...Sondheim’s A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum When I think of musical comedy, Stephen Sondheim’s A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum is the first show that comes to mind. Just three years ago, I had never heard of Forum before, until my high school choir director announced that it would be our 2008 musical. I was hesitant to audition at first, not knowing the plot or what I was getting myself into, but now I can honestly say that it was my favorite musical production ever to be a part of. Forum, a musical farce written in two acts and Sondheim’s first work on Broadway both as composer and lyricist, is “a non-stop laugh-fest in which a crafty slave (Pseudolus) struggles to win the hand of a beautiful but slow-witted courtesan (Philia) for his young master (Hero), in exchange for freedom” (MTI 1). In Sondheim’s own words, “there’s not a wasted moment in Forum, and the truth and the test of it is that the play is just as funny when performed by a group of high school students as it is when it is performed on Broadway. It is never not funny. The reason is, it is based on situations so solid that you cannot not laugh” (Gordon 25). A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum is a collaboration between American librettist Burt Shevelove, playwright Larry Gelbart, and musical theater extraordinaire, Stephen Sondheim. Originally, Shevelove had done a version of a Roman comedy in college and thought that a professional Broadway production would be very...
Words: 4550 - Pages: 19
...very unique and have not been heard before the band came about. They have touched millions of people’s hearts, especially mine. The fact that they sing about real situations and real issues that are going on the world today is what makes them my favorite band. Whether I am happy, sad, or mad, The Dave Matthews Band’s album “Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King” always lifts my spirits and puts me in a better mood; their songs are inspirational. One of the songs that touch me the most is called “Funny the Way It Is”. This song is about the good and bad things going on in the world. The point being made is that even though many wonderful things are happening, bad things are occurring at the exact same time. “Funny the way it is, if you think about it/ One kid walks 10 miles to school, another's dropping out/ Funny the way it is, not right or wrong/ On a soldier's last breath, his baby's being born/ Funny the way it is, not right or wrong/ Somebody's broken heart become your favorite song/ Funny the way it is, if you think about it/ One kid walks 10 miles to school, another's dropping out” Not only does it discuss the fine times and poor times in life, but also how people take the privileges they have for granted. While kids say they hate school and drop out, there are others that appreciate an education and will do anything to get it, such as walking ten miles to school. Basically, the song tells listeners that there are so many ironic moments happening every minute of every day and...
Words: 803 - Pages: 4
...Shyam Selvadurairs Funny Boy Analysis English Literature Essay Identity involves recognition of the self. It is not static, but it constantly changes in relation to political, cultural and social events that are occurring. A child's identity is negotiable. Children are presumed innocent and naïve until they have experienced life. Their sense of identity has not been determined if they have not had experiences in which they are able to determine their relationship to and how it affects them. In narrating or privileging a child's perspective in a novel, the language the reader is presented with is simplistic and the viewpoint of the narrator is often minimalistic as it is based upon the experiences which the narrator has encountered. Shyam Selvadurair's Funny Boy is narrated from an adolescent’s perspective, where the presumed innocence and naivety of the child offers an alternative view to the political, cultural, social and historical tensions in India and Sri Lanka and the effect that it has on the developing child in terms of identity. The child narrator in each text is an outsider as they do not merge with the cultural norms imposed upon by society. Arjie, the product of an upper-class Tamil family in Funny Boy, crosses borders in his awakening as a homosexual, falling in love with a Sinhalese, despite his parents attempt to create a masculine identity for him, in order that he may abide by the boundaries and social order that has been imposed upon him. The need to understand...
