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The comedy classic A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum has been called a ''burlesque show with a plot.''
By BARBARA L. FREDRICKSEN, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published February 21, 2002
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum is at once a musical, a comedy and even a classic. After all, it's based on the comedies of ancient Roman playwright Titus Maccius Plautus (254 B.C.E.-184 B.C.E.), so that's sort of like reading Cicero and Caesar, isn't it?
Nah. Forum is as Juvenal (rim shot) as it is Plautus, weaving broad satire with farce and presenting it as vaudeville.
"I think of it as a burlesque show with a plot," said Equity actor Michael Edwards, who is directing and playing lead in the production opening Friday at the Show Palace Dinner Theatre in Hudson. "So when I cast it, I think in terms of first banana, second banana, the soubrette, and so on."
That's about right; Plautus' burlesque had 'em rolling in the aisles more than two millennia ago. Writers Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart researched all 21 of his plays and created their own play with stock Plautus characters. Stephen Sondheim created music and lyrics (his first time to do so) that punctuate the action -- three lecherous men singing Everybody Ought to Have a Maid; a brutish warrior ordering a obsequious dealer in flesh to Bring Me My Bride; and the slaves dreaming about being Free.
Forum takes place in one day on a street in ancient Rome, thus observing the classic unities of time, place and action. The clever slave Pseudolus (Edwards) makes a bargain with his young master, Hero (Nicholas Barnes). Pseudolus will secure the favors of the beautiful but dumb courtesan Philia (Jazmin Gorsline) for Hero if Hero will give Pseudolus his freedom.
Sounds easy enough. Except that the extremely vain warrior Miles Gloriosus (Joe Lawrence) has first dibs on Philia, and he vows to decapitate anyone who stands in his way.
That means Pseudolus has to outsmart everyone, and, of course, he does. But not until he visits the conniving dealer in flesh, Marcus Lycus (Joe Camper) to check out the merchandise and tricks the fawning servant Hysterium (Matthew McGee) into helping him with his plans.
Edwards went from Oregon to New York to Florida to gather his cast.
"It's a combination of newcomers and people who have been here before. Sondheim takes performers who are really good singers to do his varying rhythms," said Edwards, who himself has played Pseudolus five times.
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Show Palace Dinner Theatre, 16128 U.S. 19, Hudson. Friday through March 31. Shows at 1:30 p.m. Wednesdays, Thursdays and Feb. 23; March 2 and March 30; 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; and 3 p.m. Sundays. Doors open two hours before each show for buffet and cash bar. Dinner and show $35.95 through Feb. 28 ($37.50 March 1-31); show only: $24.95. 12 and younger, $19.95 and $14.95, all plus tax and tip. Call (727) 863-7949; toll free 1-888-655-7469.