The Pittsburgh Tatler: Over two thousand years of comedic tradition (the twenty-one extant comedies of Roman playwright Plautus, no less!) feed into the plot of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Plus, it draws on the talents of an A-list of twentieth-century Broadway theater creators, including Stephen Sondheim, Hal Prince, and Jerome Robbins, not to mention its writers Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart. Add in the unerring comedic instincts of director/choreographer Ted Pappas and actor Jimmy Kieffer (as the wily and desperate slave Pseudolus) and the cartoonish scenic and costume designs (James Noone and Martha Bromelmeier, reprising a design by Tony Walton), and you have a show that is virtually guaranteed to make you laugh.
2 comments:
One interesting thing is interesting how the author seems to love the show but she also says how the plot is just a generic one of all musical comedies. I wonder if the Pittsburgh Public’s production of this show was just so amazing or the writing of the show is just so stellar that the plot doesn’t matter. It's nice to hear that the scenic design got a round of applause when it revealed to audience members. This shows that at least some of Pittsburgh’s audiences recognize scenic design. This is something that happens rarely in New York and usually, when I am in an audience where this happens it is full of seasoned older New Yorkers. This is something that I wish would happen at all shows as all the designers deserve a point of recognition. I am very glad that the author of the review says she isn’t okay with the old view that the play holds. It is sad when people excuse offensive work that is artistically beautiful and might be funny.
One interesting thing is interesting how the author seems to love the show but she also says how the plot is just a generic one of all musical comedies. I wonder if the Pittsburgh Public’s production of this show was just so amazing or the writing of the show is just so stellar that the plot doesn’t matter. It's nice to hear that the scenic design got a round of applause when it revealed to audience members. This shows that at least some of Pittsburgh’s audiences recognize scenic design. This is something that happens rarely in New York and usually, when I am in an audience where this happens it is full of seasoned older New Yorkers. This is something that I wish would happen at all shows as all the designers deserve a point of recognition. I am very glad that the author of the review says she isn’t okay with the old view that the play holds. It is sad when people excuse offensive work that is artistically beautiful and might be funny.
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