A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
Part Two of Berkshire Sondheim Festival at Williamstown Theatre Festival
By: Charles Giuliano - 07/02/2010
Jessica Stone is the director of the WTF production of Forum. Giuliano photo.
Stone directed her husband Christopher Fitzgerald in the starring role of Forum. T. Clark Erickson photo.
Mayhem prevails in Ancient Rome. Erickson photo.
The lovers Hero (Bryce Pinkham) and Philia (David Turner) share an intimate moment. Sam Hough photo.
How the mighty have fallen. Erickson.
Intermission. Hough.
A bottle blond Roman Hero Bryce Pinkham. Giuliano.
David Costabile played the pimp Lycus. Giuliano.
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,
Book by Burt Shevelove & Larry Gelbart
Music & Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Directed by Jessica Stone
Scenic Designer – Alexander Dodge, Costume Design – Catherine A. Parrott, Lighting Design – Jeff Croiter, Sound Design – Drew Levy, Tony Smolenski IV, Production Stage Manager – Gregory T. Livoti, Production Manager – Joel M. Krause, Casting – Melcap Casting, Choreography – Denis Jones, Music Direction – Gary Adler
Cast: Tintinabula/Erronius – Kevin Cahoon, Protean/Gemeni #1 – Paul Castree, Lycus – David Constabile, Pseudolus – Christopher Fitzgerald, Protean – Zachary Grady, Hysterium – Josh Grisetti, Protean – Adam Lerman, Domina/Panacea – Chivas Michael, Hero – Bryce Pinkham, Protean/Gymnasia – Joe Aaron Reid, Miles Gloriosus – Graham Rowat, Senex/Vibrata – Jeremy Shamos, Phila – David Turner, Protean/Geeni #2 – Jon Patrick Walker.
Williamstown Theatre Festival
Main Stage
June 30 – July 11, 2010
Two hours, thirty minutes, one 15 minute intermission.
On the occasion of his 80th birthday there is a Berkshire celebration of arguably the greatest composer and lyricist of his generation, Stephen Sondheim.
To the delight of audiences there is the unique opportunity to compare and contrast between two absolutely superb productions. They are as different as day and night but similar in presenting two aspects of the genius of Sondheim.
Barrington Stage Company is presenting Sondheim at his grim and darkest in the 1976 Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. We left the theater deeply moved by the disturbing spectacle of musical cannibalism. In ever sense it has been a tough experience to digest. While Williamstown Theatre Festival has produced an early work by the master, from 1962, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.
After writing lyrics for Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story (1957) and with composer Jule Styne on Gypsy (1959), at the age of 32, Sondheim wrote the music and lyrics for Forum. Although Forum won multiple Tonys Sondheim was passed over for a nomination. For his first solo on Broadway Sondheim received a frosty reception.
The musical almost didn’t make it to Broadway. It was not going over well during out of town previews. Those were the days when shows made their way to Broadway though Boston, New Haven and other towns. Now it is make or break on opening night.
Director George Abbott and Producer Hal Prince brought in director and choreographer Jerome Robbins. He advised dropping the opening song “Love Is in the Air.” Sondheim replaced it with “Comedy Tonight,” one of his greatest anthems, and the show has been a money in the bank hit ever since.
In the hilarious and magnificent WTF production, brilliantly and meticulously directed by Jessica Stone, and starring her hysterically funny husband, Christopher Fitzgerald, the opener “Comedy Tonight” blows our sox off. They are long standing Williamstown regulars. This is his tenth WTF season and her seventh.
Robbins was right on the money in advising a change. What Sondheim responded with is a thumbnail sketch of the dichotomy of Classical culture from the Greeks through the Romans. It was encapsulated in The Poetics by Aristotle. He defined the elements of tragedy while stating that comedy is a lesser form of the arts.
And how.
In “Comedy Tonight” Sondheim offers us a choice. On the one hand an evening of tragedy, gloomy stuff with masks. At WTF we are given a whiff of this with a group of actors skulking about. Then the slave Pseudolus (Christopher Fitzgerald) whips off his mask and proclaims that it will be “Comedy Tonight.” A white curtain is raised to reveal the elaborate set by Alexander Dodge with three houses, two stories high, and alleys in between.
This may be Ancient Rome, but, count them, there are the required six doors of farce. By the end of the second act all the characters are chasing each other running up and down alleys and slamming all six doors. There is even a bit involving the roof.
