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by George Patterson
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA

An Almost Perfect Forum

The Carlone Dinner Theatre, easily accessible on Airline Highway at Causeway, which has been open only seven months, has quickly evolved into an almost perfect forum for dinner theatre in New Orleans. An annoying and sightline-destroying column has been removed, the sound system has been revamped, the room has been made more intimate; and, the food and its service, upgraded. This is a true dinner theatre--as opposed to the buffet theatres New Orleans has embraced over the years (this configuration is imposed only on its Sunday matinees, which traditionally attract the geriatric set that still thinks it is only getting its money's worth if it can cram a doggy-bag into its collective purse). Otherwise, the place is most civilized giving the patron entree choices that always include a chef's special and this chef is special.

Currently accompanying the gourmet meal is an almost perfect production of the Larry Gelbart/Burt Shevelove/Stephen Sondheim crowd-pleaser--when cooked correctly--A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum. This production has been done to a turn by producer/co-director Sonny Borey, and his "dream team"--musical director, co-director Derek Franklin, choreographer Karen Hebert, costumer Debby Simeon, lighting designer Daniel Zimmer and new team members set designers Allen Rusnick and Paul Gulotta--whose Roman street with its three houses, balconies, swinging doors and roof are so solid and colorful and fresh as to make Peewee Herman sit up and take notice.

Calling on Jesuit High School graduates and colleagues he's worked with before, Mr. Borey has amassed a most impressive cast that takes this Roman musical farce (inspired by Plautus) by the throat and wrings out every drop of its tutti-fruitti slaphappy humor. Of course, this production owes its soul, and insouciant youth, to the recent Broadway revival directed by Jerry Zaks and starring Nathan Lane; indeed, it seems that Mr. Borey has lifted most of Zaks' work, to say nothing of Rob Marshall's delightful choreography. But the fact remains--this cast can cut this hysterical mustard like real pros.

As Pseudolus, a conspiring Roman slave, Marc E. Belloni is a dynamo, exuding energy, sweat and buckets of wit from every pore. He exultantly leads an ensemble assault on the manners, morals and mores of ancient Rome, circa 200 B.C., and on what passes for good taste-in an era when the boundaries between good taste and bad are virtually invisible.

Sondheim has been quoted as saying that this show is a "direct antithesis of the Rodgers and Hammerstein school.... The songs could be removed from the show, and it wouldn't make any difference...." Pish Tosh. Forum depends as much on its Gelbartian clockwork plotting as it does on its uniquely original score, serving the comedy magnificently while commenting on it as well. The music is the motor, propelling the zany comedy with such originality that, even though created in 1966, this production is as frisky and fresh as an impudent puppy.

Briefly, Forum is about the complications that follow Pseudolus' as he attempts to win his freedom by arranging the elopement of his ditzy, virginal young master, Hero (Brian Rosenberg, who makes the transition from Psycho Beach Party's beskirted Chicklet to Hero's white, diaphanous chemises effortlessly--and can this boy sing!), and the equally ditzy and virginal courtesan, Philia (Sarah McMahan, whose loveliness is palpable). Unfortunately, she's been sold, but not yet delivered, to the vain army captain Miles Gloriosus (a rather stiff, and too lean Sean Richmond).

When Miles shows up to claim his bride, Pseudolus' plans to stall the captain are interrupted by the arrival of, first, Hero's lecherous father, Senex (Thomas J. Spitzfaden who fits this role to a T), whom Philia mistakes for Miles, then Hero's battle-ax mother, Domina (Jenny Richardson, perfect in a bawdy Brunhilde way), and finally Erronius (Patrick M. Mendelson), a cheerfully muddled old man who has been off searching for his son and daughter, stolen 20 years before by pirates.

Add to this mix Hysterium, a paranoid slave blackmailed by Pseudolus into acting as his accomplice, and Lycus, the procurer of courtesans who lives next door with Philia and his stable of courtesans, i.e., the Showgirls.

These girls would make Ziegfeld blush. Led by Brooke Simeon who plays the tallest of the litter, Gymnasia, she is simply stunning in her thigh-high white boots; but, she does not detract from her co-hearts: Carrie Daigle, Amanda Berg, Meghan Gibbens, Jessica Carvin and Brandi Coleman. As costumed by Ms. Simeon and choreographed by Ms. Hebert, these girls make you sit up and growl. Rounding out this top-notch cast are the three bumbling, prop-changing Proteans, drilled to perfection, Preston Meche, Clayton Mazoue and James R. St. Juniors, Jr.

Why not take a busman's holiday to Carlone's Dinner Theatre, have an exquisite meal and then laugh off the calories? This is a perfect bromide for the heat and humidity of our midsummer doldrums.

A Forum Resurrected

The suddenly ubiquitous Mr. Borey, in his new capacity at the once troubled Le Petit Theatre, has brought back "adult" theatre in what has been known for many years as Le Petit's Children's Corner, renamed the Director's Corner (I recall wonderous productions in the 60's, when this space was first created, led by the legendary Richard Schechner of Tulane Drama Review fame--happenings, Beckett, Albee, cabaret...), with a production of yet another farce called The Compleat Wks of Wllm Shakspr (abridged), by Adam Long, Daniel Singer and Jess Winfield. Judging from the premier production, I'd say the venture is off to a galloping start.

As with the new Director's Corner beginnings, this is what we used to call a "town and gown" production, meaning a wedding of community and educational theatre, insomuch as its producer/director, Chase Waites, comes to us from UNO and Jesuit (he is taking over Mr. Borey's theatrical responsibilities at Jesuit High School, thus the old order changes) and his production crew and two thirds of his cast of three also have UNO ties.

Although this is a very clever farcical condensation of the bard's canon, at almost two hours, including an intermission, it is an idea stretched to butt-numbing proportions that seems to have been created for a "young people's" audience--specifically teenaged English public school boys already steeped in Shakespeare. For adults, its low, scatalogical, bathroom humor and rapid-fire, and endlessly inventive, encapsulation of the eighteen tragedies (the comedies don't work as farce and so are quickly dismissed), grows old very fast. Add to this the recurring use of reluctant audience members as embarassed, and embarrassing foils, the accompanying dread of being unceremoniously vomitted or lain upon or otherwise singled out, and this low-comedy experience makes one dread the next abridgment. Audience participation does not make for satisfying theatre. It's bad enough if the actors are self-conscious but when the audience is wrenched from its collective suspension of disbelief, the effect is not entertaining. One becomes terribly conscious of the mechanics at work.

Attention must be paid, however, to the manic, yet shrewdly controlled, direction by Mr. Waites and his three-man cast which consists of Robert M. Montgomery (who also designed and painted the forced perspective backdrop), Lance Spellerberg and Gary Rucker, who gets to play most of the women--including Juliet and Ophelia in the Hamlet condensation which takes up the entire second half and is given over and over and then backwards faster and faster!! These guys work and work and work with a prodigious amount of energy, spirit and spunk at their protean roles which are not, unfortunately, nearly as effective as Forum's Proteans. Still, attention must be paid.

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