A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart.
William Mervyn Pickwoad was an English actor best known for his portrayal of the bishop in the clerical comedy All Gas and Gaiters, the old gentleman in The Railway Children and Inspector Charles Rose in The Odd Man and its sequels.
Sir Francis Robert Benson was an English actor-manager. He founded his own company in 1883 and produced all but two of Shakespeare's plays. His thirty-year association with the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre and the annual Shakespeare Festival in Stratford-upon-Avon laid down foundations for the creation of the Royal Shakespeare Company after his death.
Dulcie Winifred Catherine Savage Denison,, known professionally as Dulcie Gray, was a British actress, mystery writer and lepidopterist.
John Michael Terence Wellesley Denison was an English actor. He often appeared with his wife, Dulcie Gray, with whom he featured in several films and more than 100 West End theatre productions.
The Piccadilly Theatre is a West End theatre located at the junction of Denman Street and Sherwood Street, near Piccadilly Circus, in the City of Westminster, London. It opened in 1928.
John Gervase Dighton was a British playwright and screenwriter.
Viola Lyel was an English actress. In a long stage career she appeared in the West End and on Broadway, for leading directors of the day, including Sir Barry Jackson, and Nigel Playfair. Her roles ranged from Shakespeare and Restoration comedy to melodrama and drawing room comedies.
George and Margaret is a comedy play by British writer Gerald Savory, which was first staged in 1937. It had a very successful run in the West End, beginning at Wyndham's Theatre before transferring to the Piccadilly Theatre, lasting for over seven hundred performances. The cast was headed by Nigel Patrick, Jane Baxter, Ann Casson and Joyce Barbour. The New Statesman critic singled out Irene Handl's brief appearance as a maid as a highlight.
James Alexander Chapman, known by his stage name, Jay Laurier, was an English actor. Early in his career he was a music hall performer, but by the late 1930s he was playing in the works of Shakespeare at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon as well as having a career in films.
Madge Lessing was a British stage actress and singer, panto principal boy and postcard beauty of Edwardian musical comedy who had a successful career in the West End in London, Europe and on Broadway from 1890 to 1921 and who made a number of early film appearances in Germany for director Max Mack.
Ever Since Paradise is a 1946 comedy play by the British writer J.B. Priestley.
Vanity Fair is a 1946 play by the British writer Constance Cox, based on William Makepeace Thackeray's novel of the same name.
Tony Draws a Horse is a comedy play by the British writer Lesley Storm. It was later adapted into a 1950 film of the same title.
Lady from Edinburgh is a 1945 comedy play by the British writers Aimée Stuart and L. Arthur Rose. A Scottish aunt arrives to oversee her family's affairs in Mayfair.
Young Wives' Tale is a 1949 comedy play by the British writer Ronald Jeans. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Brighton before transferring to the Savoy Theatre in London's West End where it ran for 373 performances between 7 July 1949 and 27 May 1950. The original London cast included Naunton Wayne, Joan Greenwood, Derek Farr, Joan Haythorne and Margaret Scudamore.
Top Secret is a comedy play by Alan Melville which was first performed in 1949. It is a farce revolving around an ambassador.
Peter Blackmore (1909–1984) was a British playwright and screenwriter. His play Miranda was adapted into the 1948 film of the same title. He also wrote the comedy play The Blue Goose which appeared in the West End in 1941. His 1953 play Down Came a Blackbird ran for 53 performances at the Savoy Theatre. He worked on the screenplays for a number of comedy films for British Lion and the Rank Organisation, including two Norman Wisdom vehicles.
Down Came a Blackbird is a 1953 comedy play by the British writer Peter Blackmore. It was first staged at Q Theatre in London before transferring to the West End where it ran for 53 performances at the Savoy Theatre between 22 December 1953 and 6 February 1954. Directed by Henry Kendall the cast included Peter Arne, Viola Keats, John Loder and Betty Paul. The title is taken from a line in the traditional nursery rhyme Sing a Song of Sixpence. It takes place entirely in the garden room of the Egyptian villa of Sir Clive Dawson.
A Soldier for Christmas is a 1944 comedy play by the British actor and playwright Reginald Beckwith. It was staged twice in London's West End that year. Between 3 February and 22 April it ran at Wyndham's Theatre before transferring to the Vaudeville Theatre where it continued between 25 April and 8 July, running for a total of 181 performances. It was then revived and ran for a further 34 performances at the Playhouse Theatre between 6 October and 4 November 1944. The West End cast included Trevor Howard, Robert Beatty, Joyce Barbour, Joan Harben and Jane Cain.
