There's a mouse in the house. No, that's not a reflection on the Stardust Theater, the new home of Forbidden Broadway after its years uptown. The rodent in question is Walt Disney, which figures repeatedly into the new line-up of Gerard Alessandrini's revue of Broadway spoofs. Not only is there an extended Lion King parody, but the four-member troupe often (perhaps too often) tweak the Disneyfication of Broadway, seeing it as the manifestation of Mayor Giuliani's campaign to G-rate all New York entertainment. It's an easy target and not the show's funniest. The best moments are cruel but hilarious potshots at Andrew Lloyd Webber (Bryan Batt, his face pulled into a grotesque canine configuration by scotch tape), Jennifer Jason Leigh (who takes lumps for her apparently pitch-imperfect Sally Bowles) and the Side Show twins. Forbidden Broadway Cleans Up Its Act also cleans up on laughs when offering a kind of "yes! yes!" affirmation for show junkies, as when Ethel Merman (Ellen Margulies) chastises performers for using those alien-looking head microphones. We also get a delicious "what if": what if Cabaret's Alan Cumming served as the emcee for the Von Trapps' last concert before fleeing the occupation? (The results are predictable but a joy, with the emcee, in bowl-cut black wig and requisite shirtless suspenders, leering at the audience and goosing the kids.) Not all the bits reach this level, and the production shows some nerve poking fun at Miss Saigon's decibel level when the shrill sound system at Forbidden Broadway is itself unpleasantly loud. Of the Forbidden quartet, Bryan Batt proves the most versatile, taking three roles in a Ragtime spoof and scoring in a hysterically funny, Lion King elephant costume. Sometimes Alessandrini chooses jokes over truth, as when he shows actors in Lion King suffering physical ailments due to the weight and bulkiness of their costumes. (Designer Taymor went to great lengths to make sure her oversize masks were as light and manageable as possible.) This squelches some laughs, and the first act as a whole feels flat and a tad amateurish. By evening's end, however, the show has reminded us several times why Alessandrini's Broadway, though Forbidden, is compulsory, at least every other year or so.
