THEATER REVIEW A FUNNY THING HAPPENED : A Rome Full of Laughs : The cast and the ambience of the theater enhance the timeless appeal of the musical.

“A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” is the Encore Dinner Theater’s most artistically successful production in recent memory.

Part of the reason for this is that the 1962 Broadway musical is literally timeless in its appeal. Many of the jokes and situations in Burt Shevelove’s and Larry Gelbart’s Tony-winning script were tearing up audiences more than a millennium ago, in the works of Roman playwright Plautus.

And, while the characters--a vainglorious military man, an addled senior citizen, naive young lovers and the shrewish wife of a lecherous husband--aren’t exactly novel concepts in today’s theater, they still can be funny, belly-laugh funny, when presented with the proper attitude and timing. And a few scantily clad women don’t hurt: A couple of decades of consciousness-raising can’t undo a couple of thousand years’ worth of comic tradition.

Why all of this works especially well at the Encore, where something as (ordinarily) foolproof as “Guys and Dolls” didn’t, can be traced to two factors: the people involved and the nature of the Encore itself.

Jim DeCara is the very model of Pseudolus, the crafty slave whose role was originally conceived for comedian Phil Silvers (though Zero Mostel wound up creating the part on Broadway, winning another of the show’s six Tonys and ending up in the film version). DeCara, last seen as Nathan Detroit in the Encore’s “Guys and Dolls,” has a terrific time here: slinking around the scenery, mugging and stage-whispering as he sets the wheels of the plot into motion and keeps them spinning, merrily.

Other principals are fine too: Jim Barker as Pseudolus’ unwilling partner in crime, Hysterium; Scott L. Johnson as the totally befuddled young would-be lover, Hero; Connie Cantara as Philia, the vapid virgin courtesan who’s the object of Hero’s desire; Lloyd Harris and June Dudley as Hero’s aristocratic (and thoroughly silly) parents; and James (Elmo) Stokely as the warrior Miles Gloriosus, who has purchased Philia from procurer Lycus, well-played in Sunday’s matinee by understudy Harold Rosenthal. Dr. Jimm Giles doesn’t have much to do as the doddering Erroneous, but his actions constitute one of the show’s funniest running gags.

As courtesans Tintinabula, Panacea, Vibrata and Gymnasia, Adrianne Trego, Deborah Wolfson, Tracy Hiott and Linda Lacey are asked to do little more than stand around and be alluring; it’s fun to see how each accomplishes her goal. Marnell Lloyd and Gerardo Ortiz play several roles, managing to avoid confusion.

“A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” is the first Broadway musical for which Stephen Sondheim wrote both the words and the music. None of the songs were hits and--with the exception of the rousing “Comedy Tonight” and “Everybody Ought to Have a Maid”--is likely to remain in your memory even moments after being sung. Everybody’s got to start somewhere, though, and the songs do fulfill their function in the show.

The Encore production is smoothly directed by Elzie Daniel, costumed by Zale Morris and choreographed--with that credit going to “the cast” and to Jim Barker for the ambitious “Everybody Ought to Have a Maid.” Musical accompaniment is by pianist Kae Herron and percussionist Ralph Weigle.

All involved take maximum advantage of the rather threadbare aspects of the financially troubled theater. The cheesiness that’s often associated with the Encore (whose staff is, to be fair, trying hard with the resources it has available) here actually adds to the overall ambience of the production, rather than subtracting from it.

* WHERE AND WHEN

“A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” continues Thursday through Saturday evenings and Sunday matinees through Sept. 29. The Encore Dinner Theater is located at 4350 Transport St. (at Telephone Road) in Ventura. Ticket prices (including meals) vary from $13.95 to $25.95, and performance times are different each day. For reservations, to charge tickets to major credit cards or for further information, call 656-3922.