MUSICAL THEATRE REVIEW: A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM
20 Dec'10

JOHN COULBOURN - QMI Agency
Rating: 3 out of 5

Some names carry a lot of baggage. If you’re planning on calling a rail terminus Grand Central Station, for instance, you're going to build a little more up-town than a whistle stop. And if you set out to build a new production of A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM, smart money would suggest you stock up on a whole lot of funny. Which is sort of what director Des McAnuff did when he tackled the classic Burt Shevelove/Larry Gelbart/Stephen Sondheim comedy for the Stratford Festival, reprising a production he’d originally done for La Jolla Playhouse.

And now that he’s taken one more kick at the can, remounting the Stratford production at the Canon Theatre where it opened under the Mirvish imprimatur Saturday, it seems he’s added even more funny to the pot. All of which might lead one to wonder why, after three tries, McAnuff’s production still seems so drearily laboured — as eager to please, admittedly, as a new puppy, but frankly, in the end, just about as clumsy.

One could blame it on the change in venue, and certainly there is merit to that, for even though McAnuff et al have polished the show and added a degree of sophistication to its production values, it still falls short of filling the sprawling confines of the Canon with laughter. But then, it wasn’t exactly a laugh riot when it played Stratford’s more intimate Avon Theatre in the summer of ’09.

Of course, there will be those who blame the work itself, suggesting it has become dated — as if a work inspired by the comedies of ancient Greece, which have endured for millennia, could suddenly grow tired in the 50 or so years since it made its Broadway debut. Still others might blame the casting, forgetting in the process that talents like Bruce Dow and Sean Cullen (who alternate in the principal role of the slave Pseudolus) have had audiences rolling in the aisles in other plays, as have veterans like Cliff Saunders, Dan Chameroy and Brian Tree.

But after watching Dow in his Stratford opening a couple of summers ago, then catching up with Cullen as he launched the Toronto run Saturday, the problem seems to be pretty clear — and it is definitely one of vision. While McAnuff clearly understands the need for ‘Funny’ in A FUNNY THING…, it seems he sees it as something he must bring to the production, not something he must find in it — and while there is still plenty of ‘funny’ in the script by Shevelove and Gelbart, he tramples all over it in order to hang his own laughs in its stead. What he fails to grasp, finally, is that most of the comedy in the vaudeville-laced FORUM is to be found in the unexpected — and in watching the characters react to the unexpected, as the hapless Pseudolus plots to gain the hand of the virginal courtesan Philia (a note-perfect Chilina Kennedy) for his master, Hero (Mike Nadajewski), and thereby win his freedom.

In a play all about reacting, McAnuff focusses on acting, throwing in all sorts of extraneous funny business, instead of mining reaction from his truly comic characters, including not just Cullen, but his fellow slave Hysterium (played by Steven Sutcliffe). A well-rehearsed comedy is a good thing, but if it appears well-rehearsed, not so much.

So, in the end, if you want to hear a few of the more memorable Sondheim tunes, catch up with a bit of Wayne Cilento’s snappy choreography or admire the creativity of John Arnone’s sets, this might be just the ticket. But if you’re looking for ‘Funny,’ you’ll catch a lot more watching people on their way to the mall on slippery sidewalks than you will on this trip to the FORUM.