Marina Nebro: Arts and Culture

A Comedy Last Night!

I had no idea that the song Comedy Tonight was from A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum! All I remember about this Stephen Sondheim musical is that it was once performed at Great Neck North High School, and being young, my impression of my future high school was that it was not best known for its theatrical talents – at least it couldn’t compare to “Theatre South” on the opposite end of town. But enough reminiscing! I am much older now and can appreciate a performance for what it is, and I must say, I really enjoyed Queens College’s production.

The time is two hundred years before the Christian era, a day in spring. The place is a street in Rome in front of the houses of Lycus, Erronius, and Senex.

Senex (Tom Stagnitta) and his wife Domina (JX Yu) are off to the countryside to visit Domina’s mother, and leave their young son Hero (Michael Verre) home with their slaves. They warn their head slave Hysterium (Stephen Winburn) to keep Hero away from any person of the opposite sex – he’s not ready for that yet! Despite this warning, it isn’t long until Hero and his personal slave Pseudolus (David Holliday) enter the House of Lycus (a house of courtesans) to find Hero the girl of his dreams – the young virgin, Philia (Grace Kahl).

The problem, though, is that she has already been sold off to a captain and is untouchable by anyone else! What to do? Pseudolus concocts an extremely convoluted plan to get Hero and Philia together. Why, may you ask? Hero promises Pseudolus’ freedom if he helps him get the girl. But the complicated plan doesn’t go exactly how Pseudolus wanted it to. For one thing, Senex returns home early, and is very titillated by the idea of having a new “maid” in the house. He plans to lay with her, but in his neighbor’s (Erronius – Tom Sauro) currently empty house. Erronius is out searching for his children who were once stolen by pirates. Of course, he returns as well, and Pseudolus has to come up with a way to get rid of him. These are only two of the many problems that arise, and you can be sure the rest are very comical indeed!

I am quite upset that I did not have the time in my schedule this semester to help work on the set. As you can see above, the staging was both colorful and whimsical, and it was obvious that a lot of hard work was put into the building of the set. Another round of applause to Harry Feiner for a spectacular design (he also created the look for the set of A Dybbuk back in first semester).

The cast of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum was mixed – some of the actors were music students, and others were theatre students. This being said, everyone’s voices sounded great. I would like to mention Christian Gibbs, though, who portrayed the captain Miles Gloriosus. His voice absolutely blew me out of the water! It was powerful, awe-inspiring, and purely operatic! I heard the same quality from Grace Kahl and JX Yu as well.

In terms of acting, I must commend David Holliday in his portrayal of Pseudolus the slave. Before going to see the show, a friend told me that his acting was very Nathan Lane-esque, and I must agree! His comical acting, his body language and mannerisms, and overall air is very reminiscent of the Producers actor (who also happened to receive the 1996 Tony for the role of Pseudolus!).

I would like to lend a shout-out to my good friend Cassy Price, who made her Queens College debut as a member of the ensemble. Great job, and I cannot wait to see you in future productions! Kudos to the entire cast, and break a leg in the rest of your performances.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
Goldstein Theatre
April 19, 2013

Marina B. Nebro