Forbidden Broadway: Merrily We Stole a Song

Tweet

Gerard Alessandrini’s Forbidden Broadway, that satiric revue which has had new editions for the last 42 years, is back with a delightfully entertaining show subtitled Merrily We Stole a Song. The theme this time is a tribute to all of the recent – and upcoming – Stephen Sondheim revivals. Alessandrini whose knowledge of the Broadway theater, its creators  and song lyrics is encyclopedic reaching from Showboat in 1927 to a prediction of Broadway going entirely AI in the 23^rd century. His opening number about rude theatergoers appropriates a hit song from 1950 Guys and Dolls and turns it into “Sit Down, You’re Blocking the Aisle.”

The current, talented cast is made up of returning Forbidden Broadway veterans Chris Collins-Pisano and Jenny Lee Stern, and newcomers Danny Hayward and Nicole Vanessa Ortiz. As always the cast is required to sing, dance, act and parody the greats and near-greats of the Great White Way. The quick change costumes for the various star impersonations are by Dustin Cross on a set by Glenn Bassett that suggests an intimate cabaret. If anything can use a bit of nose-tweaking, it is Broadway with its excesses and mistakes and tired revivals.

The spate of Sondheim shows both this past season and opening this fall is given prime place in this musical revue. Unsurprisingly, the new Merrily We Roll Along which ran all of last season comes in for the most ribbing as the subtitle hints. Collins-Pisano plays Daniel Radcliffe in a parody of the show’s “Good Thing Going” and then is joined by Stern and Hayward as his co-stars Lindsay Mendez and Jonathan Groff as they review the troubled history of the show which famously flopped in its first Broadway iteration in 1981 in a revised version of the song “Old Friends.” Collins-Pisano sings to that show’s “Franklin Sheppard, Inc.” about Radcliffe’s stage career after the Harry Potter films. This is followed by a tribute to Company which had a female Bobby to the tune of “Bobby, come on over for dinner.” Most if not all of the Forbidden Broadway revues have featured one of its actresses as the ubiquitous Patti LuPone and here we have Stern belting “The Ladies Who Crunch,” the scenery that is, satirizing Company’s most famous song.

Earlier, Stern as Bernadette Peters reminds us that she will be starring in the new Sondheim revue Old Friends later this season. She sings about “Waiting for the Sondheim show” to the tune of Follies’ “Waiting Around for the Girls Upstairs,” as well as part of that show’s “Broadway Baby.” Ortiz has a wonderful piece of material as Audra MacDonald preparing for her turn as Rose in Gypsy. Here we are led to believe that she  is worried about her famous competition from Ethel Merman, to LuPone, Peters, Rosalind Russell, Tyne Daly, Imelda Staunton, Bette Midler, Betty Buckley to Angela Lansbury, ending with “You’ll Never Get Away From Me” as Rose.

Several other Sondheim shows get tributes: Roger from Back to the Future explains that “West Side Story plus Grease equals The Outsiders and as if to prove it, Hayward, Stern and Collins-Pisano as the three brothers from The Outsiders sing a new verse to “Gee, Officer Krupke” as to why they have been so successful. The skewering of Ariana DeBose who hosted the 2024 Tony Awards at Lincoln Center is sung to first “America” and then “A Boy Like That,” both from West Side Story.

This past season’s musicals are brought in for some skewering both in songs from their shows and others that fit the new lyrics better: Back to the Future, The Great Gatsby, Hell’s Kitchen, Water for Elephants, Suffs and Oh, Mary! The revivals also get their due: Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club and Cats: The Jellicle Ball. Hayward wows playing each of the famous Emcees from Joel Grey to Alan Cumming to now Eddie Redmayne, each more different from the other. Shows from previous seasons that come in for a ribbing include & Juliet and Six. This summer’s two week run of Ben Platt at The Palace is not forgotten as Collins-Pisano has a field day as the star of Dear Evan Hansen attempting to outdo Liza Minnelli in one of her iconic songs from Cabaret.

Whatever your favorite – or least favorite – Broadway musical, Forbidden Broadway: Merrily We Stole a Song has something for you. The game cast merrily impersonates Jeremy Jordan, Shaina Taub, Roger Bart, Cynthia Erivo in the upcoming film of Wicked, as well as all of the stars already mentioned. While this edition is not as witty or pungent as some of the previous ones, it is also more satisfying than others. With the ever reliable Fred Barton at the piano all evening, Forbidden Broadway: Merrily We Stole a Song is a worthy musical revue and satire of the current state of the musical theater.

Forbidden Broadway: Merrily We Stole a Song (through January 5, 2025)

Theatre 555, 555 W. 42nd Street, in Manhattan

For tickets, visit http://www.forbiddenbroadway.nyc

Running time: one hour and 30 minutes without an intermission