“Forbidden Broadway” was first
seen at Palsson’s Supper Club on New York’s Upper
West Side in January 1982. An unemployed actor, Gerard Alessandrini,
wanted a showcase for his talents. He decided to assemble
some of the musical parodies of Broadway shows he had written
since childhood into a nightclub act. Critics and audiences
were wowed and it has since become New York’s longest
running musical comedy revue
Updated regularly over the past two decades, “Forbidden
Broadway” has had many different editions,
countless revisions, three New York City performance spaces,
several national and international tours and thousands of
special performances. It has outlasted most of the shows it
has spoofed over the years, even one of its prime targets—the
“now and forever” musical “Cats.”
The 2003 season brings the revue’s 20th Anniversary
Edition on tour across the country—a sort of “Forbidden
Broadway’s” Greatest Hits—combining
many of audience favorites parodies from the past with current
material spoofing still-running productions. From classics
like “Oklahoma!” to newer “victims”
like “The Lion King” and “The Producers,”
this newest version of “Forbidden Broadway” still
goes for the jugular.
Using lightning fast changes of madcap costumes, wacky hairpieces
and barbed lyrics set to familiar show tunes, creator Alessandrini
and his ensemble of four singing actors create a cabaret world
where no theatrical production or star is safe from the slings
and arrows of outrageous parody.
In addition to poking fun at musical theatre (the revue’s
tag-line is “See 31 Broadway shows in 97 minutes”),
the revue also roasts many of the stars and personalities
on The Great White Way with wicked impersonations of Liza
Minnelli, Carol Channing, Barbra Streisand, Ethel Merman and
many more.
Creator Gerard Alessandrini says: “We strip a show
of its million-dollar lights, sets and hype, and tell the
audience in so many words (and lyrics): ‘This is the
essence of what you paid $100 to see on Broadway. Isn’t
that ridiculous? Laugh at yourself as well as at them.’”
“Forbidden Broadway” has won countless Drama
Desk, Obie and Outer Critics Circle awards in addition to
two Ovation Awards in Los Angeles. The New York Times calls
it “absolutely hilarious” and it was hailed as
“one of the year’s 10 best” by TIME. |