4 FORBIDDEN
BROADWAY COMES OUT SWINGING!
If you can make it here, as the
song says, you’ll make it anywhere, but if you manage to make it on the
Broadway musical stage you’re going to need the skin of a rhinoceros. That’s because
the bigger you are the harder you’re bound to fall once FORBIDDEN BROADWAY, the
Off-Broadway parody revue that’s been around in one form or another for three
decades, gets its hilariously crabby little hands on you. FORBIDDEN BROADWAY COMES OUT SWINGING!, the latest gloves-off incarnation of Gerard Alessandrini’s on again, off again series, spoofing Broadway’s best and brightest (and those of less
brilliant wattage), is on again, this time at the newly renamed Davenport
Theatre, formerly the 45th Street Theatre.
Scott Richard Foster, Marcus Stevens. Photo: Forbidden Broadway.
There are no sacred theatre cows when it
comes to FORBIDDEN BROADWAY’s targets, or rather, the more sacred a performer
or a show, the more likely is it to become asphalt ready to be flattened by
this steamrolling phenomenon. The ensemble consists of four fiercely versatile
singer-clowns, two women (the blonde Carter Calvert and Mia Gentile) and two
men (the fair-haired Scott Richard Foster and the dark-haired, gap-toothed Marcus
Stevens). They play on a tiny stage before a multicolored curtain of shiny streamers whose rainbow hues—thanks
to the expert lighting of Mark T. Simpson—change brilliantly from number to
number; pianist-music director David Caldwell accompanies them up left beneath the familiar FORBIDDEN BROADWAY sign. One number follows the
other in rapid succession as the actors dash off into the wings to make quick
costume, wig, beard, and prop changes, allowing them to roll and rock through
nearly two dozen routines, turning Broadway icons into theatrical roadkill (but
all in good fun!). Dustin Cross and Philip Heckman created the costume
knockoffs, some of them accurate reproductions and others broadly stated jokes
(like the fat suit worn by Mr. Stevens when he impersonates Harvey Fierstein).
The
show’s mostly new edition takes comical pot shots at PIPPIN (a deliberately klutzy
circus number); MATILDA (which jibes at the exploitation of kids in shows like BILLY
ELLIOT, ANNIE, and MATILDA); CINDERELLA (Fran Drescher’s [Ms. Calvert] Queens-girl
nasality takes a laugh-worthy hit); THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY (with adulterous lovers Francesca [Ms.
Calvert] and Robert [Mr. Scott] belting “You and I Have Just One Sex Scene”—instead
of “Just One Second”); ROCKY (in which the inarticulate Sly Stallone [Mr. Scott] teaches Andy Karl
as Rocky [Mr. Marcus] to be less coherent, and a handheld toy boxing ring subs for the full-size
Broadway version); ALADDIN (which burlesques Disney shows, with Mary Poppins [Ms.
Calvert] making an unexpected appearance); LES MIZ (which lampoons the current rage
for projections, and with actors dressed as turntables to lament the new revival's lack of one: “I’m the turntable
from LES MIZ; now they’ve fired me from the biz”); ONCE (“We’re so
unpretentious that now we’re pretentious”); THE SOUND OF MUSIC (a shot at the recent TV
version, with country-accented, amateurish Carrie Underwood overshadowed by five-time Tony
winner Audra McDonald [Ms. Gentile]); THE BOOK OF MORMON (renamed “The Book of Morons," and featuring Mr. Marcus as Matt Stone and Mr. Scott as Trey Parker); BULLETS
OVER BROADWAY (Broadway's seemingly annual show set in the 1920s, featuring Susan Stroman [Ms.
Calvert] and Woody Allen [Mr. Stevens] parodying Cole Porter with “Let’s
Misdirect”); CABARET (a Michelle Williams [Mia Gentile] and Liza Minnelli [Ms.
Calvert] faceoff in this “revival of a revival”); and KINKY BOOTS (presenting
Cyndi Lauper [Ms. Calvert] celebrating her Tony win by singing “Girls Have Finally Won," along with avatars of Harvey Fierstein
[Mr. Stevens]; Neil Patrick Harris [Mr. Scott] as Hedwig; and Stark Sands [Ms.
Gentile]). Also amusingly teased—with Ms. Gentile as a Teresa Brewer-like
singer singing “Put Another Nickel In”—is a quartet of
jukebox musicals (MAMMA MIA, JERSEY BOYS, MOTOWN, and BEAUTIFUL).
In
addition to the stars and creators of these shows being brought down from the flies,
there are big numbers aimed solely at mimicking and mockingly mutilating such
supernovas as Idina Menzel (poked by Ms. Gentile for being loud and whiny),
Mandy Patinkin (jabbed by Mr. Stevens for his self-importance), composer Jason
Robert Brown (skewered by Mr. Stevens for his egotism), and, in a
knockout moment, Liza Minnelli, given a devastating, but affectionate, scorching
by the flat-out terrific Ms. Calvert singing about Liza's career to the tune of
CABARET’s “So What?”
Several
numbers don’t go for the jugular of particular artists or shows so much as they
aim for larger ends. Most memorable is the number inspired by the
Nazi anthem in CABARET, in which the performers appear in business attire, each
with corporate logos on their armbands and carrying attaché cases, to demonstrate Broadway's takeover from independent producers by huge corporations, such as Disney,
American Airlines, Chase, and Chrysler: “Groundbreaking theatre is finally
dead/And Broadway belongs to me.”
'
Mr.
Alessandrini’s lyrics, set to the best-known songs from the shows on the
execution block, are as scintillatingly clever as ever. Some of the material, as usual,
is a little too broad, and the laugh meter registers a bit unsteadily here and there, but that so much of the show not only makes you smile but
burst out laughing is a tribute to Mr. Alessandrini’s verbal
talents and directorial skill, the latter job shared with Phillip George.
As
always, FORBIDDEN BROADWAY’s good natured but ice pick-sharp
puncturing of the pretensions and aspirations of the Great White Way plants in your
brain the festering reminder, when watching a new musical, to keep an eye out
for future satirical fodder. If you’re a
Broadway devotee with a taste for this kind of benign nastiness, you’ll find
FORBIDDEN BROADWAY very tasty, even if your favorite shows get seriously broiled.
When this show gets out its knives and forks, it's Broadway that reaches for the Tums.
