Off The Wall Theatre presents an alternative to holiday fare with Stephen Sondheim’s A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. The early ’60s musical comedy is not unenjoyable as romance resonates across the stage in a stylistically dated script set in ancient Rome. Consisting of a light, pleasantly rhythmic cascade of events, it’s not like the show isn’t fun. It would be much more charming were it not for its relentless attempts at humor. The sense of humor driving the musical hasn’t aged well and the jokes simply aren’t funny. The enduring charm that the production taps into springs from the central romance: Patrick McCann capably plays a timid young citizen named Hero who has fallen in love with a beautiful young woman played by an endearingly effervescent Brittni Hesse.
The consistently charismatic Zachery Dean does a tremendously good job in making the production endurable in the role of Pseudolus, a slave who can win his freedom if he’s able to win the heart of the young woman for Hero. Throughout the performance, Dean shows subtlety and flare for the same kind of earnest desire and emotion that animate Hesse and McCann.
Sadly, there is way too much action outside the central plot. While none of the rest of what’s going on seems very compelling, the production manages a little bit of fun with some of the periphery. Danny Slattery’s heartfelt performance as the perpetually nervous slave Hysterium is fun, as is Renee Reszel’s whimsically imposing appearance as the dominant courtesan, Gymnasia.
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Through Dec. 31 at Off the Wall Theatre, 127 E. Wells St. For tickets, call 414-484-8874 or visit offthewalltheatre.com.
