One of Broadway’s most esteemed institutions isn’t even technically on the Great White Way.
The Off-Broadway production Forbidden Broadway has been spoofing the best and the worst of New York City theater for 30 years in a satirical revue that sends up everything from the super-earnest movie-to-musical Once to the NBC TV show about the making of a Marilyn Monroe musical, Smash. Theater fans in-the-know love it for all the inside jokes, yet Forbidden Broadway: Alive and Kicking still manages to remain relevant for newcomers to NY theater. (Sending up as many as 26 different shows, you could even consider it your primer for a Broadway-themed vacation in NYC!).
The original version of Forbidden Broadway debuted on January 15, 1982, and since then it has been rewritten many, many times to include all the new shows, songs and stars worth skewering, making it a perennial favorite among theater fans for its tongue-in-cheek send-ups of popular shows and their larger-than-life players. Over the years Forbidden Broadway has won nine Drama Desk Awards, a Special Tony®, an Obie, and a Drama League Award. But Forbidden Broadway’s creator Gerard Alessandrini shut the show down in 2009, telling the press Broadway had become too bland — there was nothing new left to spoof.
Then three years and many, many new show openings later, Alessandrini surprised and delighted New York’s theater community by bringing the beloved revue back to Off-Broadway. (Even celebs love Forbidden Broadway; among the famed faces who have made an appearance in the audience at this iteration of Forbidden Broadway are Carol Burnett, Diane Sawyer, and Joan Rivers).
Forbidden Broadway features 26 numbers performed by four nimble actors (two men and two women). Expect to hear hilarious songs addressing the highs (and painful lows) of Spiderman, The Book of Mormon, and the latest revival of Death of a Salesman.
Yet despite the cackling that can be heard coming from the 47th Street Theater, Forbidden Broadway: Alive and Kicking is only scheduled to run through April 28, 2013. So if you’re hoping to catch this “only in New York” show, we suggest booking tickets now to Forbidden Broadway: Alive and Kicking.
What Broadway show do you think could use a little spoofing in Forbidden Broadway?
