OFF-BROADWAY REVIEW
FORBIDDEN BROADWAYREVIEW
Reviewed by Rebecca Lewis-Whitson
Published 2008-09-22
Last week Forbidden Broadway opened their latest, and last, show entitled Forbidden Broadway Goes to Rehab at The 47th Street Theatre. Beloved by theatre aficionados as a kind of musical theatre version of “Saturday Night Live,” Forbidden Broadway, created and written by Gerard Alessandrini, has played to both tourists and born-and-bred New Yorkers since 1982. While it will continue to tour, the musical revue, which irreverently spoofs current Broadway musicals, will bid farewell to New York on its 27th birthday this January 15th, 2009.
The show gets off to a somewhat rickety start, as each of the four cast members (Christina Bianco, Jared Bradshaw, Gina Kreiezmar, and Michael West) introduce themselves as if they are in a Broadway-holics Anonymous meeting (hence the title). Happily, the show deftly picks up speed after the first number, with directors Alessandrini and Phillip George abandoning that premise and letting Forbidden Broadway do what it does best: deliver silly and often lovingly unforgiving spoofs of shows new and old, including In the Heights, Jersey Boys, Gypsy, The Little Mermaid, Spring Awakening, and a slew of others.
The sketches are well performed, but very few wander far outside the realm of simply cute. Only occasionally laugh-out-loud funny, the show elicits the kind of amused reaction akin to watching a good, albeit family friendly Super Bowl commercial. The target audience for this frothy fun seems to be the theater lovers among us either under the age of 20 or over the age of 50, and admittedly, members of both age groups in the audience seemed to delight in each of the sketches, quite vocally declaring their approval between scenes.
Granted, some sketches are extremely clever, such as the simultaneous spoofing of the play Equus and the musical Gyspy in which Bradshaw plays Daniel Radcliffe (of Harry Potter fame) singing to the tune of “Let Me Entertain You”. Generally, however, the performances and impersonations outshine the writing. Perhaps this is why, unlike much earlier shows, this current incarnation of Forbidden Broadway focuses far more on spoofing specific actors and actresses in Broadway shows, rather than the shows themselves. While this certainly isn’t a problem for those who know the likes of James Barbour and Kelli O’Hara the way most know Johnny Depp and Cameron Diaz, it raises the additional glitch that the show might not be as accessible to the non-Broadway savvy tourist as its writers would like to be.
All four performers are extremely strong and get their moment to shine. In addition to Bradshaw’s fantastic number as Radcliffe, West provides some very impressive impersonations of writers like Mel Brooks, and performers like Harvey Fierstein and the aforementioned Barbour. The two women outshine the men vocally, each bringing down the house with equally wonderful impersonations and singing voices; Kreiezmar as Patti LuPone and Bianco as Kristin Chenoweth.
The show ends with two sketches dedicated to Stephen Sondheim; both are well executed and, appropriately, have a more reverential tone than the rest of the show. One gets the impression the numbers are more a tribute to the master composer and his work than a spoof, and the result is a surprisingly moving one for those who possess an in-depth familiarity with Sondheim’s work. It wouldn’t mean much, unfortunately, to those who do not.
Sketch comedy is an extremely difficult, hit-or-miss art form, even for those at the top of their game like “Saturday Night Live” and its musical theatre cousin at The 47th Street Theatre. Forbidden Broadway Goes to Rehab may only cater to a select audience, but for those for whom it is written, it is still an amusing, light-hearted and enjoyable evening at the theatre.
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