“A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” has gained its rightful place in the musical-theater pantheon because it possesses the essence of any successful dramatic work: great material.
The gags, both verbal and sight, work today just as they did when “Forum” won the Tony Award for best musical 45 years ago. The music and lyrics by a young Stephen Sondheim fit seamlessly with the book by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart. You can hear in the score elements of what would become Sondheim’s signature style. “Comedy Tonight,” the great opening number, sticks in your head for hours after the show ends.
The Pollard Theatre opens its 2008-2009 season with “Forum,” directed by W. Jerome Stevenson, and one could say that the Guthrie group is going back to basics: all the way back to 191 B.C. “Forum” is based on several Roman comedies by Plautus, including “Pseudolus” and incorporates conventions of early Roman theater, including a clever slave, a blowhard soldier and courtesans. The set design consists of the front doors of three houses, which was the standard Roman theatrical setting.
The Pseudolus of “Forum,” which is set “200 years before the Christian era, a day in spring,” is a slave who schemes to buy his freedom. He gets his chance when his young master, Hero, falls in love with Philia, an apprentice courtesan next door. If Pseudolus wins Philia for Hero, the slave gains his freedom. Unfortunately, Philia’s owner, Marcus Lycus, has already sold her to a Roman captain, Miles Gloriosus.
ALMOST FOOLPROOF
The material is almost foolproof. It would take some doing for a director to mess it up, and if the dialogue and songs are as fun for the actors as they are for the audience, the show must be a joy to perform. This is not to say that performing “Forum” is easy. The penultimate chase scene requires comic timing down to the nanosecond, and what seem like throwaway lines are really gems of smart scripting. Just before intermission, Pseudolus is threatened by Miles Gloriosus, and the slave comes up with the one word that can literally save his neck.
At the reviewed performance, the cast, although expending much energy, took a while to warm up. Timothy Stewart presides as Pseudolus, assisted by three Proteans (Jake DeTomasso, Doug Ford, Michael Long), playing everything from Roman soldiers to eunuchs. Matthew Glen Wampler makes a fey Hero, smitten by the virgin Philia, played by Heidi Wallace, looking, well, virginal. Fine comic performances are given by the reliable James Ong and Michael Edsel.
The costumes, wigs and cartoon-hued set are by Michael James. All are effectively comical.
“?Larry Laneer
This article appears in Aug 27 – Sep 2, 2008.