A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, now being presented by Reprise Theater Company at UCLA's Freud Playhouse, is a tricky musical comedy -- one that needs finesse to not devolve into 150 minutes of tired shtick. While David Lee's new production hits some of the right notes, the end result is more a pleasant diversion than a crackerjack presentation -- in large part because star Lee Wilkof's too-understated performance causes many of the jokes to fall flat.

Featuring a script by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart, the musical -- a farce about the slave Pseudolus (Wilkof) who will do anything to obtain his freedom -- parodies both the Roman comedy format and America's distinctive [...]