A Funny Thing EW Jan 24, 2022

Easy Writers 1/24/22
A funny thing happened on my way to...

The Forum. Actually, it was “0n THE way to The Forum: A funny thing
happened on the way to the Forum”. The only musical I’ve ever gotten to
conduct.
The original Broadway musical debuted in 1962. A movie version came in

1966. The music and lyrics were by Stephen Sondheim, God rest his recently
departed soul; the “book”, the play, was by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart.
In 1975, I was working in the Music and Theatre Branch of Entertainment

Services at Fort Lewis, near Tacoma, Washington. The job, which I’d had for a
couple of years, had been a challenge in that there was not much guidance
about what to do.
The purpose of the unit was to entertain soldiers and their families. That could
involve many forms. One of them was putting on plays and musicals on the
post for entertainment and in which military personnel and family members
could perform.
We were headquartered in The Centurion Theatre. This was a bit interesting

because there are centurions in the show.
The unit had a full time costume mistress, whose name I don’t remember but
whose profanity was rather skillful. There were other theatre types: a
director, a set designer/builder person.
When I started there, the rst show I got to be part of was “Fiddler on the
Roof”. It had a great cast. I played in the pit, playing trombone and faux
balalaika on mandolin. I don’t remember who conducted that one.
I was pleased to be asked to conduct “Forum”. It gave me a de nite purpose

in the job which, as I’ve indicated, did not have many speci cs about what to
do.
For “Forum”, among the people I was able to round up to play (the gig did not
pay; you had to just want to do it for fun) was my rst wife, Nancy, on either
violin or viola, her friend, Judy, on flute, Judy’s husband, Ken, on drums, my
brother, Dick, on trombone and another trombonist from the post band, Steve.
There were others, too, but it was a small orchestra.
The trombonist, Steve, owned a Honda 750, a classic motorcycle, and gave me
my rst ride on a ‘cycle. He also told me at one point about a trombone which
fi
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was in a pawn shop just off the post. I went and looked. It was a Bach Model 8.
I bought it for $75 and was told a few years ago that I could probably sell it for
over a thousand. But I won’t. I don’t play much any more, but we have been
together now lo these many years and would hate to see it go.
The musical was quite fun. Conducting a musical is a different kind of

conducting than just taking a group through a regular piece. Coordination is
needed with the people on stage. You wait for and respond to cues as to when
to begin a piece. You are the big Ear and try to keep the orchestra quiet
enough so the audience can hear the singer but loud enough for the singer to
hear the orchestra.
Sometimes you begin the music and then you “vamp”, which means to repeat
a passage over and over until the stage is ready to go on.
A fellow, whose name I don’t recall, had been the rehearsal pianist before the
orchestra came into the picture, and he was very good and very helpful. He
played with us through the show performances.
It has always seemed funny to me that the one musical I ever got to conduct
had only one maybe memorable tune, to me, anyway. That was, as I recall, at
the very beginning of the show:”Comedy Tonight”. I remember hearing it a
few times in other contexts, perhaps on a TV variety show. Sondheim’s other
big song, to my mind, was the lovely “Send in the Clowns”, from his musical
“A Little Night Music”.
It was also funny that, at one point in our production, there was a song which
the company did not care for. I undertook to write a short replacement, and
they used it! That seemed quite special, Sondheim being Sondheim and me
being, well, me. Mine began with the rst four notes of the Hallelujah Chorus;
maybe that helped.
I wish my life had included more opportunities to conduct musicals. A woman

about whom I was very serious during graduate school went on to a high
school choir job and ended up conducting several musicals before her
retirement. It was kind of the way that relationship went and I look back on it
now with mostly bemusement.
She never did “Forum”, though!

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Easy Writers 1/24/22

A funny thing happened on my way to...

The original Broadway musical debuted in 1962. A movie version came in

In 1975, I was working in the Music and Theatre Branch of Entertainment

We were headquartered in The Centurion Theatre. This was a bit interesting

I was pleased to be asked to conduct “Forum”. It gave me a de nite purpose

The musical was quite fun. Conducting a musical is a different kind of

I wish my life had included more opportunities to conduct musicals. A woman

She never did “Forum”, though!

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