I'm intrigued by who will get to play Pseudolus. That role has netted the actor portraying him a Tony award all three times A Funny Thing has been on Broadway.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
This is the first I'm hearing of a planned revival, and I'm so excited! I saw the movie a long time ago and have never seen a performance of the show, so I'm hoping this all works out.
Sounds like the production is still going on, with or without Corden. A spokesperson for the production said: "Plans for the Spring 2015 Broadway production of A Funny Thing Happen on the Way to the Forum continue. The star, additional casting, theater and dates will be announced in the near future." Broadway Com Article
This is the first I'm hearing of a planned revival, and I'm so excited! I saw the movie a long time ago and have never seen a performance of the show, so I'm hoping this all works out.
Put the movie out of your head. Richard Lester was trying to repeat the style of film farce he had pioneered in HELP!, the Beatles movie; but as the saying goes, lighting rarely strike twice in the same place.
The stage musical is Roman farce performed by American vaudevillians (or nowadays, actors imitating vaudeville styles) and is not only one-of-a-kind, but absolute brilliant. (And I saw it with Milton Berle, who would stop periodically and do sections from his nightclub act--show still worked!)
Cordon could only do FORUM & the Late, Late Show if he can tape the show in NYC.
A Chorus Line revival played its final Broadway performance on August 17, 2008. The tour played its final performance on August 21, 2011. A new non-equity tour started in October 2012 played its final performance on March 23, 2013. Another non-equity tour launched on January 20, 2018. The tour ended its US run in Kansas City and then toured throughout Japan August & September 2018.
Considering CBS is already losing The Late Show to New York, it's almost a certainty that The Late Late Show will remain in Los Angeles.
Regardless, James Corden is no longer available to move forward with FORUM.
Tonya Pinkins: Then we had a "Lot's Wife" last June that was my personal favorite. I'm still trying to get them to let me sing it at some performance where we get to sing an excerpt that's gone.
Tony Kushner: You can sing it at my funeral.
The Wrap says Corden is the replacement, The Hollywood Reporter says it's all but signed, and Variety has been surprisingly quiet on this news, beyond saying The Wrap broke the story. It seems like it's happening, so Corden in Forum, unfortunately, will not be happening.
Regardless, I'm still excited for him. I've been a fan of his since History Boys and the acclaim he'll get from ITW and now this is well earned. Dude deserves it.
Do you think this puts the Forum revival away for the time being or do you think they just go for someone else? If so, who do you think are some good options? I'd love for them to get Geoffrey Rush. And I'd love to see Burstein in the role (too bad he's already got Fiddler).
I don't understand why he would even do this. Right now, he is on the verge of being big...major role in Into the Woods, the opera singer movie, and the potential for a triumphant Forum. Starring on the Late Show makes no sense to me, unless this is something he is going to sign on only for a couple of years vs. the rest of his life.
Seems to me that this would be a ridiculous carer move.
Probably being a spoil sport because I would much prefer to see him in movies and on stage, something I can't say for Seth Myers or Jay Leno or David Letterman or even Jimmy Fallon...he tried the movie route and was unsuccessful, although I thought he was terrific in Fever Pitch.
He is out of his mind if he accepts a position following Craig Ferguson.
Seems like a good career move. In the UK he is known partly as an actor but also as a 'personality' and chat/quiz show host. All his acting roles have been a variation on a theme (joker fat guy), he seems to really enjoy hosting things
This will be major exposure in the us, and could lead to bigger gigs. Plus the money is probably good
Frankly, if they want international show hosts with an anarchic sense of comedy, I'd go for Graham Norton as Late Late Show host well ahead of James Corden. (No, The Graham Norton Effect on Comedy Central doesn't count. He really didn't get a chance to shine in that slot.)
Corden would probably never have to take a job for money after getting this gig ever again. It's a smart move on his part. He'll still be able to act, probably not commit to a Broadway run though, at least for the time being. I'm not exactly sure what are all these great Hollywood roles he is going to get after INTO THE WOODS, he is fantastic but I can't see him being offered all the great lead roles in Hollywood now. And he is way too talented to settle for being some silly sidekick in an Anne Hathaway comedy. This way he'll be able to get some exposure, and still work on some projects here and then while holding a steady job that will allow him to showcase his great personality, not to mention his incredibly sexy look. I say, good for him. Though it is sad we won't get to see him in A FUNNY THING, he'd have been genius.
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"