MTI Typist Kills "Forum" Joke

[Craig T Gustafson]

I was just cast as Pseudolus in a production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (about which you'll be hearing much more later, willing or not). Now, as far as theatrical licensing companies go, I love MTI. They've always been extremely friendly and easy to deal with, as opposed to, say, Tams-Witmark, where you can get off the phone feeling as if freezing compound from a fire extinguisher has just been fired up your ass.

But in reformatting their scripts, MTI must have decided that hiring a proofreader would be unconscionably extravagant. Names appear in ALL CAPS in the middle of dialogue; "!" is frequently " I"; etc. Apparently the person retyping the script also decided that something he/she didn't understand must have been an error and changed the joke.

The line "Pronounced perfectly! You know, a lot of people say P-seudolus, and I hate it." is now "...a lot of people say Pseu-do-lus, and I hate it."

How do I know this is an error?

1. I've played Hysterium and I've directed the show. Both times, the previous edition of the performance script had "P-seudolus".
2. I have the Applause Theatre Books hardcover edition. "P-seudolus".
3. I have a first edition hardcover from 1963. "P-seudolus".
4. I have a copy of the script in manuscript form. "P-seudolus". (It also has costume & prop lists.)
(Not too obsessive, am I?)

It passes in an instant and its significance is miniscule. Why is it funny?

1. It's a non-sequitur to give Pseudolus time to think (or escape).
2. It's ancient Rome. How many people will ever read his name as opposed to hearing it and even know that there's a silent "P" at the beginning? You don't say "P-seudolus" if all you've ever heard is "Seudolus." The concept is absurd, so its use is funny.
3. Most importantly, for a show that lives on clockwork action and shtick, it gives Pseudolus the option of "accidentally" spitting in Hysterium's eye on the "P".

I know it's not a major joke, but it is a joke - a joke where a typist said, "What's funny about that?" and changed a minor joke to a non-joke. I know. Picky. But I revere this show and hate the idea that even the most minor of jokes was lost by a knucklehead typist without a sense of comedy.

The overall sloppiness is what gets me. Somebody was paid for doing this work. I'm often ripped on by internet writers for my lack of empathy in the matter of grammatical ignorance. "It don't matter," they snap, "as long as people's no wht I meen!" Maybe. That's another argument altogether. I break the rules myself at times, but (usually) it's done deliberately to emphasize a point. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Theatres pay extremely large amounts of money for musical rental materials. Those materials should be in good condition and should be held to publishing standards; or at least to the standards the licensers themselves previously held. I was shocked at the quality of what I was given. The companies will fine you if you don't erase your penciled blocking from the script; but they don't then use that money to actually clean up the script before sending it to someone else.

So, an open note to MTI: send me the Forum file in Word or Publisher and I will be happy to proofread it for free. It's one of the greatest musicals ever written and it deserves competent treatment.

NOTE: This has not been easy to write. MTI is, in all other respects, an absolutely terrific company.

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ April 18, 2007 07:17 PM: Message edited by: Sgt. Bilko ]</font>

[Wolfebets]

I have my own bone to pick with MTI. They used to be the State of the Art when it came to prepared and coordinated scripts and scores. The last several I've had to work with are abysmal. Annie Warbucks has at least 3 versions of a score going out in the same show packages. In music practice, it took a few minutes for me to realize that a third of my cast didn't have the final 7 or more measures on the page we were working on. A second third of the cast didn't have the same harmonies written on their version. It took extra time (which is never convenient) to sort that out and continue. Other issues: a lack of complete consistency in the orchestral arrangements. Missing measures in completely new places and even wrong key markings or lack of what it should be altogether. The script had some different words in the libretto version than what the score had for the actors in several areas as well. I've had some same issues in other scores, particularly the Jr series.

I think it's really funny when the recording they send you of the show performance tracks doesn't even match the lyrics and/or music on the written score itself. They make a Federal issue out of theatre companies that make slight changes to their scores and scripts without permission, but feel ok about sending B quality items that NEED to be altered just to make it performable.

Working on School House Rock Live right now, and words cannot describe how awful this product is to follow music for. Most everybody knows this music from growing up or from teachers in their parents generation bringing it into the classroom. Recognition value of these songs is high for a public paying hard cash to see this show, but the score they sent us only comes with a banjo/bass book (they interchange I guess????) and a drum book, along with a "piano-conductor" score. Anybody else think that's missing a few instruments?

Piano conductor scores are often a full score reduction designed for people who can't get a band, so they try to incorporate most of the full song sound into one keyboard part. I personally think they should offer PC accompaniments in one kind of package, and a fully orchestrated set with an all-inclusive conductor score in another, for those companies who do have access to a band. The reductions can be used for early rehearsals, but even then, I really want a specific keyboard part that doesn't double what I have other parts doing once the band is together. In some parts of this score, what they have the instruments and piano play is completely foreign to what everyone recognizes in the song. There isn't even a guitar part written for it. Can you believe that? Even tho they need a guitar to be played with one of the songs that they say the character is supposed to sing and play on. They bring her in with a guitar in the script and have a line about her playing...but...there is NO guitar part written for it in the score. I've had to rearrange every single song, and thank God I have a decent guitarist who can play from the hip...so to speak. Can't believe what we pay for to get these sub-par performance packages.

Go figure.

Hehe, with that said, our version will be a good show...one that you will definitely be able to sing along with feel like it's what you remember.
School House Rock Live article

[Craig T Gustafson]

Well, I never heard back from MTI about the joke in Forum that was killed by a typist. But I heard from somebody else...

Craig

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Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2007 10:51:07 EDT
Subject: Re: Typesetter kills a "Forum" joke.
To: [email protected]

Thanks for serving as my surrogate worrier.

Years ago, eons in fact, when l worked on a radio program called "Duffy's Tavern," a comedy show which featured malapropism after malapropism, the network typists very "helpfully" corrected each and every one of them in the scripts which they prepared for the cast.

It would have driven you crazy.

Best,
Larry Gelbart