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Catskillians in togas, "something aesthetic, something frenetic," a classical art. "The lyingest, cheatingest slave in Rome" (Zero Mostel), fumbling for his freedom. His master (Michael Hordern) is henpecked by the painted battleaxe (Patricia Jessel), the winsome courtesan (Annette Andre) is mistakenly sent to his home so he happily eyes the heavens: "A thousand thanks... whichever one of you did this." A complicated matchmaking scheme with the lovelorn juvenile (Michael Crawford) ropes in the timorous majordomo (Jack Gilford) and the "gentlemen and procurer" (Phil Silvers) running the bawdy house next door. Inspiration dawns on the hero like a Grinchy light, a funeral drag act to fend off the vainglorious warlord (Leon Greene). "Poor girl... to have died so young without ever having experienced me." The Broadway musical chopped up by Richard Lester, a fragmented treadmill for strenuous old jesters. Go-go wrigglers amid eunuchs (Tuttle's Roman Scandals), not resplendent marble but peeling walls and flies for the imperial city. Sondheim tunes in a blender—kaleidoscopic zooms in "Comedy Tonight," Busby Berkeley montage in "Everybody Ought to Have a Maid," the mock-lyricism of "Lovely" mocked even further with a cross-dressing reprise. "A lesson to remember: never fall in love during a total eclipse." Mare sweat is needed for a potion so the equine is brought to the saunas, slaves line up dutifully at the arena for the testing of a gladiator's mace ("The secret of the action is in the wrist"). Buster Keaton is on hand for one last pratfall, the chariot free-for-all toward the end pays touching tribute to The Three Ages. "Her bridal bower becomes a burial bier of bitter bereavement!" "Very good. Can you say 'Titus the tailor told ten tall tales to Titania the titmouse'?" Satyricon is just over the rise. With Inga Neilsen, Roy Kinnear, Alfie Bass, John Bluthal, Pamela Brown, and Beatrix Lehmann.
--- Fernando F. Croce |