A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum, the first musical to attribute both music and lyrics to Sondheim, was inspired by the plays of Titus Maccius Plautus (254 BC-184 BC). The authors of the book, Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart, studied his comedies, and then developed their own story incorporating characters similar to the ones Plautus invented. In order to win his freedom, a slave must help his young master, Hero, earn the heart of the courtesan he has fallen in love with, Philia. The plot gets complicated when the two men discover that Philia has already been sold. Remaining hopeful, Hero eventually does win Philia's love. She assures Hero that he is the sole recipient of her affection, but refuses to break the contract with her patron. Instead, with a twisted and comically counterproductive logic, she attempts to convince Hero that she will show her buyer how much she loves Hero by bestowing upon him the passion and devotion that she would have shown Hero if he were there instead.
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