Gerard Alessandrini has been writing and producing parodies of Broadway and imitations of Broadway singers at small Manhattan clubs since 1982. The entertainers have been relatively unknown youngsters; the most familiar name to come out of Forbidden Broadway is Jason Alexander who, of course, is famed more as a television actor than a theater singer.
Therefore one wondered how such parodies would work when performed by some of the best-loved singer/actors in the Philadelphia area, who are personalities in their own right. Braithwaite is the artistic director at Act II and a familiar stage star, Jeffrey Coon has been the leading man in numerous musicals, Tracie Higgins has been a dependable standard-bearer, and the youngest player, Elena Camp, has played Cinderella in Into the Woods and other lead roles.
The answer is that the material is superbly done, with great panache. And that audiences are familiar with the performers gives the production an additional layer of humor.
One standout moment is Jeff Coon, who certainly has the range, wailing about “Bring Him Home” from Les Miz: “God, it’s too high!”
Other highlights include Braithwaite as a long-lashed Carol Channing in Hello Dolly (“Oh, no, Carol”); Camp as an ascending Idina Menzel in Wicked; Coon singing with an echo from Phantom of the Opera, and Camp and Higgins as Chita Rivera and Rita Moreno competing over the role of Anita in West Side Story. And the ensemble singing about what they associate with theater (to Fiddler’s music): “Rejection, depression...attention!”
The costumes by Alisa Sickora Kleckner are deliciously outrageous, and Sonny Leo not only accompanies everyone on the piano but also sings in one of the spoofs.
As you can tell from the above, this greatest-hits version of Forbidden Broadway downplays recent shows and concentrates on what will be most familiar to suburban Philadelphia audiences. The show is so well done that I wish the production were longer. Some of us leave the theater wanting more — perhaps a new edition next season.
