Musical theater conventions past, present and future come in for a riotous ribbing in the latest edition of Gerard Alessandrini’s perennial parody revue Forbidden Broadway. This one’s subtitled “Merrily We Stole a Song,” and it ties in with the recent revival of Merrily We Roll Along which originally opened the same year as the first Forbidden show, 1982. This latest edition was initially announced to open on Broadway (a first for the series) at the Hayes Theater. But those plans fell through, and this compact, delightfully intimate show is snugly at home at Theater 555, way Off-Broadway, practically on the West Side Highway. Alessandrini’s satiric lyrics and smooth direction are as sharp as ever, offering a comically distorted snapshot of the current Broadway scene as well as a tribute to its past.
The program opens with a spot-on jab at tardy theatergoers set to a familiar tune. Instead “Sit Down You’re Rocking the Boat” from Guys and Dolls, an angry usher warbles “Sit Down You’re Blocking the Aisle.” Right away, Alessandrini’s piercing wit is front and center—he miraculously rhymes “shih tzu” with “jiu jitsu”—and we are off to the races.
There are lampoons of almost every show now or recently running on the Main Stem and even a few in the near future. The new Sondheim revue from London, Old Friends, offers an opportunity to poke fun at its star Bernadette Peters, magnificently mimicked by Jenny Lee Sterns, a FB veteran. She also displays impressive impressionist abilities with her hilarious turn as Patti LuPone, alternating between over-articulating and blurring her lyrics, a smug Hillary Clinton revealing in her role as a Broadway producer, and Shaina Taub, author and star of Suffs.
Equally adept at shifting personae is Danny Hayward who transforms to all the Emcees in Cabaret—Joel Grey, Alan Cumming and Eddie Redmayne—in a wicked takedown of the current overblown revival. He also does a mean Jeremy Jordan in a nasty take-off of The Great Gatsby which incorporates a tap number from “Singin’ in the Rain.” Nicole Vanessa Ortiz displays impressive pipes and range as she demolishes Audra McDonald’s upcoming Mama Rose in Gypsy, Elphaba in Wicked, and the leads in Hell’s Kitchen and & Juliet. Chris Collins-Pisano has a jolly time impersonating everyone from Cole Escola in Oh, Mary! to Ben Platt in his Palace Theater concert to the silly, soulful lead in The Outsiders, which Alessandrini cleverly morphs into “Gee, Officer Krupke” from West Side Story. My only caveat is the framing device of Marty McFly and Doc Emmett Brown from Back to the Future visiting Broadway’s past and future in their time-tripping DeLorean gets a bit repetitive.
The reliable and versatile Fred Barton returns to tickle the ivories and act as music director in this latest fun frolicking Forbidden Broadway.