Words: 1511 - Pages: 7
...At dawn on August 19th, 1942, “six thousand and one hundred Allied soldiers, of whom roughly five thousand were Canadians”, landed at the French port of Dieppe in their first major test of the defense of the German-held coastline (Government). A combination of inadequate planning, insufficient fire support, and lack of communication, through air, naval, and land made for a very poor attack, and one of Canada’s worst defeats in World War Two. First of all, the Battle of Dieppe was poorly planned. It was designed to test new equipment, and gain the experience and knowledge necessary for planning a great amphibious assault that was one day necessary to defeat Germany. Also, after years of training in Britain, some Canadian politicians and generals were anxious for Canadian troops to experience battle (Government). The plan called for five separate attacks along 16 km. The principal assault was on Dieppe. “The four others were subsidiary flank attacks. The flank attacks were to be delivered simultaneously in: nautical twilight at 4:50 A.M” (Christie 9). They would have relied on surprise. The main attack would have came 30 minutes later. It all started at blue beach, where “they arrived late in their bid to take out enemy artillery and machine guns guarding the Dieppe beaches” (Canadian). From the start, the enemy pinned down the Canadians, and shot them up until the raid was over. Then at Green beach, “the part of the unit, tasked with reaching a radar station and anti-aircraft...
Words: 1098 - Pages: 5
...lot of things to do and not a lot of time to get them done. It has been like this for a while now. Actually it started in my vacation. Funny, huh? I had a two months period with NO school, NO to-do’s and NONE of the normal activities, which take my time. But somehow I still managed to stuff so many plans into my two months of break, that I was completely exhausted, when I finally went back to school. Of some reason I could not overcome the challenge of spending time on doing nothing, doing nothing at all. I failed. Badly. What is wrong with me? The funny thing is that when I came back to “civilization” after being away for such a long time, most of my friends had had the same problem. Apparently we, humans of the Western Europe, are exceptionally great at larding our time off with everything else than sitting in a couch and just stare. Why is that? Are we afraid of being inactive and nonsocial? What is it in us that simply demand us to have plans, being on the road and not prioritize some “Home-Alone-Time”? Well, I know that there are different personalities, different people and different needs. I, myself, am very extrovert, so I love having plans. I am feeling the best, when I am around people. But the amounts of plans I and many others have in their breaks are frightening. Why can we just not let our normal, stressed ordinary days take a rest, and do the same with ourselves? Of course, it is often great and awesome plans we have, I get it. But still… The funny thing is that...
Words: 717 - Pages: 3
...Paper Wow, I find it unbelievable that Improv is coming to a close for the semester. It still feels as if we’ve only gotten through the first month of classes. Initially when I took improve I didn’t know what to expect. I wasn’t necessarily excited for Improv but I wasn’t unhappy to take it either. The first time I actually took Improv was when I was 16. I was in summer acting conservatory for NYC kids at Sarah Lawrence College and we had Improv every single day for several hours. It was so much fun and I found that I excelled at it. I was able to think quickly on my feet and create a piece with my partner in the exercise that was funny, flowed well and was easy to follow however, that was when I was 16. Now as a 19-year-old college student who hadn’t studied improve for several years, I was a little nervous. Its one thing to study Improv for a month straight and another, to take it as a college course. I was worried that maybe I might suck. Fear grew bigger and bigger inside the pit of my belly the beginning of the semester. As my fear grew bigger my patience grew less. I didn’t realize that many improve 1 students are freshman and although I was just a freshman myself last year, I could see the major difference in discipline between the two. I use to get irritated due to the lop-sided circle, the struggle to get through the warm-up games or the excessive side conversations. I didn’t feel connected to my ensemble and I also felt like we didn’t get through...
Words: 1379 - Pages: 6
...beliefs, and media will be the downfall of our misunderstood world. Ignorance often defines and influences our morals and social dramatic instances. We let our ego control our actions by only doing things if will be amusing or influential to our piers. This kind of thinking causes us to avoid seeing as things as they really are, instead we just agree with the majority’s view. The reason we think in this sense is because of our fear of the unknown. It is a fear that is not necessarily scary and normally we don’t even realize its existence, but when our ignorance begins to fade, we see how corrupt and self-centered our world is becoming. Ignorance mainly grows from our media that often solely influences our minds. For example, what we consider entertainment is drama, comedy, and reality shows on television. The drama people see usually effects how they think and how they look at others, though most people never take time to realize that all television drama is staged and made out to be the way the producers want it to be portrayed. Comedy we see today is very crude and filled with drugs and alcohol and use situations that would be out of context in real life to be funny. This gives a message to viewers that doing drugs and drinking alcohol is funny and is the thing to do to have fun. This may seem like a view that you would only affect children, but it can affect teenager’s...
