Signature’s ‘Forum’ is an Uproarious Roman Holiday
The exuberant farce of Signature's "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" is a perfectly-timed mood lifter.
A funny thing happened on my way to A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum: Donald Trump won re-election, which, actually, was not that funny. So, the day after Election Day, heading to Signature Theatre to see Matthew Gardiner’s new production of Forum, I didn’t know what I would do with the zany hijinks of ancient Roman slaves and courtesans.
Likely, I wouldn’t be the only person in the building having feelings about the election results. Somebody somewhere must have been brimming with glee that their guy(s) won, but many more in the audience probably really needed “Comedy Tonight,” whether or not they thought they were in the mood.
The company, many of whom might also have been in their feelings, had an unusually heavy lift that evening, and I report with pleasure that everyone rose to the occasion.
Judging by pointed gestures peppered throughout — like the extra punch that Erin Weaver, playing Pseudolus, gives to a joke about voting twice — the players are on the same page with their audience. And Gardiner has them all on the same page with each other, as the cast uniformly throws themselves into Stephen Sondheim’s music and lyrics, and Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart’s Tony-winning book, with a verve that verges on heroic.
It takes a lotta verve to put across these bawdy, fast-paced musical shenanigans, spearheaded by Pseudolus, a cunning slave in the house of Roman senator Senex (Christopher Bloch) and wife Domina (Tracy Lynn Olivera). When the senator’s unseasoned son Hero (Zachary Keller) falls for Philia (Kuhoo Verma), the virgin next door, quick-witted Pseudolus steps in, seizing the opportunity to play matchmaker in exchange for his freedom.
“Can you see me being equal with my countrymen,” Pseudolus sings in “Free,” a shrewdly funny plea that, in Weaver’s hands, resonates with urgency. But freedom won’t come easy, because, of course, Philia is not just a virgin but a courtesan in the crowded house of Lycus (Lawrence Redmond), and already promised and sold to Roman captain Miles Gloriosus (Cameron Loyal).
Pseudolus, with the reluctant assistance of head house slave Hysterium (Mike Millan), will have to hustle through a host of plot twists, and fake and mistaken identities, to get Hero his girl. So ensues the high-kicking, pratfalling, door-slamming slapstick musical comedy that this production presents boldly and brightly from the first rousing number, “Comedy Tonight.”
Undergirding the signature song, and the whole shebang, is music director John Kalbfleisch’s 14-piece orchestra, sounding refined tucked behind Jimmy Stubbs’ farce-facilitating set.
The stage starts out cast as a temple of theater, before a deft quick-change into the Roman street where the houses of Lycus, Senex, and elderly neighbor Erronius (Sherri L. Edelen) sit in a row of columned porticos. Gardiner, who choreographs as well as directs, likes a splashy set reveal.
He also makes welcome choices queering a few characters, like the tempting Geminae twins. Originally written as working girls in the house of Lycus, they’re two well-built men here — a fun and historically accurate gender switch — played by Ryan Sellers and Hank von Kolnitz, who entertain in multiple roles. Nolan Montgomery, a memorable Margaret Mead in Gardiner’s recent Hair at Signature, pulls off another scene-stealing drag turn as leggy Lycus courtesan Gymnasia.
The show, which debuted on Broadway in 1962, needs those modern touches to help counter the places where its voice sounds dated. “Everybody Ought to Have a Maid,” Senex’s ode to sexually harassing the female household help, despite Bloch’s best efforts working the song, doesn’t register as knowingly naughty but as just retrograde dirty old man daydreaming.
At least his wife doesn’t mind it, with Olivera’s Domina offering a delightful “That Dirty Old Man,” acknowledging her husband’s lecherous ways and asserting she wants him anyway. Hero and Philia still make a more agreeable couple, with Keller and Verma forming a lovely pair of randy virgins worth rooting for, along with Weaver’s winning matchmaker Pseudolus.
The merry master of ceremonies for this frolicsome Forum, Pseudolus makes a persuasive pitch for the audience to put down their troubles for a spell, to laugh at these human foibles, and exhale and recharge. “Nothing portentous or polite/Tragedy tomorrow/Comedy tonight!” Then, the next day, come out ready to hustle like Pseudolus for your freedom.
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (★★★★☆) runs through Jan. 12 at Signature Theatre, 4200 Campbell Ave., in Arlington. There is a Pride Night performance on Dec. 6, and Discussion Night performances on Nov. 19 and Dec. 12. Tickets are $40 to $126. Call 703-820-9771, or visit www.sigtheatre.org.
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