NY1 Theater Review: "Forbidden Broadway: Alive And Kicking"
Updated: Updated 09/14/2012 11:53 AM
By: Roma Torre
After a three-year absence "Forbidden Broadway" is back home at The 47th Street Theatre with a new show, "Forbidden Broadway: Alive And Kicking." NY1's Roma Torre filed the following review.
Forbidden Broadway is back finally after an absence that, for theater fans, felt like an eternity. In its 30th year of spoofing Broadway, this latest edition, "Forbidden Broadway: Alive And Kicking" has plenty of new material to kick around. And it remains as much a glorious celebration of the theatre as a spot-on send-up.
Creator Writer Gerard Alessandrini’s 21st edition is as irreverently and hysterically funny as ever. His take on Broadway’s hits and stars are theatrical caricatures that cut right to the funny bone.
Evita's Elena Roger and Spider-Man's Julie Taymor are sliced and diced. A portly Matthew Broderick in “Nice Work If You Can Get It” gets the parody treatment.
He brings back some old material with new lyrics, but it’s the newer shows that get some of the biggest laughs. The sweetly earnest “Once” is prime fodder, as are the high-energy romp that is "Newsies" and the hit musical renamed "The Book Of Morons."
Casting is key, and once again Alessandrini and co-director Phillip George found four uber-talented performers, each of them good enough to headline the shows they’re spoofing. Scott Richard Foster on guitar as Steve Kazee is priceless. Natalie Charle Ellis displays pipes of steel taking on Audra McDonald, Donna Murphy and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Marcus Stevens is dead on as Matthew Broderick and Mandy Patinkin and Jenny Lee Stern knocks it out of the park with her takes on Judy Garland and Patti Lupone.
The theater and ticket prices may be off-Broadway, but inside Gerard Alessandrini’s 30 year old masterwork beats the heart of a genuine Broadway baby.
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