Inside Iowa State

April 4, 2008

Stars Over Veishea runs for two weekends

by Dave Gieseke, LAS Public Relations

One of Broadway's greatest farces will play at Fisher Theater for the annual Stars Over Veishea (SOV) production.

This year's musical, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, will run for two weekends instead of the customary one. And the venue has changed from Stephens Auditorium to Fisher Theater.

ISU Theatre faculty member and the musical's director Brad Dell said the switch was made for several reasons.

"Ultimately, our desire is to move SOV every other year from Stephens to Fisher," he said. "The Stephens stage is so large that it limits the type of show we can do. Forum is a smaller musical than, say, The Music Man or Grease, which we have done in recent years. It would be difficult to mount at Stephens."

Dell says the move to Fisher has an added benefit -- the chance to offer more performances. The cast will present eight shows, including two weekday matinees for high school audiences. Evening performances at 7:30 p.m. will be offered Veishea weekend (April 11-12) and the following weekend, April 18-19. Sunday matinees on April 13 and 20 will begin at 2 p.m.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum is part Roman comedy, part classic vaudeville. It tells the story of a slave named Pseudolus and his attempts to win his freedom by helping his young master woo one of the courtesans who lives next door. As things go wrong, Pseudolus is forced to keep changing his ludicrous plans if he wishes to be a free man.

The SOV production "would be how Vegas would do it," Dell said. That means feather fans, bubbles, chase lights, mirror balls and more.

"There is a wonderful vaudeville feel to the show," he said. "The script has an over-the-top silliness and hilarity to it. We always want SOV to be a crowd pleaser, and there isn't more of a musical crowd pleaser than A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum."

Tickets are $16 ($12 for students) and available at the Iowa State Center Ticket office or by phone, 4-2479.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum performances

April 11, 12, 18, 19: 7:30 p.m.

April 13, 20: 2 p.m.

Fisher Theater

Tickets:
$16 ($12 for students), available at the Iowa State Center Ticket office or by phone, 4-2479.