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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2019
THEATER: "Forbidden Broadway" Is Back and
Broadway Trembles (With Giggles)
FORBIDDEN BROADWAY: THE NEXT GENERATION *** out
of ****
THE TRIAD
Don't take it for granted. The silly, sly new edition of Forbidden
Broadway is comfortably ensconced at The Triad on the Upper West
Side. Let's hope it runs and runs so long the show has to toss in newnumbers ( Mrs Doubtfire, anyone?), bring in new performers and then
we can all take it for granted again. Right now, creator GerardAlessandrini's franchise is as fresh as ever. Sure, you know what toexpect and thank god for that.
Clockwise from left Immanuel Houston(standing), Aline Mayagoitia, Jenny
Lee Stern, Joshua Turchin and Chris Collins-Pisano
Photo by Carol Rosegg ©2019MICHAEL GILTZ AT WORK
Michael Giltz is a freelance writer
based in NYC and can be reached atmgiltz@pipeline.com
FAVORITE LINKS
Americablog
Five O'Clock Lightning baseball blogDeep Pop -- Lori Lakin's Blog
The Back Page -- Jason Page on ESPN
Radio
Cine-Blog -- George Robinson's Blog
Documents On Art & Cinema - Daryl
Chin's Blog
Brucie G's Wondrous Blog Of
Adventure and Mystery -- Bruce
Greenspan's Blog
BLOG ARCHIVE
▼ 2019 (81)
► November (1)
▼ October (21)
Here's where I run down the list of songs and tell you which spoofs are
spot on, which performers do the best at capturing the vocal quirks ofsuch and such a star and maybe which ones are a little wide of themark. Hey, you can't reinvent the wheel when covering a revue like
this.
And Alessandrini doesn't reinvent the wheel when it comes to
delivering the goods. After all, it's not the idea of Forbidden
Broadway that's so clever. It's the execution. Needless to say, the wigs
of Conor Donnelly and the costume of Dustin Cross work overtime
(and must be awfully sturdy since they get thrown on and ripped off ata furious pace). The choreography of Gerry McIntyre delivers on a
small stage while skewering the big moves of Broadway. Musical
director and pianist Fred Barton seamlessly papers over any tinypauses in action or momentary blips during scene changes. And aboveall Alessandrini's book and lyrics are up to his usual high standards.
Everyone in the cast has a winning moment, though Joshua Turchin as
the juvenile is a modest weak link. It doesn't really matter, not in the
context of its "let's put on a show" vibe. Immanuel Houston isespecially fun as André De Shields. Chris Collins-Pisano tackleseveryone from Beetlejuice to Harold Prince with amusing energy. AndAline Mayagoitia delivers a delicious Bernadette Peters.
But first among equals is Jenny Lee Stuart, with her terrific voice and
equally terrific comic timing. She's hilarious as Gwen Verdon in aFosse/Verdon bit (jumping in to say her name right on top of Collins-Pisnao saying 'Fosse"). She elevates the easy mocking of ReneeZellwegger in the bio-musical Judy by creating a fully realized
Garland. Indeed, the lyric "Zellwegger smells in my part" is notAlessandrini's finest internal rhyme. But who cares when Stuart iskilling it in every way? And her Mary Poppins was equally splendidand served a much better spoof.
I'd already blocked the godawful movie Mary Poppins Returns from
my mind. But I especially disliked the bathos of "The Place Where Lost
Things Go," a cloying ballad that seemed to suggest to children thattheir mother wasn't really dead, just misplaced, perhaps lost in the
seat cushions of the couch or buried under a pile of stuff in the attic.
Ok, that's not precisely what it tries to say, but it's perfect forsatirizing. Alessandrini turns it into a ballad called "The Place WhereThe Lost Shows Go," an ode to the flops and forgotten musicals ofyesteryear. The costumes and wigs capture the practically perfect
nanny to a t. The flood posters from old flops will warm the heart of
any theater lover and the number is easily appreciated by even casualfans. And Stuart's performance is drily perfect. Hey, if my praisingStuart causes some backstage tension, they can always write a songabout it!BOOKS: Don't Bother Trying To
"Find Me"
THEATER: "The Sound Inside"
Gets Muffled By Final...
THEATER: Stuff and Nonsense
for Friendly Crowds --...
THEATER: "Scotland, PA" or,
The Bloody King Of Bur...
THEATER: "For Colored Girls"
Returns. Finally!
The Movies, Books, Theater,
Concerts, CDs I've See...
BookFilter Reading List
TV and Film Must Watch List
THEATER: "Forbidden
Broadway" Is Back and
Broadway...
THEATER: "Soft Power" In
Hard Times
THEATER: "Dublin Carol" Hits
a Mournful But Hopefu...
THEATER: COLE PORTER
REVUE "DECLINE ANDFALL" IS T...
