Despite Cast, Slow-Paced Comedy Tonight

Stephen Sondheim’s 1962 “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” is a pseudo-bawdy affair, based on a lot of early stories of licentiousness in the ancient world, and it has always seemed a little thrown together at the last minute. In fact, the opening number, “Comedy Tonight” was thrown in at the last minute before its Broadway opening.

Funny, flamboyant and racy, the show is a comic romp for whichever zany comedians are available at the moment (Broadway stalwarts Zero Mostel, Jack Gilford and David Burns were the original funny men).

In the Saddleback Civic Light Opera’s revival, now playing in Mission Viejo, three able comics fill the central roles of two irrepressible slaves and a henpecked but randy husband. The central figure is Pseudolus, played with comic restraint by John Massey Jr. He is slave to the show’s romantic lead, Hero. Massey’s girth--which he manipulates at times like a ballet dancer--his bubbling cheerfulness in the direst of straits, and his sense of persistent but flawed control over things are gems.

The second banana is Bruce Linser’s Hysterium, slave to Hero’s father, Senex. Although he plays Hysterium with more camp than is usual and lessens the humor of Pseudolus, Linser has a fine grip on his character’s officious sense of superiority and his weakness under stress.

The third is Senex himself, married to Domina, his formidable and equally randy wife. Senex has some delicious comic moments scripted for him, and Ciro Barbaro takes advantage of all of them. His moments alone onstage are vaudevillian and just right.

Now if only the general tempos in the production were up to these performances, they would shine brighter. Director Sheryl Donchey’s leisurely approach is relaxing on a hot summer afternoon, but the production doesn’t click and sparkle as it should. This shows most in the final chase through the streets of Rome, with all of the characters dashing in and out. It is slow enough to make one wonder why the characters don’t back into one another.

The other similar problem is the musical direction of Diane King Vann, who, perhaps out of reverence for the composer, has tried to give the tunes more weight. But in the end, the score is also vaudevillian. George M. Cohan said that the first thing he learned about comedy was to keep it fast.

Like the three comics, most of the supporting cast members do a nice job, even though they haven’t been goosed into more and better performances. Vocally, from top to bottom they’re all first-class. Robert Allen’s Hero and Mindy Cowan’s Philia are a charming and refreshing set of young lovers, and Freda Nelson Evans’ Domina is a shrew waiting to be tamed. Darrell Clark is a properly oily and evasive dealer in courtesans, and Steve De Forest’s heroic Roman captain is as puffed and blank a military type as one could wish for.

* “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” McKinney Theatre, Saddleback College, 28000 Marguerite Parkway, Mission Viejo. Wednesdays-Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 3 and 8 p.m.; Sundays, 3 p.m. Ends Aug. 15. $22. (949) 582-4656. Running time: 2 hours, 45 minutes.

A Funny Think Happened on the Way to the Forum

John Massey Jr.: Pseudolus

Ciro Barbaro: Senex

Bruce Linser: Hysterium

Mindy Cowan: Philia

Robert Allen: Hero

Darrell Clark: Lycus

Freda Nelson Evans: Domina

Steve De Forest: Miles Gloriosus

A Saddleback Civic Light Opera production of the Burt Shevelove, Larry Gelbart and Stephen Sondheim musical comedy. Producer: Geofrey L. English. Director/choreographer: Sheryl Donchey. Musical direction: Diane King Vann. Scenic design: the Set Company. Lighting design: Kevin Cook. Sound design: Stephan Jonas. Costume design: Diane Lewis. Stage manager: Shannon Pickett.