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FORBIDDEN BROADWAY
22.10.2014
You
have to know it, you have to love it. The Great White Way, that is.
Not so much to appreciate this accessible but seriously entertaining
show, but to deliver the spoofs, parodies and pastiches with such
consummate skill and obvious affection.
The
five performers in this “fringe revival transfer” – not least
the indefatigable pianist Joel Fram – are all steeped in the
tradition, and take no prisoners in their viciously accurate attacks
on the foibles and follies of musical theatre.
It
kicks off with front of house fun: mobiles, tweets – Everyone
Thinks They're A Critic – and touts, flogging duff seats in the
style of Fugue for Tinhorns.
Then
the performers are in the firing line: from triple threat
professional children abused by director Trunchbull to veterans of
the musical stage, this latter category enhanced by the presence of
Christina [Diva Moments] Bianco. Liza, Angela, Kristen Chenoweth, the
original Glenda, Madalena Alberto, the new Evita, Rita and Cheeta the
two Anitas head to head, and Bernadette Peters – See Me On A Monday
Please. Amongst the boys, male chanteuse Mandy Patinkin – Somewhat
Overindulgent – Hugh Jackman, Alex Wonka Jennings and Robert
Lindsay, currently over the road at the Savoy. All nailed by the
hard-working quartet of singers: Anna-Jane Casey, Ben Lewis and the
superb Damian Humbley joining the aforementioned Miss Bianco.
No
show, it seems, is left unpanned – Cats auditioned a la Chorus
Line, cardboard cut-out dummies in Les Mis, Wicked – Defying
Subtlety – Miss Saigon mercilessly trashed, Jersey Boys, Mamma Mia.
And no-one is too big to be brought down – Sondheim and Ho Chi
Cameron both victims – and even the corporate sponsors are named
and shamed.
Forbidden
Broadway – a firm favourite on both sides of the pond – is
devised and written by Gerard Alessandrini and directed by Phillip
George.
I
don't usually condone, much less publish, pirated pictures or video,
but it seems in keeping with the show's opening to share this shaky
mobile phone footage from last summer, when the Menier cast appeared,
along with many of the shows they lampoon, in Trafalgar Square for
West End Live.
and here's a new trailer for the current show
