American theatre goers were introduced an atypical 50's mother. By 90's standards Rose's parenting would easily be classified as dysfunctional, but Rose's dreams of success outweighed everything. A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. For the first time he was responsible for music and lyrics. Its innovation did not move in the same serious thematic direction as his Fifties musicals.
Forum is pure farce.
However, it is safe to say that Sondheim was still expanding the boundaries a little. Compare its fast paced, bawdy humor directly adapted from Roman Comedy to some of the big Broadway winners of the Sixties such as Jerry Herman's Hello Dolly or Bock and Harnick's Fiddler on the Roof . Hello Dolly are sentimental pieces. Most of Forum's humor is tied to bawdy one-liners, but as the plot develops, it satirizes traditional values. This is not the matchmaking of Dolly Levy or the family values of Anatevka.