I took in Chaffey’s production of Stephen Sondheim’s “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum”—a delightful musical comedy penned from the works of Roman dramatist Plautus. I had not come with any preconceptions, and I am glad I wandered in with a blank slate, as the show was a splendid way to spend an evening.
From the moment I sat down, I could tell from the set pieces on the stage that the production costs were considerable. Either a great deal of work went into set construction, or a great deal of money went into the rental of a stage that would work best for the production as a whole.
There was an all-out orchestra, the seats were comfortable, and lighting was well-beyond the standard “spotlight-only” fare. Even the players in the orchestra wore laurel wreaths about their heads to get the audience in “the mood” for what would be a bawdy, just-barely family friendly play.
When Pseudolus appeared and began Sondheim’s well-known “Invocation”, the curtain parted, and the audience was treated to a sumptuous set that looked like it could have been taken off of a Broadway stage. Costuming values seemed a tad on the high school production side, but in all fairness, it is difficult to go all out when costuming for Ancient Rome.
All the characters were somehow played tongue-in-cheek, given the circumstances of the play and its heavy leanings on the art form of Commedia dell’arte-a school in and of itself that teaches its actors the many different archetypes of human behaviors and distills them into a handful of stock characters.
Pseudolus (deftly played by Luis Rodriguez) would be the wily, bright yet unlucky “Arlecchino.”
Hysterium (perfectly played by Patrick Wells) would be the worrisome, fretful yet quick-thinking “Brighella.”
Arlecchino and Brighella were Zanni-the servant class. Incidentally, “Zanni” is where the word “zany” comes from, and from the frantic comedy that came from Pseudolus and Hysterium, it is easy to see why.
Philia (brightly played by Chelsea Pope) and Hero (charmingly played by Miguel Quirarte) would be the hopelessly love-locked “Innamorati,” a word which practically translates to “always in love,” despite their well-displayed innocence towards the weird and wacky world around them.
Laughs belonged to everyone-from zealous theatre denizens like myself to children who happened to have parents daring enough to bring them to a once-risqué play such as this.
Only a small handful of flaws include dialogue and sung notes that were lost-either because the actors were moving or speaking too fast, or notes were dropped because of a missed beat or skipped lyric.
In the defense of the actors, Sondheim is not exactly the easiest composer to sing to, and comedy in almost any form is an out-and-out marathon. What these actors gave was nothing short of a winning run.
The small matter of giving the composers and writers their due was overlooked in the program. Nowhere did it mention Sondheim the composer or Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart as the writers. It is a small thing, but certainly, there would be no musical without their significantly essential assistance.
I imagine that there were many times when the lines themselves would have given an actor pause to “break character,” as comedy begets comedy-and there is little hope for an actor to recover from their own desire to laugh unprompted when a joke is executed too well. However, from the audience’s perspective, it was safe to say that there were no (visible) breaks, just 30 to 40 men and women enjoying themselves immensely.
Kelly Ford, the director, had her work cut out for her-and she, the cast, the musicians and the production crew came through in grand style. One would certainly regret the show had such a short run for a fantastic production, but joys which are as good as this are also well savored in small doses: fleeting, yet surprisingly rich and sweet.
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