‘Funny Thing’: It’s uneven but enjoyable
The director has a track record of being outstanding, but this production fell a little short.
NEW CASTLE — Not even the season’s first major snowstorm could dissuade community theater buffs from turning out en masse for the opening performance of “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” at the New Castle Playhouse on Friday night.
That’s probably more of a testament to “Funny Thing” director Michael Cavalier and his stellar body of NCP work (“Man of La Mancha,” “The Wizard of Oz,” this summer’s wonderful “South Pacific”) than any burning desire on the part of the audience to see another production of Stephen Sondheim’s 1962 musical farce.
The mark of an outstanding director is that you’re willing to follow him anywhere: even through a raging blizzard that caused white-out conditions for much of the perilous drive to New Castle and back.
As a longtime Cavalier fan, my expectations were probably a tad unrealistic going in.
After all, not even the most gifted director can hit a home run every time at bat. And “Funny Thing,” despite stretches of inspired comic buffoonery and some terrific performances, isn’t quite a home run.
The problem isn’t with Sondheim’s ebullient score — the first for which he wrote both the music and lyrics — or Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart’s clever book, which remains as witty as the day it was written.
No, the major stumbling block of NCP’s “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” is that it stubbornly refuses to catch fire. Cavalier’s interpretation feels literally, and in some cases figuratively, out of tune a good chunk of the time.
Set in 200 B.C., the play revolves around the elaborate machinations of portly slave Pseudolus (Jeffrey Hall) to win his freedom by playing cupid for young master Hero (Ben Solomon). In a role that made Zero Mostel a Broadway superstar, Hall is merely okay.
He’s surprisingly graceful and agile for a plus-sized clown, but his vocal delivery — particularly in such Sondheim show-stoppers as “Comedy Tonight” — is spotty at best.
Hall is consistently upstaged by supporting players such as Neal Edman’s Hysterium, Paul Angelucci’s Marcus Lycus and even the roving band of “Proteans” (Coy Price, Travis Ascione and Zack Varrati) who serve as a Greek Chorus for the bawdy action.
This is the first production of “Funny Thing” in which the Proteans make more of an impact than the show’s ostensible lead. Their priceless facial expressions and delectably silly pantomime routines are the funniest things here.
The flaws in Pseudolus’ hare-brained scheme quickly become apparent. Philia (the excellent Carly McNeely in her NCP debut), Hero’s equally virginal, equally daft sweetheart, has already been promised to preening Roman general Miles Gloriosus (NCP veteran Robert S. Hazen). Complicating matters further, Senex (Hans Kraus), Hero’s horndog father, also has the hots for Philia, much to the dismay of his long-suffering wife, Domina (a superb Connie Cassidy).
And we mustn’t forget Erronius (Philip Clark Jr.), the cheerfully addled old coot who’s searching for his kidnapped son and daughter.
If all that sounds like a bit much, it is. Shevelove and Gelbart’s script pays affectionate homage to Borscht Belt vaudeville, silent screen comedy (no wonder the great Stone Face Buster Keaton played Erronius in the deservedly beloved 1966 film version) and the Marx Brothers (it’s too bad that Groucho never had the chance to play Pseudolus, since the character was so clearly modeled after him).
The song score not only beefs up the comedy, but provides a sort of autocritique as well. No wonder Sondheim has described his score as “very experimental.”
For this type of highly stylized comic business to work, the pacing must be frenetic and elegant at the same time.
Cavalier achieves the former more than the latter. As a result, his high-energy “Funny Thing” is a lot closer to Benny Hill than it is to “A Night at the Opera.”
Except for some minor miking gaffes in Philia’s big Second Act number “That’ll Show Him,” the usual NCP acoustic problems were mostly absent. I just wish that the rest of this uneven, if still enjoyable, production had as few kinks in the system.
X“A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” runs through Dec. 7 at the New Castle Playhouse. For tickets and showtimes, call (724) 654-3437.