A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
earplug
Swing Joined: 2/16/15
#1A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
Posted: 11/17/15 at 11:20am
Did anyone see A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum at Two River Theater in NJ? I'm curious to hear how it was.
#2A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
Posted: 11/17/15 at 11:24am
I'm going to opening night on Friday. I know others on here have seen this production in its previous iteration at Williamstown, or in readings.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
#3A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
Posted: 11/17/15 at 4:08pm
I'm going to the Saturday matinee. Very curious to see how the all-male casting works. Based on a photo I saw on Facebook, the set looks great.
#4A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
Posted: 11/17/15 at 4:37pm
I saw the show on Sunday during the matinee. The show is hilarious and fantastic. Chris Fitzgerald is wonderful in the role. The rest of the cast is great too. The whole male cast really adds to the comedic aspect of the show. I would recommend this show to anyone. Can't go wrong seeing this production.
#5A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
Posted: 11/17/15 at 9:05pm
Since the show is so heavily male to begin with, how much difference does an all-male cast make? (I'm seriously asking. I have no objection to the idea.)
#6A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
Posted: 11/17/15 at 11:11pm
I'm going on Saturday afternoon too. Love the cast. Love Fitzgerald's calves.
"Hey little girls, look at all the men in shiny shirts and no wives!" - Jackie Hoffman, Xanadu, 19 Feb 2008
#7A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
Posted: 11/23/15 at 9:03am
I enjoyed the show this past weekend, but I think it needs a better director than actress Jessica Stone and a bigger (as in personality) star than Christopher Fitzgerald as Pseudolus. Fitzgerald worked hard, but I missed the larger-than-life performances of Zero Mostel and Nathan Lane (in the movie and 1996 revival, respectively). Having men play the courtesans actually adds to the humor of their big number, and David Turner gives a hilarious performance as a dimmer-than-dim Philia. Personally, I thought he stole the show. Michael Urie is fine as Hysterium, but his song "I'm Calm" falls kind of flat (bad direction at the end as he just exits into a house). "The Echo Song" has been added in the second act for the two lovers, and there is a five-minute frantic chase sequence right before the finale that feels like it goes on for 15 minutes and uses bits of tunes from West Side Story, Swan Lake, Carmen and typical silent movie chase music. I don't remember that from the 1996 Nathan Lane revival, and I was surprised that it had so much non-Sondheim music. Did Sondheim approve that?
#8A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
Posted: 11/23/15 at 9:22am
I found Fitzgerald miscast as Pseudolus, lacking the humor and charisma to carry the show. Turner's deadpan Philia didn't work for me, either, and the obvious age difference between him and Bobby Conte Thornton as Hero was seemed like a mistake. Michael Urie and Eddie Cooper gave the most successful performances. Cooper is also the only "female" cast member who achieves even a little verisimilitude. The production is kind of mediocre overall and wouldn't even be notable if it wasn't all-male.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
#9A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
Posted: 11/23/15 at 11:48am
Wow really second guessing going to NJ for this...I guess the consensus is that it's not worth the trip. It would be my first Forum and one of the few Sondheim's that I haven't seen.
#10A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
Posted: 11/23/15 at 12:00pm
The audience ate it up the night I went, but it was opening night -- so obviously many in attendance were involved with the production. I was expecting a lot and found that it didn't really deliver.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
#11A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
Posted: 11/23/15 at 2:15pm
Play Esq., I guess I liked it a bit more than AC126748, and the audience I saw it with this past weekend loved it. If you've never seen Forum, and if Red Bank isn't too far out of your way, I'd recommend giving it a try, albeit with lowered expectations. And Red Bank is a cute little town with lots of nice restaurants.
Videos