Opera House Players, Enfield, CT
through February 24, 2019
by Michael J. Moran
Forum was the first (1962) of many legendary Broadway shows
with words and music by Stephen Sondheim, and it’s currently receiving an
exuberant production by the Opera House Players, inventively directed by George
LaVoice, that’s a must-see for musical theater lovers.
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| Photo by Emma Connel |
With a book by Bert Shevelove and Larry Gelbart, the setting
is ancient Rome, and the source material is several farces by Roman playwright
Plautus. It tells the bawdy tale of how a slave named Pseudolus tries to win
his freedom by helping his young master, Hero, win the affections of Philia, the
girl next door (a brothel). The clean and simple set by scenic designer
Francisco Aguas consists of three houses, belonging to Marcus Lycus (the
brothel), Senex (Hero’s father), and Erronius (away in search of his two
children, kidnapped 20 years earlier).
Pseudolus (versatile Dennis J. Scott) and the three nimble
Proteans (Ray Boisvert, Donato DiGenova, and Frank Cannizzo), who play 30
different roles, set a buoyant tone for the show with an ebullient “Comedy
Tonight.” Patrick Connolly, a lanky Hero, sings “Love, I Hear” with endearing
innocence, a quality to which Mallory Wray as the hopelessly naïve Philia adds
vocal glamour in their charming duet “Lovely.”
Complications ensue when Lycus (canny David Leslie) reveals
that he has sold Philia to the self-infatuated soldier of fortune Miles
Gloriosus (hilarious Tim Reilly). But not before Pseudolus, having procured her
from Lycus, tells Senex that she’s his new maid, prompting the delightful
“Everybody Ought To Have a Maid,” deliciously performed, with Karen Anne
McMahon’s soft-shoe choreography, by Pseudolus, Senex, his “head slave” (“I
live to grovel”) Hysterium (high-strung Rick Fountain, a hoot when he later
impersonates a dead Philia – don’t ask), and Lycus.
Whew! Sounds complicated. But it’s all in great fun.
Musical director Mark Cepetelli’s spirited four-member band
sounds much bigger, thanks in part to the large orchestra pit and strong
acoustic of the company’s temporary home in the Enfield Annex (formerly Fermi
High School). Colorful period costumes by the ever-resourceful Moonyean Field
put the crowning (or clowning) touch on this magical production.