Words: 818 - Pages: 4
...Summary DAVE BARRY Guys vs. Men Dave Barry’s insight in Guys vs. Men begins to explore the world of the male figure. Barry touches base on a few things that he believes separates guys and men apart. Barry first mentions that “Guys Like Neat Stuff” and begins to explain that guys enjoy things that are unnecessary to have and perhaps a bit over the top but they are things that make them happy and keep them entertained. Barry then moves into talking about how “Guys Like A Really Pointless Challenge”. Barry mentions that guys often engage in activities that are beyond what should be the standard rational of middle aged men. His thoughts on how “Guys Do Not Have A Well-Defined Moral Code” briefly delves into how guys know that they are expected to perform and act a certain way, yet they often completely disregard these ideas held by others on how they should act, not on purpose but just because they are in fact guys. The last thing Barry brings up is that “Guys Are Not Great At Communicating Their Intimate Feelings, Assuming They Have Any”. Barry presents the idea that guys tend to keep personal issues, just that, personal. Guys generally keep answers to questions they don’t want to answer brief at best, and the only time they share how they feel is most often when in the company of another guy friend. Dave Barry’s Guys vs. Men is a funny, interesting and seemingly true effort at explaining who guys really are, and why they are that...
Words: 271 - Pages: 2
...A Gap of Sky By Anna Hope One of the first things you put in mind, is the drug K. There are a lot different drugs on the market such as, marihuana, heroin and Coke. All of them can be equally dangerous; it all depends on the dose you take. But not only is drug dangerous, they also have an effect on the individual human being. If people starts talking about drugs, we do not react immediately, because nowadays it has reached to a lot young people, and we hear more and more about drugs. Even though drugs are, but are not supposed to be, a part of the underground environment, it always manages to reach the surface, and maybe wind up with some innocent people who actually don’t want anything to do with it. Some might get pressured to do it, others who’s at club and dancing, might get something in their drinks if they leave them unseen. And in the end we got those types of persons who do drugs, because they love it, or having a hard time getting out of it. In this short story by Anna hope, we meet a poor girl named Ellie. The reason for she is poor is because of the fact that she lacks control of her life. Ellie is nineteen years old and she lives in London, in fact she lives on her own, and she is taking a course on University College London. But these facts don’t make a nineteen years old girl poor. The reason is that Ellie is a victim of the dangerous environment of drugs. The story spans an hour and eleven minutes, from 16:29 till 17:40, a Monday afternoon. As everyone...
Words: 1102 - Pages: 5
...beliefs, and media will be the downfall of our misunderstood world. Ignorance often defines and influences our morals and social dramatic instances. We let our ego control our actions by only doing things if will be amusing or influential to our piers. This kind of thinking causes us to avoid seeing as things as they really are, instead we just agree with the majority’s view. The reason we think in this sense is because of our fear of the unknown. It is a fear that is not necessarily scary and normally we don’t even realize its existence, but when our ignorance begins to fade, we see how corrupt and self-centered our world is becoming. Ignorance mainly grows from our media that often solely influences our minds. For example, what we consider entertainment is drama, comedy, and reality shows on television. The drama people see usually effects how they think and how they look at others, though most people never take time to realize that all television drama is staged and made out to be the way the producers want it to be portrayed. Comedy we see today is very crude and filled with drugs and alcohol and use situations that would be out of context in real life to be funny. This gives a message to viewers that doing drugs and drinking alcohol is funny and is the thing to do to have fun. This may seem like a view that you would only affect children, but it can affect teenager’s...
Words: 352 - Pages: 2
...ABOUT LIFE This are the fact of life some people do not get 1, If everyone is happy with you then surely you have made many compromises in your life . If you are happy with everyone surely you have ignored many faults of others One thing I had to learn in life is that life is a camera focus on what’s important capture the good times, develop from the negatives , And if things don’t work out take another shot . Another thing is that life is a dream for the wise , A game for the fool , A comedy for the rich , A tragedy for the poor. This are things people have to know about life Life is not measured by the breaths we take but by the moments that take our breath away. Some people come in your life as blessings , others come in your life as lessons. Make sure you taste your words before you spit them out . Don’t worry about those who talk behind your back they’re behind you for a reason. Life is an opportunity benefit from it Life is beauty admire it Life is a dream realize it Life is just a challenge meet it Life is a duty complete it Life is just like a game play it Life is a promise fulfill it Life is sorrow overcome it Life is a song sing it Life is a struggle accept it Life is a tragedy confront it Life is an adventure dare it Life is luck make it Life is life fight for it Nobody can...