What Sondheim reveals to us so brilliantly is that compared to the austerity of classical tragedy and drama the Ancient Greeks and Romans liked their comedy bawdy, farcical and outrageous. There were pratfalls, sight gags, puns, farts and broad farce. Lots of the jokes involved sex which were all the more comedic as the actors were entirely male. The male actors sported enormous members which they flailed and brandished. Enormous phalluses were used as clubs and weapons. Such a pity that WTF drew the line on the Cult of Priapus. Seems there were a lot of size queens in Ancient Greece and Rome. It was always good for a gag.
Evoking ancient theatrical tradition Jessica Stone decided to create the first all male production of Forum. For most of the evening it was a great idea, good for tons of laughs, but after awhile, the trope wore thin and became a bit of a drag.
Because most of the guys weren’t very convincing as girls. Of course that was part of the joke. At times it worked amazingly well as, for instance, in the minor role of Gymnasia by a large and muscular actor, Joe Aaron Reid. He is apparently a classically trained dancer who would be right at home with Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo. His cameo leaps and turns brought down the house.
Accepting the daffy and simpering David Turner as Philia was more of a stretch. Although trained as a courtesan she has learned little else other than to smile and please a man. She has been sold to the highest bidder by the procurer next door, Lycus (David Constible). There is a funny riff that she can’t count past three. When Hero tells her he has never kissed a woman she responds with candor “It’s the first thing we learn.”
In the duet “Lovely” between Philia and her young suitor Hero (Bryce Pinkham) it threw me off that his tenor was a bit higher than “her” voice. The idea of not making Philia more feminine was the director’s decision but it also killed the illusion. So when they kissed it was less a boy girl thing than two guys making out. In this instance the gender bender didn’t quite mesh and it was too crucial to the plot not to be a fly in the ointment.
Perhaps I am being too picky. The audience either didn’t notice such details or was too busy laughing their asses off. It surely was an absolutely hilarious evening.
The pace and action were relentless. For this mostly credit the perfect match of the husband and wife team of Stone, and Fitzgerald. They must have had a ball doing this show. He may be the funniest actor I have ever seen on stage. While Zero Mostel created the legendary role Fitzgerald has brought considerable skill to the character. His body movement and control compare to the masters Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin. He is as flexible as silly putty.
His comic timing in delivering a line or pun was flawless.
While it is tempting to say that he ran away with this show, hold your horses. There were other truly terrific actors. Fitzgerald got amazing support from John Grisetti as Hysterium the slave next door with a book of magical potions. Jeremy Shamos enjoyed some spectacular moments as Senex the second of three suitors of Philia. The third was the Roman general Miles Gloriosus played strongly by the tall and handsome Graham Rowat. Chivas Michael was stunning as the shrewish wife of Senex. Speaking of her Senex said “Never fall in love during a lunar eclipse.” How true. Love is blind.
Last summer, the second season for artistic director, Nicholas Martin, was disappointing. One of the budget setbacks was the absence of a musical. During the first season Martin presented the musical She Loves Me. Initially he wanted to cast Jessica Stone in Forum but she convinced him to let her direct the production. It proved to be a wise decision. She has triumphed while Martin is able to focus on an all star WTF cast for Our Town by Thornton Wilder. It opens on July 28.
In this as yet young season there is every indication that WTF and Martin are back on track. Once again we have a truly terrific musical. And they pulled out all the stops on this production. There a magnificent set by Dodge. WTF also has sprung for a full 16 piece band under the musical direction of Gary Adler. Musicals are expensive to stage but WTF has provided a Broadway level production for Forum.
From our balcony seats we looked down onto the stage. It was intriguing to see how the band was buried in three pits. As the actors raced about in a madcap manner we prayed that nobody would slip and fall in. That must have taken a lot of rehearsal time and energy. Stone cleverly used the pits. Now and then props are handed down to the conductor. The first time it happened the house came down. Then in a clever variation, during a love scene that called for flowers, they are passed up from the pit. The conductor doubles as an actor and prop guy. Clever. Very clever Jessica.
Now, the morning after, I am recalling what was so funny about last night. Yes, we had great fun. But, like the intoxicating bubbles of champagne, humor pops, fizzles, then fades away. While tragedy broods and lingers. Invades our sleep. In that sense the escapist farce of Forum evaporates all too quickly. While Sweeney Todd hovers.
So, yes, apples and oranges. But I am so grateful to Barrington and WTF for giving us two very different views of Sondheim. If you want a good laugh, see Forum. For unforgettable nightmares, and a walk on the wild side, don’t miss Sweeney Todd. Better yet, see them both. Then, you decide. I wouldn’t miss either one of them for the world. Later this summer Barrington will stage a youth production of Into the Woods.
Can you ever get enough of Sondheim? That’s why this may be the best ever summer of theatre in the Berkshires. And it’s just the Fourth of July. Fabulous.