A welcome return for ‘Forbidden Broadway’

PULLING THE RUG OUT FROM UNDER DISNEY’S ‘ALADDIN’: Marcus Stevens (left), Mia Gentile (center) & Scott Richard Foster (right) in ‘Forbidden Broadway Comes Out Swinging!’ Photo: Carol Rosegg

FORBIDDEN BROADWAY COMES OUT SWINGING!
Created & written by Gerard Alessandrini
Directed by Phillip George & Gerard Alessandrini
Musical direction by David Caldwell
Costumes by David Cross & Philip Heckman
Lighting by Mark T. Simpson
Davenport Theatre
354 West 45th Street
(212-239-6200), http://www.forbiddenbroadway.com

By David NouNou

Gerard Alessandrini, the master of theatrical lampooning, comes out swinging again and in full force. It’s always great to see icons, icon wannabes, and pretentious shows getting skewered and being brought down a few pegs. The problem this time around isn’t that Mr. Alessandrini has taken a safe road; it’s just that Broadway has generated lots of unoriginal drivel lately, thus providing little new material to send up since his last outing, Forbidden Broadway: Alive and Kicking. To Mr. Alessandrini’s credit, it’s a wonder he was able to mine as much good material as he did, considering the dearth of musicals and personalities from which he has to choose. In a very revelatory piece near the end of the show, “Tomorrow Belongs to Me” from Cabaret, he spoofs the fact that there is no real creativity anymore on Broadway, that corporations have taken over and the sad and sorry state musical theatre has fallen into. That skit, although true, unfortunately is also a commentary of the day.

When one enters the Davenport Theatre, one hears the glorious overtures from West Side Story, Gypsy, Hello Dolly, etc. and recalls all those wonderful tunes that came out of those shows and what could have been satirized and celebrated from its glorious characters. When was the last time you listened to or hummed the score of The Bridges of Madison County, If/Then, Rocky, Violet, or Bullets Over Broadway (the latter didn’t even have a score)? As Scott Richard Foster, dressed as Alan Cumming in Cabaret, hilariously puts it, we live in an age when many things on Broadway seem to be a “revival of a revival of a revival.”

Originality is lacking on Broadway, and in the process, the Forbidden Broadway franchise suffers as well. Still, Mr. Alessandrini does hit the bull’s-eye with most of the skits, and the ones that come off best are Pippin, Once, Cabaret, Les Miz, and the horrible TV version of The Sound of Music, because they have a built in familiarity to them. The jabs at the expense of Liza, Idina, and Mandy are priceless. Two wonderful skits are the spoof of The Bridges of Madison County, which is closing soon, and Rocky, which I understand is on a respirator and not long for this world. For those skits to have any meaning for the general public, one has to have seen them in order for them to have any identifiability. Two parodies are problematic: “Robert Jason Brown,” who wrote the score to Madison County, and let’s face it, he is no Cole Porter or Rodgers and Hammerstein, so if you are not in the industry, the name would mean very little. The other is Bullets Over Broadway; it doesn’t have a score but uses period songs that aren’t even interpolated properly. It really was the season’s nadir and didn’t have any worthy characters to spoof, so the skit is about Woody Allen and Susan Stroman, not exactly a winning combination. Seems like this parody was rushed in at the last minute, much like Bullets itself was.

The performers are as wonderful as ever. The holdovers from the previous entry, Marcus Stevens and Scott Richard Foster, are still in top form and are joined by the fabulous Carter Calvert and Mia Gentile, both of whom are in great voice and know their way around skewering the theatre. All four voices are towering and their performances sublime. At the piano is the expert musician David Caldwell. However, none of this would have been possible without the expertise and the minds of its two geniuses who have deftly written and directed this night of hilarity, Gerard Alessandrini and Phillip George. Their talents and spoof-specialization skills are a welcome presence once again in the New York theatre.

PUTTIN’ ON THE HITS: Mia Gentile (left), Carter Calvert (center), Marcus Stevens (top center) & Scott Richard Foster (right) in a ‘Forbidden Broadway Comes Out Swinging!’ Photo: Carol Rosegg

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published May 4, 2014
Reviewed at press performance on May 3, 2014