Words: 397 - Pages: 2
...strengthen you to pursue it, even if they will be gone someday. It has a message that is no matter what; don’t let something to discourage you from what you love and who you are. It is not just any movie that will make you cry because of sad parts but because of the fact that even you have done good things it might followed by bad happenings. There are things that can not be prevented. It is the best example for many cases of being confused in oneself, not only in mental capacity of thinking but also the ability to know yourself. Patch was helped by this brilliant man, Arthur Mendelson, to see through problems which made me realize on simple things. Patch is not just an ordinary man. He knows the feeling when you give and help which gave him a reason to be a doctor. He might think of the wrong solution yet it led him to the corner of his way to the right direction. When Patch is treating patients in his clinic with his classmates as volunteers, he shows that we are a community that can help each other. There are these services that do not only look for payments but for the happiness and benefit they will bring to other people. He heals people in a beautiful way, more in a funny way. Breaking...
Words: 440 - Pages: 2
...say almost like Slim is the boss of all the workers on the ranch. This makes the reader fell that they have to like Slim because there is no reason that they shouldent as he is a very likeable character. Slim is very important character on the ranch, when he speaks all the other stop and listen as his words are wise. For example ‘There was a gravity in his manner and a quit so profouna that all talk stopped when he spoke’ This shows how important his word were as he did not speak ofthen and he did not talk trash he followed a rule if you respect him he will respect you. As this shows that all the ranch worker respected him because they wanted the same. The word ‘profound’ shows that he knows about what he is talking about and he knows the thing very well. Furthermore the word ‘gravity’ shows that his word are powerful and they have a important meaning. This makes the reader fell fascinated by how much Slim is respected as well as how much he is capable of doing and how much his word matters in the ranch worker community. In the rest of the novel, how does Steinbeck show that some people on the ranch are considered more important than others? How does this reflect the society...
Words: 580 - Pages: 3
...Nikki Parkers truly believes her and the professor is a couple and he is cheating on her with some skinny women. The Nikki character is following the professor around and trying to find out what he is up too even though it is clear they are not a couple and will never be. The other character is Kimberly Parker she is clearly not the smartest character on the show but her personality makes up for it. She has this bubbly personality that is easy to get along with and she always has some silly or funny to say that make people take a double take. They both do things that make them feel good about themselves like going to college to farther themselves in life, they both like fashion and attention from men. The Parkers are there for each other regardless of what might happen and they do not let others pursue them to change their minds when they have their heart set on something. One thing I notice they value is education, family time together, and going to church. Another of the thing that show me that they are a family is because they identify themselves as a family and show each other they care about each other’s feeling and what goes on in each other life. The time...
Words: 604 - Pages: 3
...one actually is. But that still leave people wondering if they actually are one. Similar terms that come to mind to describe one include such synonymous as postpone or prolong and adjectives such as lazy or irresponsible. But people that are procrastinators may not even be lazy at all, it’s just that they prefer to delay things as much possible because they work better under time constraints and under pressure. It’s funny because some of the greatest people ever to live where procrastinators and they still ended up doing great things in life and helping the better of this country. It seems though that in most cases a procrastinator will end up completing every task like everyone else just in a more stressed time frame. There is always that saying of, “it doesn’t matter how you finish the race as long as you cross the finish line.” This saying is absolutely perfect to describe procrastinators and there ways. Why is it that always in life now most people procrastinate? What allows them the ability to think that it is allowed and also not frowned upon. Maybe its because society now has seen the laziest overall average of people and people don’t do things on there own anymore and instead they hire people out to complete these tasks. This in terms really helped procrastinators become more...
Words: 613 - Pages: 3
