Scene on Stage: ‘A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum’

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By Phil Dorian
No one was more skeptical than I when Two River Theater announced an all-male “A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum,” a musical comedy shot through with gags, innuendo and bodily display, all to do with women. And now, having seen the production, no one is more won over.

Bobby Conte Thornton (Roman Soldier), Graham Rowat (Miles Gloriosus), and David Turner (Roman Soldier). Photo courtesy T. Charles Erickson
Bobby Conte Thornton (Roman Soldier), Graham Rowat (Miles Gloriosus), and David Turner (Roman Soldier). Photo courtesy T. Charles Erickson

It’s not a gimmick; it’s an interpretation. The 1962 musical is culled from the 21 surviving comedies of Titus Maccius Plautus, the Neil Simon of BCE Rome. The original story by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart incorporates Plautus characters: a conniving slave, a callow hero (named Hero), a lustful husband and his shrewish wife, an innocent maiden and a gaggle of seductive courtesans, all of whom would have been played by men back when. And so it is at Two River. Does it work? For sure. And then some.
Roman slave Pseudolus (Christopher Fitzgerald) can earn his freedom by procuring (sorry) for his master Hero (fine tenor Bobby Conte Thornton) the virginal Philia (Hero’s one too), who has been sold from the infamous house of Marcus Lycus (David Josefsberg, appropriately oily) to macho warrior Miles Gloriosus (imposing baritone Graham Rowat), who is on his way to claim her. Each of Lycus’s courtesans performs a seductive dance, and two minutes in you forget they are not females, these physically-adept comical actors whose sex could not matter less. (Denis Jones’s inventive choreography, which toggles between dance and gymnastics, is the show’s secret weapon. It looks slapdash in spots, but that’s intentional – and part of the fun.) More of the plot will not be revealed here, less to protect spoilers than to spare me the effort to unravel it.

David Josefsberg (Marcus Lycus), Michael Urie (Hysterium), Christopher Fitzgerald (Pseudolus), and Kevin Isola (Senex). Photo courtesy T. Charles Erickson
David Josefsberg (Marcus Lycus), Michael Urie (Hysterium), Christopher Fitzgerald (Pseudolus), and Kevin Isola (Senex). Photo courtesy T. Charles Erickson

It is an ultra-physical “Funny…Forum,” and better for that than some many past productions. From the start, with a sketch of the set evolving on the show curtain in sync with the overture (musical director Gary Adler’s terrific eight-piece pit band), movement rules the day.
Fitzgerald is a virtual perpetual motion machine. Loose-limbed as a puppet on a string and possessed of pinpoint comic timing, he semi-narrates the story even as he acts in it. His energy is contagious and in perfect contrast with co-slave Hysterium (Michael Urie), whose faux-relaxed demeanor is debunked in his song “I’m Calm.” (Urie affects an obsequious posture that is uniquely amusing.)
There are major contributions by Kevin Isola and Eddie Cooper as Hero’s henpecked father and overbearing mother (aptly named Domina) and by Paul Castree, Tom Deckman, Max Kumangai, and Manny Stark as various courtesans, soldiers and servile eunuchs. (Clint Ramos’s costume designs evoke Ancient Rome, with the courtesans’ outfits just saucy enough to make the point.)
One gender-bent role stands out. As Philia, the quintessential clichéd vacant blonde, David Turner is a revelation. Philia’s deficiencies are played for laughs, but not ridiculed. Turner is phenomenal, down to the subtle glints he shares with the audience to confirm that we’re in on the gag together.

A Funny Thing...Forum TRTC 11-15 158 A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum book by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart music & lyrics by Stephen Sondheim choreography by Denis Jones directed by Jessica Stone Two River Theatre Company 11/13/15 Scenic Design | Alexander Dodge Costume Design | Clint Ramos Lighting Design | Jeff Croiter and Jake DeGroot Hair and Makeup: David Bova Sound Design | Drew Levy © T Charles Erickson Photography tcepix@comcast.net
Kevin Isola (Senex) and David Turner (Philia) in “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” at Two River Theater. Photo courtesy T. Charles Erickson

Then there’s the score. Stephen Sondheim’s earliest work is the perfect marriage of words and music. The songs are comical (“A Comedy Tonight”), lovely (“I’m Lovely”) strident (“Bring Me My Bride”) and every other style you can name. The solo/duet/trio/quartet “Everybody Ought to Have a Maid,” done here so well, is a legendary musical-comedy masterpiece. (Over-stated? Nope; not at all.)
Trusting of both the material and her cast, director Jessica Stone, whose all-male idea was in part to send-up female stereotypes, has achieved a perfect balance between loosey-goosey and discipline. The concept puts a new spin on a modern classic. Her gamble might have been a long shot, but it paid off in every particular.
Two River Theater’s rollicking “…Forum” is Laugh-Out-Loud-Funny. If you miss it, don’t be surprised to find a lump of coal in your Christmas stocking. You’ve been warned.
Through Dec. 13 at Two River Theater, Bridge St, Red Bank. Performances Wed-Sun. For schedule and tickets ($37-$65; under age 30, $20 for best available at every performance): 732-345-1400 or online at tworivertheater.org.