Just to clarify the origins of the title of this post, in case you couldn't figure it out, there is a Shakespeare play called A Comedy of Errors, so it is a play on words of that title.
Anyway, tonight I saw a second weekend performance of A Funny Thing Happened on the way to the Forum. It's amazing how much the musical comedy evolved over the week and several performances. Not that there were big differences, and even if a standard audience member saw the two shows I saw they wouldn't have noticed the changes. For example, there is a bit with confetti, and I noticed that they used a different type of confetti that was less distracting when it was strewn over the stage. Several of the line readings were different so the jokes would land better. Lastly, the actors were comfortable enough with the show to know when the appropriate times for ad libs were and they were hysterical. Comedy is never the same twice just like no two performances of live theater are ever identical. That's the funniest and most exciting thing about theater. You never know what you are going to get. You just have to learn to expect the unexpected. That is why it is key to have improvising and ad libbing skills.
Even if you were to go see Phantom of the Opera on Broadway 27 years since it opened, it would have evolved from what it was on opening night. That's just another aspect of the magic of theater. It promotes change and spontaneity. Theater is live and active and it will evolve throughout the years forever just as great comedy does.
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