By Cindy Whitehair, Perry Whitehair and Perry S Whitehair
Fresh off of seeing Sondheim’s Into the Woods in Logan, we travel south to see Stephen Sondheim’s “A Funny Thing Happened on The Way To the Forum” at the Neil Simon Festival in Cedar City.
Forum is another favorite in our family so we knew we had to jump on the opportunity to see this show again. Forum is the story of Hero (Quinn Osborne) who falls in love at first sight with lovely virgin courtesan Philia (Tammi Colombo). Hero enlists the help of his scheming slave Pseudolus (Henry Ballesteros). Along the way, Pseudolus has to dodge chief slave Hysterium (Luke Sidney Johnson), Hero’s parents Senex (Richard Bugg), Domina (Lena Conatser), Lycus (Trevor Messenger) the owner of the house of ill repute, and Captain Miles Gloriosus (Devin Anderson) who had purchased the lovely virgin.
The setting for Forum is a street in Rome and the action is centered around three houses – the house of Lycus, the house of Senex, and the house of Erronius (Max Kunz), who is out searching the world for his son and daughter who were stolen by pirates years before. The three houses (set design by Michael Harvey) are colorful and slightly off kilter, perfect for a slapstick comedy. Light design (Rebekah Bugg) highlights the color of the homes and the costumes well. Costumes (design by Bill Black from Utah Shakespeare Festival and coordinated by Jen Bach) serve to help carry on the light-hearted, playful nature of the set. Director Douglas Hill did a great job managing the second act chase scene – especially given the large stage. He used his actors effectively without wearing them out too much.
Most of the slapstick action centers around Pseudolus and Hysterium, and Ballesteros and Johnson are more than up to the challenge. The Proteans (Zane Brady, Joseph Price, Ben Cano) are absolute scene stealers – as they are supposed to be. They are supposed to fill in the various ensemble roles and they perform with great aplomb and energy. Messenger’s Lycus is the perfect mix of devious, spineless, manipulative, and greedy. His peeking out of a second story window at Pseudolus as he pretends to be Lycus caught many in the audience off guard. It’s hysterical. Osborne and Colombo are perfectly “Lovely” and that is about it – and that is also how it is supposed to be.
My only criticism is the choreography (Emily Henwood) for the courtesans (Henwood, Maycee Ham, Olivia Sham, Kenna Fullmer, and Faith Read). Their dances are supposed to be slightly provocative and suggestive – they are courtesans after all. While the choreography was not bad, it just didn’t have the evocative nature that needs to be implied in their scenes. The rest of the dances were great, so this is just a little bit of picky feedback.
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to The Forum lives up to their opening song’s promise of “Comedy Tonight”. It is a twisted piece of Rome that will keep you laughing long after the show is over. The Neil Simon Festival is a wonderful addition to southern Utah’s wide array of theater. Head to Cedar City and catch all the great shows the Simon Fest is offering this summer.
The Neil Simon Festival presents A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To the Forum. Book by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart, Lyrics and Music by Stephen Sondheim.
The Heritage Center Theater 105 North 100 East, Cedar City, UT 84720
July 14, 19, 25, Aug 3, and 11 7:30 PM. Matinees July 17, 21, 27, Aug 1, 9 2:00 PM
Tickets: $10 – $25
Contact: 435-327-8673
Neil Simon Festival Facebook Page
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