Note: This theatre critique of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum is for my THEA170 class assignment.
On 19th of October, I saw the second show of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Though titled as such, the play has little to do with ancient Rome. Put the characters and plot into different historical settings, the play would still make much sense. However, since it was inspired by several plays written in the ancient Roman, mainly Pseudolus (which was written before 191 B.C.), the historical element becomes indispensable.
In the beginning, it was funny. I enjoyed the parts where the actors interact with the spotlights and curtains. It was fun to see the backstage artists acting, too. Also, the actors interacted with the audience, too: they directly talk or sing to the audience, rather than just delivering the story. The comedic elements of the play were mainly messing around with the actors’ relationship with the stage and audience, and also the hectic situations the characters were in. Somehow, humans like to laugh at other people’s misfortune. I really liked the character Hysterium, because he is always in hysteria, and him being head slave but still unable to control Pseudolus was sad and funny to watch. Everything was amusing at first, but after half an hour or so, the funny parts became repetitive and the play wasn’t funny anymore. It even got to be a little dull, and the runtime was also very long. I still sat through the whole thing, but didn’t want to see it for the second time.
Despite the overall boring impression, which was mainly due to the script, I think the production itself was pretty interesting because of all the modifications they did on the original Broadway musical. First of all, the role Pseudolus was played by a woman, and the drag element made the interactions between the characters more entertaining to watch. Also, the girls playing Proteans were, in a way, crossplaying as well. Then, they casted an ethnically Asian actor as Hero, which was a unique decision, because both Senex and Domina were not. My favourite character was Geminae. In the original play, Geminae were twin girls, and in this production, Geminae is a half man, half woman person. They reminded me of the One Man Woman from Tiffany’s Show in Thailand (the most astonishing transvestite cabaret show ever!). I remembered walking out the nightclub 2 years ago, completely dumbfounded by the acting skills of them. They were essentially acting two roles at the same time (plus, the gestures and caressing were rather sexual and mesmerising to watch)! For Geminae, even during curtain call, they still stick to their role by being masculine on their right side, and feminine on the left.
In the original production, there were only 3 Proteans, and now there were 5. I think that added to the messiness of the play, and was not really desirable. Having 5 screaming Proteans on stage was a little too overwhelming. Also, despite being a musical, the musical parts were not as good as they could have been. But since the actors were theatre majors and not vocal ones, I am sparing the part where their singing were not the best.
While I wouldn’t say I like A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, it was still quite enjoyable to get some laugh out of the performance. With Marat/Sade left, I hope to see a completely different style of production and content. [19 Oct 2018]
Cast & Crew
Stephen Sondheim (Music & Lyrics)
* Appears through the courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.
Burt Shevelove & Larry Gelbart (Book)
J.W. Morrissette (Director)
Michael Tilley (Co-Music Director)
Justin M. Brauer (Co-Music Director)
Philip Johnston (Choreographer)
Zev Steinrock (Fight Choreographer)
Regina García (Co-Scenic Designer)
Villale Song (Co-Scenic Designer)
Melissa Hall (Costume Designer)
Stuart Wilson (Lighting Designer)
Brandon Reed (Sound Designer)
Haley Borodine (Properties Master)
Melissa Hall (Hair/Makeup Coordinator)
Lisa Lillig (Wig Master)
Kayla Uribe (Stage Manager)
Bobby Reynolds (Technical Director)
Alison Stake (Dramaturg)
–
Lisa Gaye Dixon* (Pseudolus)
Katie Feeley (Domina)
Brian Kim (Hero)
Kevin Woodrow (Hysterium)
Alejandro Mata† (Erronius)
Kyle Norbut (Miles)
Robert Bradley (Lycus)
Fabian Guerrero (Senex)
Jacklyn Ovassapian (Tintinabula)
Melody Contreras (Panacea)
Dane Brandon (Geminae)
Zoe Repllingerˆ (Vibrata)
Sky Arend (Gymnasia)
Tafadzwa Diener (Philia)
Zoe Branch (Protean)
Charlee Amacher (Protean)
Emma L. Anderson (Protean)
Stasia Kasimos (Protean)
Emily Naud (Protean)
Brittney McHugh (Statue)
–
Michael Tilley (Keyboard/Conductor)
Justin M. Brauer (Keyboard)
Kavi Naidu & Nate Bishop & Laura Bauer (Reeds)
Donny Albrecht & Will Schmalbeck (Trumpets)
Michael Beltran (Trombone)
Noah Larson (Violin)
Kutasha Silva (Cello)
Andrey Junca Goncalves (Bass)
Jackson Barnett (Drums)
ˆ Dance Captain
† Fight Captain
