desert Cities.

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