Why did the chicken cross the road? To escape becoming a prop in the latest Fair Oaks Theatre Festival production. Instead, rubber chickens were employed – and quite a few of Fair Oaks' most famous inhabitants crowed at their success.
Or were they cackling at the farce that was taking place on stage?
"A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" is tailor-made for rubber chicken sight gags and campy, corny jokes. It's little wonder the show is the most popular of all of those produced in the festival's 26-year history.
"You don't have to think. It's just fun. It's perfect summertime theater," said Bob Irvin, adjunct professor of theater arts at American River College and director of the production. The festival last presented "Forum" in 2001, "and people have been asking for it again ever since," Irvin said before Friday's opening performance.
There have been a few changes in the script since last time – but not many. The biggest change, Irvin said, is in the cost of the production. "The last time we did it, the royalty and rental fees were a little over $4,000," he said. "This year, it's a little over $8,000. Double." (Ticket prices in the same period have risen 50 percent – from $10 for general admission in 2001 to $15 now, unchanged since 2005.)
Outdoors, open to the elements, fair or foul – and fowl – is how "Forum" should be presented. It was inspired by the 2,000-year-old works of Roman comic playwright Titus Maccius Plautus, whose plays were, of course, presented in outdoor amphitheaters. Larry ("M*A*S*H") Gelbart and Burt Shevelove wrote the book and Stephen Sondheim wrote the music and lyrics.
The plot involves the efforts of the slave Pseudolus (Jeff Labowitch) to win his freedom by helping his young master, Hero (Rashad Jahi), hook up with the virginal courtesan, Philia (Amanda Valli). All the action takes place on the street in front of the homes of Roman citizens Erronius (the hilarious Charles Preston), Senex (Joe Hart, rotund and randy) and his wife, Domina (Cynthia Davis), and Lycus (Raymond Keller). Secondary characters Hysterium, the slave (Daniel Slauson, beautifully living up to his character's name), and Miles Gloriosus, a warrior (Joe Wilkinson, commanding and comedic), are among this show's strongest creations, though the parts are not the largest.
As the opening song, "Comedy Tonight," promises, there is "something appealing, something appalling … something that's gaudy, something that's bawdy" – and all of it great fun.
Call The Bee's Jim Carnes, (916) 321-1130.
