A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum with Nathan Lane (1996)

Wow, I sat through a very low quality bootleg but Nathan Lane and the production itself was spectacularly funny with a great supporting cast too. To me this clearly is one of the best/most important Sondheim revivals. Who managed to see this and what did you think?

A broadway revival really is desperately overdue.

Updated On: 12/13/25 at 04:26 AM

I saw it! It's hard to remember details, it was so long ago. But I do remember completely loving it. I was new to living in the city at the time and I think this was the first show I saw.

100% agree on this being ideal for Encores.

Not bad for someone who hasn’t had their morning coffee yet.

I honestly just need Richard Kind back on stage in anything, even if he’s just there to yell insults at an audience. I know my dream PRODUCERS revival with him and John Mulaney will never happen.

Even in the bootleg, you could tell it had been treated with love, like the Guys and Dolls revival. What was perfect about the original was kept, and the changes and updates were improvements and not just "because we can." The gag of the curtain going up revealing pretentious Greek tragedy, going down, and instantly coming up again to reveal Forum will always be in my mind as one of those perfect moments of comedy on a big budget.

It was very Looney Tunes, in the best way.

binau said: "A broadway revival really is desperately overdue."

I second this. Like quizking, I greatly enjoyed the Singature production, and the right combination of actor(s) and director could make for a fun evening.

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but I think Forum is the only Sondheim work of any stature at all not to have a major NYC production in the 2000s.

I also remember a Tony awards years ago where Josh Gad joked about playing Pseudolus and I was like… wait I’d go.

Forum is one of the few Sondheim’s I haven’t seen and I’d love for a revival of some sort. I know a lot of millennials feel the same way. There hasn’t been a major production in New York in decades.

darquegk said: "... What was perfect about the original was kept, and the changes and updates were improvements and not just "because we can." The gag of the curtain going up revealing pretentious Greek tragedy, going down, and instantly coming up again to reveal Forum will always be in my mind as one of those perfect moments of comedy on a big budget."

It will be 30 years ago this spring that I saw this production, so I don't remember too many details. The show is silly and I don't always appreciate that type of humor, but the gods came together for this production, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself, much more than I thought I would. I agree that the stagecraft with the curtain rising and dropping, only to immediately rise again revealing a different scene was special; it drew gasps and applause from the audience and let us know we were in for a good time.

Pro-shot clips from the 1996 Broadway "Forum"; the last two feature Nathan Lane's replacement, Whoopi Goldberg

https://youtu.be/BQqCydU8elY

https://youtu.be/b7Pf7vPfm8Y

https://youtu.be/J9IuUMsMnzk

https://youtu.be/wFBs4vTfZg8

https://youtu.be/4KWSfjB7acI

https://youtu.be/lo5Z8rC3zFk

https://youtu.be/syF10SAWXZo

https://youtu.be/f6twfrbUstA

I saw it. And yes, it was truly terrific.

Two things I remember -- both of which 'might' seem peculiar now.

First -- in those days, Lane was very much 'the second coming' of Zero Mostel, and so it was no surprise when the revical and cast was announced. And yes -- he definitely played to that. A lot of Mostel and a lot of Lane is a very winning combination. As in 'The Producers.' (Of course, since then, he has tried and succeeded in becoming much more than he was. Great props to him -- it's not like he couldnt have stayed in that 'lane' (sorry) and been terribly successful -- but clearly he wanted to be someone other than that -- and having seen him several times since then, he certainly has succeeded. His Roy Cohn was terribly terrific and lives with me -- especially in these terrible times.

The second thing I remember was that there was a couple who arrived more than a little late and was rather insistent on getting to their seats in the second or third row, stage left. It was either near the end of "Comedy Tonight" or maybe right after -- and he let them have it -- somehow he managed to kinda stay in character while stopping the show and was both totally cutting and totally hilarious. I'd never seen that happen before -- of course now it's sometimes 'part of the show,' But this was new and fresh -- and I remember the person with me (who was new to theater) thanking me that I'd insisted on getting to the theater early.....

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I saw that Forum production - one of my first few Broadway shows. I was thirteen, and Lane’s standby, Bob Amaral was on. I remember being confused as to why there was a line going down the block full of people getting refunds from the box office, as Lane was not yet a big star. Amaral played to a half-empty house, but I liked him, and enjoyed the show a lot.

rosscoe(au) said: "Only production I’ve seen was the Geoffrey Rush one in Melbourne a few years ago, those in the first three rows had a shower of spit!"

Having sat in the front row for Exit the King, I can confirm that Geoffrey Rush spits like a showerhead…