ROONEY IN ROMAN ROMP : ‘FUNNY THING’ COULD BE FUNNIER

“Mickey Rooney is the whole show,” somebody said at “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” at the Pantages on Tuesday night. Rooney obviously shares this opinion.

He mugs. He chortles. He wanders off during “Everybody Ought to Have a Maid” to blow kisses at the audience. He throws in jokes about Musso & Frank’s. When another actor’s sandal goes flying off by accident (oh, yeah?), he’s so convulsed that he has to sit down.

At the end of the show, Rooney gives a curtain speech. “All we’re trying to do up here is have a few laughs.” He gets his share. He’d get more if he’d take care of business, which is to play a slave named Pseudolus, who would do anything to be free.

Believe me, we’d still know it was Mickey Rooney. Burt Shevelove, Larry Gelbart and Stephen Sondheim knew what they were doing when they contrived “Forum” 25 years ago. They left plenty of room for the lead comic to do his thing, even to step out of the situation. But there does have to be a situation to step out of.

For my money, it’s Rooney’s colleagues who carry the show. Lenny Wolpe does seem a bit too calm as Hysterium. But the others are a fine basket of snakes.

Robert Nichols is great fun as poor old Senex, who is finding it harder and harder to be a dirty old man. Some nights, in fact, it’s “impossible.” Good taste forces him to mouth the word, a new touch in this perennial funny father-son duet. (Bob Walton is the skinny son, with apprehensions of his own.)

Mitchell Greenberg is Lycus, the flesh peddler. Would you buy a used-courtesan from this man? Maybe. He’s got a great line of them, and he clearly enjoys his work.

Michael Dantuono usually plays the braggart warrior, Miles Gloriosus, but understudy Steve Blanchard stepped in on opening night. As you will recall, Miles Gloriosus takes large steps. Blanchard was up to them. He even managed to take the focus away from Rooney. One trusts he won’t be whipped.

Marsha Bagwell is equally forceful as Senex’s wife. It would be nice if she were given a shot at the funny “Farewell” number that Sondheim wrote for Nancy Walker in the Ahmanson’s ’72 revival, about a woman who keeps saying goodby, but doesn’t leave, a common trait of the sex.

Frank Nastasi is Erronius, gamely rounding the walls of the city in the show’s major running gag--given his condition, walking gag. He’s charming.

James Darrah, Steven Gelfer and Reed Jones are amusing as the all-purpose three stooges, especially in the military scenes. Costume designer Gail Cooper-Hecht puts them in outfits that suggest the Roman Empire has been extended to Capt. John Smith’s Virginia.

And the girls! Well, yes. Lesley Durnin could use more coaching on how to deliver one of the play’s most immortal lines, “Don’t lower your voice to me.” But she’s certainly tall enough for the part. And it’s nice that Jennifer Lee Andrew doesn’t laugh at Philia just because she can’t count.

Rooney aside, this is a witty and well-prepared revival. (Vocally well-prepared, too: the voices are bright, the words clear. Music director Sherman Frank can take a bow.)

But somebody really should take Rooney aside, probably director George Martin. “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” is a class act. It doesn’t need jokes about Anaheim, Azusa and Cucamonga.

The show continues Tuesdays-Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 7 p.m., with Thursday and Saturday matinees at 2 p.m., closing July 19. Tickets $21.50-$37.50; (213) 410-1062.

‘A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM’ Stephen Sondheim’s musical, at the Pantages Theatre. Presented by the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera Association and by Gruber/ Gross/ Young productions. Book Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart. Scenery Michael Bottari and Ronald Case. Lighting Richard Winkler. Costumes Gail Cooper-Hecht. Director George Martin. Choreographer Ethel Martin. Music director Sherman Frank. General manager Robert V. Straus. Sound Abe Jacob. Consultant Madeline Lee Gilford. Casting director Jeffrey Dunn. Production stage manager Joel Tropper. With Mickey Rooney, James Darrah, Steven Gelfer, Reed Jones, Robert Nichols, Marsha Bagwell, Bob Walton, Lenny Wolpe, Mitchell Greenberg, Zoie Lam, Karen Byers, Lori Ellen Mello, Renee Robertson, Victoria Dillard, Lesley Durnin, Jennifer Lee Andrews, Frank Nastasi, Michael Dantuono, Steve Blanchard. Plays Tuesdays-Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 7 p.m., with Thursday and Saturday matinees at 2 p.m. Closes July 19. Tickets $21.50-$37.50. 6233 Hollywood Blvd. (213) 410-1062.