The title of "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" is misleading. The musical … isn't funny—it's uproarious. Moreover, the show isn't about any single thing that happens, but includes just about every preposterous incident imaginable. Also, while there are several mentions of the forum, nobody goes there, so the reference serves merely to establish a sort of franchise.

Although the new show is billed as a musical comedy, it's really a wildly antic knockabout farce with songs and practically continuous laughs…. [Instead] of even a nominal story line, it's an incredible collection of uninhibited buffoonery, frequently in the old fashioned vaudeville and burlesque style….

[The show] is, in essence, a gigantic spoof of traditional musical comedy…. The gags are packed into the dialog, bits of visual business and song lyrics and even the tone of some of the numbers is good for laughs. For...