Hart House Theatre is my favourite friend

It makes me smile when I am sad. No, really, I went to see A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum last weekend, and it was terrific. Part of my opinion, of course, stems from the fact that I love Stephen Sondheim musicals. I had a song stuck in my head, and Forum replaced it with another. (Never mind that the first song was Sondheim, too… I’m not a drama nerd… uh, look that way *points and runs*)

If you’ve seen the cinematic version, you may at this point be thinking, “O-kaaaaaaaay…” And I don’t blame you, because, though the movie is more or less well made and has its moments, mostly, it’s pretty cracked out. That’s why we love Richard Lester.

I’d never seen Forum onstage before, and all the bits that are for live audiences and vaudeville-style teamwork shone. For those who haven’t seen any version of it whatever, a basic plot synopsis: Pseudolus, a crafty slave (think Nathan Lane), will win his freedom if he’s able to set up his naïve young master, Hero (think Archie Andrews) and the virgin courtesan with whom Hero has fallen in love, Philia (think… aw, heck, think blonde jokes). Unfortunately, Philia has been sold to the dashing military captain Miles (Latin mee-less, not Miles like on Sesame Street) Gloriosus. Add to the mix Hysterium, the head slave of Hero’s family’s household; Senex, Hero’s lecherous dad; Honoria, his shrewish mom; and a host of other characters, and you’ve got “Comedy Tonight”. Which, coincidentally, is the opening number. How do you like that?

Coincidentally, that was a number that didn’t impress me much in this production. Still, that may be one of those I-know-one-version-of-this-song-so-well-that-all-I-can-do-is-spot-the-differences things. Like when someone does a cover of your favourite bands, and all you can think is “But it doesn’t go THAT WAY!!!”. Anyhow, Philia’s song “Lovely”, in which she sings about her talents (hint: she’s only got one), was pretty funny, as was its reprise. The actress playing Philia gave her the same innocently awkward feel as Pheobe from Friends. I was surprised to enjoy the two songs “Everybody Ought to Have a Maid” and “The House of Marcus Lycus”, if only because they consist entirely of men singing lecherously about women, with said women possibly dancing in a scantily clad fashion around the stage. But they were staged well – ie, even if your idea of entertainment wasn’t watching the scantily clad women, there was still plenty of clever choreography.

Of course, the show-stopper is “Bring Me My Bride”, in which Miles Gloriosus, the big muckety-muck whose presence we and the characters have been dreading for nearly the entire first act, finally shows up.

(Can I just stop for a moment here? The make-up artists painted Miles Gloriosus’s chest half skin-tone, half-golden. His six-pack shone. Any attempt to tell you how hilarious this was will turn out as a horrible pun (eg “It was brilliant”/“Pure gold”). Carry on.)

Not only is Miles Gloriosus a wickedly funny character, he’s straight out of Plautus and Terence and, you know, all those real Roman comedians. Well, so are the rest of the characters and the plot and even the set design. Anyway, the actor playing him gave him an outrrrrrrrrrrrrrageously orrrrnate prrrrrronuncia-shun. And it worked.

However, the heart of the show is with the two slaves, Pseudolus and Hysterium. In a lot of ways, Hysterium is Pseudolus’s straight man – except he also has his own shtick, which is being really prissy and then panicking when things go wrong. The actors I saw, Cory Doran and Leonard Elias, made the most of the material in the script; all their scenes made me laugh. Especially the bit where… uh… hmmm… I’m not sure I can explain it without ruining a plot twist. Let’s just say it happens around the reprise of “Lovely”.

Forum does have its weaknesses: the whole “Hero’s mom is ugly and nags a lot so Hero’s dad is unhappy” sort-of-plotline, sort-of-repeated-joke doesn’t work for me at all. And, even though the director had set up a neat bit of choreo that involved set pieces on wheels and lots of complicated manoeuvres, I still find “Pretty Little Picture” yawn-worthy. Sorry. And the ending is paced a little quickly. But I still like the rest!

Because I’m not a professional reviewer AND the show is over AND I feel like it, allow me to share my favourite joke from the piece:

(Pseudolus is pretending, for complicated reasons, to be a soothsayer. Erroneous is a “befuddled old man” who lives next door to Hero. He’s spent his entire life searching for his two children who were stolen as babies by… pirates! Don’t you love this musical already?)

Pseudolus: I see… I see… you are searching for…

Hysterium, who is standing behind Erronius, holds up two fingers.

Pseudolus: You are searching for two –

Hysterium indicates a short height.

Pseudolus: Two children!

Erronius: Yes, yes!

Hysterium makes muscles, struts, etc.

Pseudolus: A nice, big, strong boy –

Erronius: Yes!

Hysterium skips and flounces.

Pseudolus: And a very strange smaller boy?

….

Maybe you had to be there. But, hey, that’s what’s great about theatre: you do. So find a production, and go!