The Road to Rome

Road to Rome, The (1927), a play by Robert Sherwood. [Playhouse, 392 perf.] Fabius Maximus (Richie Ling) cannot understand why his wife, Amytis (Jane Cowl), is not excited over his being declared Dictator of Rome, or why she seems so intrigued by their enemy, the Carthaginian Hannibal (Philip Merivale), whose army is pushing toward the city. When news arrives of a Roman defeat and of Hannibal's presence nearby, Amytis pretends to flee. Instead she goes to Hannibal's camp, where she does something the Roman army cannot do. She talks to him, lets him make love to her, and convinces him to withdraw. Described by Charles Brackett of The New Yorker as “A hymn of hate against militarism—disguised, ever so gaily, as a love song,” it was rejected by most major producers until William A. Brady Jr. and Dwight Deere Wiman took a risk on the unknown playwright; it established Sherwood's career.