By Joel Frady

Little more than two weeks after Dinner is at Noon took audiences back to 1920s Healing Spring, the Ashe County Little Theatre will be holding auditions for their summer musical, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, at the Ashe Civic Center in West Jefferson on Monday, April 20, at 6:30 p.m. The auditions are open to ages 21 and up due to the roles offered. Individuals who audition will be asked to read from the script and prepare a 30-second musical selection of their choice. An accompanist will be provided.

Michael Yelton, who directed Dinner is at Noon, will be helming Funny Thing as well. He said that he has directed the show twice before for the Professional Actor Training Program at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind.

Yelton said he wanted to bring the show to Ashe County because "it's an award-winning musical" that is "a laugh a minute.

"It's patterned after the old Roman comedies, which were almost burlesque," said Yelton. "They were bawdy, funny and slapstick."

The play premiered on Broadway in 1962 and was written by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim (who later wrote the songs for Into the Woods and Sweeney Todd). The play tells the story of a slave, Pseudolus, who attempts to win his freedom by encouraging the romance between his master's son Hero and a young virgin named Philia, who is owned by Marcus Lycus, a dealer in courtesans, and promised to a soldier, Miles Gloriosus.

Yelton said that the challenge of the play, for actors, is "the pace of the show, because once it starts it doesn't stop. It's very fast-paced." He noted that the music is "not really difficult," especially when compared to Sondheim's later works, but "the difficulty comes from the fact that there are several roles that have huge ranges. As far as the music goes, it is not hugely complex."

The roles offered are as follows: Pseudolus, a Roman slave who seeks to win his freedom; Hero, Young son of Senex who falls in love with the virgin, Philia; Philia, A virgin in the house of Marcus Lycus, and Hero's love interest; Senex, A Roman senator living in a less fashionable suburb of Rome; Marcus Lycus, A purveyor of courtesans who operates from the house to the left of Senex; Domina, The wife of Senex; Erronius, The elderly neighbor to the right of Senex who is searching for his two children, kidnapped in infancy by pirates; Gymnasia, A courtesan from the house of Lycus; Miles Gloriosus, A conceited captain in the Roman army; Hysterium, The chief slave in the house of Senex; Tintinabula, A courtesan in the house of Lycus; Vibratta, A courtesan in the house of Lycus; Geminae, Twin courtesans in the house of Lycus; Panacea, A courtesan in the house of Lycus.

There will also be several roles for the chorus of courtesans and proteans. The play will be performed at the Ashe Civic Center from Thursday, June 25, to Sunday, June 28. To find out more about ACLT or the auditions for A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, contact the Ashe County Arts Council at (336) 846-2787.