A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum presented by Shakespeare Theatre Company at Sidney Harman Hall

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

Sidney Harman Hall
610 F Street NW Washington

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum tells the bawdy story of Pseudolus, a slave in ancient Rome, who goes to great lengths to gain his freedom by securing a courtesan for his young master, Hero. Scheming slaves, mistaken identities and courtesans each with their own gimmick deliver on the promise of the famous opening number, that there will be comedy tonight. Director Alan Paul says, "This musical is about entertainment. It is important at this time in our city to make people laugh, give them an opportunity to forget their stresses and just enjoy themselves."

Presented by Shakespeare Theatre Company

Thru - Jan 5, 2014

Tuesdays: 7:30pm

Wednesdays: 7:30pm

Thursdays: 8:00pm

Fridays: 8:00pm

Saturdays: 2:00pm & 8:00pm

Sundays: 2:00pm & 7:30pm

Price: $20-$110

Show Type: Musical

Running Time: 2 hours, 30 minutes with 1 intermission

www.ShakespeareTheatre.org

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A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum Reviews

Average Rating based on 5 reviews

Highly Recommended
Recommended
Somewhat Recommended
Not Recommended

Washington Post - Recommended

"...You can hear echoes of those long-ago roars again now at Sidney Harman Hall, where, of all organizations, the Shakespeare Theatre Company is reviving "Forum" in a flashy production that is at all times eager to please and, sometimes, even a little desperate to. Presided over by Bruce Dow, a blue-ribbon Shakespearean clown playing wiseacre slave Pseudolus, this version of the 1962 show is in time-honored fashion choreographically slick, rampantly silly and aggressively incorrect, politically speaking. All things considered, it's an agreeably retro diversion."

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- Peter Marks

Washingtonian - Recommended

"...The design of the show is so slick it almost clashes with the comedy, although Dow delivers with manic energy, tossing fake babies at audience members and breaking character gleefully to acknowledge when a piece of choreography doesn't quite go according to plan. When Marcus Lycius parades the concubines in front of Pseudolus, his eyes bulge out so violently that he's reminiscent of a toga-clad Roger Rabbit. Speaking of which, the parade of Playboy-ready Gymnasia (Jennifer Frankel), the Geminae twins (Ashley Blair Fitzgerald and Sarah Meahl), Vibrata (Lisa Karlin), Panacea (Chelsey Arce), and Tintinabula (Ashley Marinelli) makes the most of David C. Woolard's vibrantly smutty costumes and Josh Rhodes's gymnastic choreography."

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- Sophie Gilbert

ShowBizRadio - Recommended

"...To anyone reading this review, let me assure you that STC's Forum is anything but shopworn. Roll-in-the-aisles funny? Yes. Near-perfect comic timing? Check. Well acted, well sung, inventive? Count on it. Unworthy to be presented by a company named for Shakespeare? No way. Liberally adapting and building on source material from the Roman playwright Plautus - as did Shakespeare for The Comedy of Errors, incidentally - Sondheim and collaborators Larry Gelbart and Burt Shevelove constructed a brilliant farce, to which STC and director Alan Paul do credit."

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- Bob Ashby

The Georgetowner - Recommended

"...Director Alan Paul is the great, inventive ring master, the barker, the backstage organizer who put this show together, but it's Bruce Day who does the heavy juggling of its many disparate and, often, desperate parts. "Forum" would not work without Dow as Pseudolus, the slave longing to be free and a citizen of Rome, who goes the extra league and then some to achieve that end. But it would also be impossible to imagine "Forum" without each and every member of the cast , so knit together tightly are the bits, and the fast pace of the laugh-a-second, eye-candy, bawdy, zany show."

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- Gary Tischler

DCTheatreScene - Highly Recommended

Let’s just get this out of the way right off the bat: STC’s Funny Thing is indeed a very “funny thing.” You will laugh, a lot. Whatever your sense of humor is, I guarantee there are at least 12 gags packed in that will get a rise out of you. “Something for everyone,” indeed.

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- John Dellaporta

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum presented by Shakespeare Theatre Company at Sidney Harman Hall