Royal George Theatre Center
(Royal George Website)
Owned and Operated by Liberty Theatres, Inc.
1641 N. Halsted Street
Chicago, Illinois 60614
312.988.9000

John Freedson, Harriet Yellin, and Margaret Cotter
Present

Forbidden Broadway
Special Victims Unit
(Event Website)

April 19 to July 1, 2007


Created and Written by Gerard Alessandrini

Starring: Jared Bradshaw, Valerie Fagan, Leisa Mather,
Michael West, and Ron Roy

Directors: Phillip George and Gerard Alessandrini
Costume Design: Alvin Colt,
Set Design: Grant Sabin
Lighting Design: Marc Janowitz
Musical Director: Ron Roy
Production Stage Manager: Jim Griffith
General Manager: Ellen Rusconi
Public Relations & Advertising: Nick Harkin/Madeline Long
at Carol Fox & Associates
Group Sales: Grouptix

Susan Weinrebe
April 24, 2007

Nothing is off limits in this year’s 25th incarnation of the long-lived and much laughed at send up of musical theater, Forbidden Broadway. The current production, Special Victims Unit, skewers, bastes and roasts to a turn, any and all Broadway cash cows and icons of popular theater in this utterly hilarious cabaret review.

Opening with Little Orphan Annie in a too-short dress and dragging on a cigarette as she sings, “I’m thirty years old tomorrow,” the witty cast sings, dances, mugs, dashes in and out of make up, wigs, and costumes with the split second comedic timing that made the show speed by far too fast.

Mary Poppins sang, “supercallousfictionalnonsensicalverboseness,” introducing a series of Disney jibes. As she was blown off stage clutching her umbrella, Beauty and the Beast, a “show as old as time,” commented on the diminishing production values and ended with Beauty being stripped to her pantaloons and replaced with a Barbie doll.

Incredibly talented impersonators, the cast cameoed Hugh Jackman, Carol Channing, Lisa Minnelli, Robert Goulet, Harvey Fierstein and scores of other hugely recognizable big names sparing no one, not even the Muppets! Not surprisingly, Yoko Ono, the multimillionaire musical mogul everyone loves to mock, appeared to sing her monotone, screechy version of John Lennon’s most poignant song. “Imagine all the critics/Shrivel up and die/You may say I’m controlling/But I help John along/I save him from the Beatles/And their insipid songs.”

Taking a twofer hit, a school boy contestant from Spelling Bee was asked to spell Pirate Queen and like Clever Hans, the horse that could spell, he used his foot to tap out, “F-L-O-P.”

The bigger the theatrical, the bigger the blow. Lion King’s wardrobe was a target for visual puns with a giraffe using canes instead of the original stilts and a haloic headdress composed of a pot top, Mickey Mouse doll, and toilet brushes with the actor wearing a neck brace to support the prodigious tower. As for the costuming, the cast sang, “I hate Julie Taymor/ She doesn’t have a clue/ My Chiropractor works for Disney too.”

Jersey Boys brought the cast out in green blazers and falsetto voices, “Walk like a man/Sing like a girl.” Fiddler On The Roof bemoaned the fact there wasn’t a Jew in the entire cast and to the tune of “Tradition,” asked, “In our little village of Manhattan, how do they destroy our musicals? I can tell you in one word. Direction!”

Substituting for green make up, a lycra cutout mask on, “…the loudest witch in town,” from Wicked, showed the stars pitted in a battle of egos for a Tony award. And of course, it was beyond resisting the sight gag of dangling cans of mystery meat product from the king’s costume in Spamalot as Monty Python and the production were served on platter.

On break from their Broadway show, Bradshaw, Fagan, Mather and West were brilliant. They are talented singers, actors, and funsters who made the naughty hilarity of Forbidden Broadway well worth another visit.

Forbidden Broadway - Spamalot
Photo courtesy of Michael Brosilow

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Forbidden Broadway - Lion King
Photo courtesy of Michael Brosilow

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Forbidden Broadway - Wicked
Photo courtesy of Michael Brosilow

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For more information, contact Dr. Roberta E. Zlokower at zlokower@bestweb.net