Slaves, soldiers and prostitutes get debauched in ancient Rome, all in hope of finding freedom, love and a real zinger of a punch line.
From March 16 to March 28, Reprise Theatre Company will be staging “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” at UCLA’s Freud Playhouse. The musical comedy, penned in 1962 by collaborators Burt Shevelove, Larry Gelbart and Stephen Sondheim, unites classical Roman theater with vaudevillian humor.
Reprise specializes in putting on revivals of old musical theater classics. Apart from performing old-time favorites such as “Carousel,” which was the theater company’s season opener, Reprise is known for its professionalism and pace when preparing for opening night.
“We put together the show in truly two weeks,” said Erich Bergen, who plays Hero in the play. “For any other show there’s about a month of rehearsal. Our whole thing, from first rehearsal to final performance is an entire month. That is obviously a very unique approach.”
Peggy Hickey, a professor of theater who choreographed “Forum,” noted that the turnaround on Reprise productions is impressive, as are the performers.
“They use the very, very best ingredients,” Hickey said. “The audition process is exhaustive. They don’t rule out New York talent. They try to keep it L.A.-based, (but) they don’t hesitate in their search for just the right combination of talent.”
Bergen, who was impressed with the show’s cast of industry professionals, also praised “Forum” for its comedic strengths. He explained that the script, which combines classical musical theater, stand-up comedy, and zany, off-the-wall gags, was almost actor-proof.
“It is so specifically written that it’s really hard to do anything than what it says to do on the page. If it’s funny when you read it, it’s got to be funny when you put it on its feet. That’s what makes it such a classic piece,” Bergen said.
According to Gary Gardner, a professor of theater who teaches History of the American Musical, “Forum” was not particularly relevant to the social landscape of the ’60s. It did, however, have one of the funniest librettos ever written.
“It is a silly, silly vaudevillian farce. What was irrelevant about the show is what didn’t sell tickets in advance. You had all of these old men … who had been elbowed out of careers as comedians even though they had been around in the dying days of Vaudeville,” Gardner said. “But here you had three old-time Jewish comedians who knew how to sock a punch line.”
Hickey explained how her role as choreographer relates to the play’s comedic aspects.
“Movement is the first language. It’s a very challenging show for everyone in the cast … because of the physical quality of the comedy. It’s not even what I would call a dance-heavy show, but it’s a very physical show because it’s physical comedy,” Hickey said.
While you will not see any ballet in “Forum,” there are still many dance numbers that demand rigorous physical precision from the entire cast.
“There’s “˜Comedy Tonight’ which is epic. It goes for pages and pages and pages,” Hickey said. “It’s encirculated with dialogue and singing and dancing and physical gags and shtick and stuff like that. There are big long numbers that are highly coordinated and totally choreographed … arranged to feel effortless and off-the-cuff.”
Speaking of “Comedy Tonight,” which is the show’s opening number, Bergen relates it to classical theater and the relation between audience and performers.
“We enter into the piece for the first time, the audience doesn’t see us as characters, the audience sees us as actors. We enter into the theater as actors and the whole opening song is about, “˜We are now going to present this zany piece of theater for you.’ There’s a very classical approach to theater in this show. There are playgoers and actors and we are to entertain you,” Bergen said.
“Forum,” in many respects, is the first musical by Sondheim, whom Gardner regarded as the savior of musical theater.
“Since the muscle of the show was not anybody musical, this was the first show he had a chance to do both music and lyrics on. And they are quite good. The problem is, because the show’s a farce, it almost feels like the songs slow down the momentum of the farce. But if you listen to the lyrics, they are hysterical,” Gardner said.
Hickey, director David Lee and musical director Steve Orich spent months planning and plotting every moment of the music. While most of the play holds true to the original play created by Shevelove, Gelbart,and Sondheim, Orich created new orchestrations for the courtesans’ songs.
“The original dance orchestrations were … not as evocative of the story we wanted to tell and not really germane to the rest of the musical style of the show. We feel that we’ve married these orchestrations more closely to the rest of the feel of the score and they’re just more specific to each courtesan and what she’s there to do.”
Despite these changes, Bergen feels that Hickey, Lee and Orich are united in their objective to simply tell the story of “Forum” as it is supposed to be told and that the script is good enough as is.
“There is nothing to make this show … better,” Bergen said. “All you can do is get it on its feet the way it’s supposed to.”