Reviews

"Forum"

"FUNNY THING IS
HILARIOUS FUN
Vera Evans in the Coastland Times
11/00
If you were driving past the Manteo Middle School Friday or Saturday evenings or Sunday afternoon, chances are you would have heard sounds of mirth seeping out of the auditorium. The Theatre of Dare's production of "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" was in performance and the laughter began with the opening lines and built to a crescendo by the time the curtain fell some two hours later.
What a zany, hilarious, side-splitting evening it was! And the actors, actresses, chorus line and backstagers milked every line for laughs and then some. There was no message, no grand philosophy, no dire and dreadful deeds. Just a rare group of characters generally clowning and having a high old time - as the audience certainly did.
The story, in a nutshell, is wacky. It is a mixture of Gilbert and Sullivan missing children and mistaken identities, mischievous slaves, pompous old men and beautiful young women, a priceless Madam of a house of ill repute, a Roman general and as dizzy a major domo as ever came down the pike!
Don Bridges was the slave Pseudolus and he playued the part of the scheming slave to perfection. He was a comic Iago who, in trying to win his freedom, succeeded in messing up every plan that was put forward. Bridges outdid himself in the wildly funny part without overkill. His act was truly comic.
Tom Filkins was equally hilarious in the part of Hysterium, the head servant in the house of Senex. Filkins uses body language just as effectively as spoken language. Something about his hustling about in a bumbling way saying nothing is as side-splitting as the delivery of his lines.
But it's not that Bridges and Filkins were the two funny men in an otherwise staid production. It seemed that all the actors had great comic ability. Madam Lycus who ran the bordello next door to the pompous Senex was wildly funny with her poofed up hair and her gullibility. Harry Herzer as Erronius, though he had a small part and almost no lines, brought down the house by just walking across the stage. And Senex himself was priceless as the old "goat" who thought he was the dashing lover and talked about his perfumed bath and his potion to make him an outstanding performer in this department. His pomposity and smugness each time he came on stage drew gales of laughter.
Buffalo Dyal as Miles Gloriosus was staggeringly handsome in a mature way in his Roman general's outfit. The role calls for a dashing military man who has paid Madam Lycus for a bride and who has come to claim her. The hi-jinks that ensue are side-splitting as Buffalo never loses his grand manner as he mourns for the bride he hoped to acquire but who unfortunately seems to be dead.
The two "straight" parts of Hero and Philia, the two young lovers, the former the son of the old "goat" Senex and the latter the bought and paid for bride of Miles Gloriosus are delightfully played by Nate Kling and Mary Elizabeth Dyal. Both young people have appealing looks and voices and although their parts are not in the comic vein of the others, they enter into the spirit of the wackiness with great enthusiasm. Mary Dyal gives a fetching performance of the beautiful (and she is just that) Philia who sings about how lovely she is but who has difficulty counting to three! Nate Kling is bowled over by Philia and enters readily into all the hare-brained schemes to make her his.
What a bevy of beauties were to be found in Madam Lycus' establishment! Tintinnabula, Panacea, Geminae, Vibrata and Gymnasia all had "charms" while Diminutiva was just that, a half-pint, not-so-young lady of the night who brought many laughs as she cruised the stage. And the three young men who played the Proteans were very amusing while the dancing ladies in gossamer attire added enormously to the visual delight in all company scenes.
Director-choreographer for this ambitious production was Gene Webster . She is to be congratulated on a superb job of putting a great number of people through their paces to make a cohesive and thoroughly enjoyable as well as very humorous evening for a great many Dare residents who attended "A Funny Thing..." Joanna McDonald served as music director and she too is to be congratulated on the delightful musical content of the show. Webster and McDonald were assisted by the multi-talented Nate Kling. Tania Bertsch was accompanist and added greatly to the overall pleasure of the evening.
Theater of Dare seems to grow professionally with each production. The cast and crew of "A Funny Thing..." have done wonders with the current play and the community is grateful to all for a more than fun show.

BRAVO and BRAVA
J. Randall
11/00
Dear Cast and Crew of "Forum"
It was my distinct pleasure to be able to attend your dress performance of "Forum" last night. You have assembled a delightfully wonderful show. The costumes are spectacular and from the audience, absolutely dazzle the stage. Each performer remained totally in character and the comedic moments were funny and frequent. Between the mood ranges of the facially flexible Don Bridge and the masterfully dead pan glee of Jerry Maloney, the audience will keep the guffaws coming and after Tom Filkins "jiggling" dead corpse scene, there will be several hernias in the audience too.
The courtesans are sexy to sublime and Helen Pfaff's "little lusty lady" just tops it off. Judy Divine puts a capital "M" on Madam and her secret treasure Philia Mary Dyal play the attractive innocent just right. Hero Nate Kling as the lovestruck lad again reveals his operetic musical background and when he belts out "Free" the audience will know he means it! The singing is clear and crisp and moves the storyline along nicely and the music is a true wonder. The whole audience will swear a pianist is right behind the curtain! The bemusingly befuddled Harry Herzer as Erronius grabs a laugh each time he faithfully plods across the stage in his dutiful search. The three mucho macho Proteans of Mike, Keith, and David become a synchronized triplet of titters and chuckels that do honor to the marvelously overglorius Gloriosus Buffalo Dyal. 
A wonderful and hilariously quick evening (the true mark of comedic success) that no unserious person would want to miss. Congratulations to you all.