THEATER: "Terra Firma" Is On
Shaky Ground
THEATER: "The Glass
Menagerie" Sans Tricks OrTrea...
THEATER: Wrestling With
Faith in "Heroes Of The Fo...
THEATER: A Bright Future In
Reach For "Chasing Rai...
THEATER: The Not-So "Great
Society"
THEATER: BOO! A Halloween
Scare Fest Closes Its Ey...
THEATER: "A(loft) Modulation"
-- A Play With Jazz ...
THEATER: "Freestyle Love
Supreme" and "DerrenBrow...
BOOKS: A Fantasy Classic
Finally Translated Into E...
► September (10)
► August (9)
Jenny Lee Stern and Chris Collins-Pisano
Photo by Carol Rosegg ©2019
Indeed, Forbidden Broadway always balances between insider dope
and tourist-friendly fare. Sometimes it's easy to do. Even casual fans
will guess King Kong The Musical was both really expensive and lost a
lot of money for its investors so any jokes about can kill.
My modest caveats are the spoofs that only work if you've seen the
show. It's funny to mock Oklahoma! with "Woke-lahoma!" Actually,
the song title alone is a winner. Still, I thought the numerous digs in
this number work far better if you've actually seen the currentproduction. (My guest disagreed and since he hasn't seen the current
revival but laughed at the spoof, what do I know?) Similarly, I suppose
the grim nature of Irish drama is always a rich target and "How AreThings In Irish Drama" is kind of funny. But since The Ferrymanclosed more than a year ago this number already feels outdated when
Forbidden Broadway: The Next Generation just opened!
Finally, I think the Harry Potter bit is off target. Alessandrini's spoofs
are almost always funny because they come from a great love for
musicals and an encyclopedic knowledge of what's happening on stageand behind the scenes. Not here. He mocks the super-high prices of
the two-part play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. But that take is
about seven months out of date. Ever since the original cast left, the
box office for Harry Potter has dropped in half, from more than $2
million a week to more often $1 million. (It's still sold out and stillworth seeing.) Discount ticket offers have been coming fast and
furious. So you can find a lot of bargains -- relatively speaking -- to
this show. If you were going to mock anything, it should have beenthat . And if you want to talk high ticket prices, Moulin Rouge! has
been charging (and getting) eye-watering premium prices from its firstpreview, while Hadestown brazenly doubled its prices the day after
winning the Tony for Best Musical. I expect Forbidden Broadway to
be on the cutting edge of gossip and this is one time the show missesthe mark.► July (7)
► June (3)
► May (6)
► April (10)
► March (5)
► February (1)
► January (8)
► 2018 (38)
► 2017 (6)
► 2016 (2)
► 2015 (29)
► 2014 (2)
► 2013 (5)
► 2012 (17)
► 2011 (15)
► 2010 (10)
► 2009 (43)
► 2008 (86)
► 2007 (781)
► 2006 (2412)
► 2005 (5)
Not that it matters! Two or three numbers that spoof stuff you haven't
seen is probably par for the course for most people attending this
show. Most of the time, you're a big enough fan to get the joke anywayor you can enjoy the performances and songs in their own right. That'ssurely the case for this edition. In the Star Trek universe, the TV series
Star Trek: The Next Generation is arguably the best of all the shows in
the franchise. I haven't seen enough of Forbidden Broadway during
its illustrious history to make that claim. But Forbidden Broadway:The Next Generation sure is fun.
THEATER OF 2019
Frankenstein: Under The Radar Fest at the Public ** 1/2
Minor Character: Under The Radar Festival at the Public ***
Ink: Under The Radar Festival at the Public ** 1/2
Choir Boy ** 1/2
White Noise ** 1/2
Kiss Me, Kate ***
Ain't No Mo' *** 1/2
Ain't Too Proud **
The Cradle Will Rock * 1/2
Mrs. Murray's Menagerie *** 1/2
Oklahoma! (on Broadway) ** 1/2
Socrates **
The Pain Of My Belligerence *
Burn This **
Hadestown *** 1/2
All My Sons * 1/2
Tootsie ** 1/2
Ink ***
Beetlejuice **
Estado Vegetal ***
Hans Christian Andersen * 1/2
Cirque du Soleil: Luzia ***
BLKS ** 1/2
Moulin Rouge ** 1/2
Bat Out Of Hell **
Unchilding **
Sea Wall/ A Life ** 1/2
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child ***
Betrayal *** 1/2
Fifty Million Frenchmen ** 1/2
Freestyle Love Supreme ** 1/2
Derren Brown: Secret ***
(A)loft Modulation * 1/2
The Great Society **
I Can't See *
Heroes Of The Fourth Turning ** 1/2
Chasing Rainbows: The Road To Oz ***
The Glass Menagerie (dir Austin Pendleton & Peter Bloch) **
Terra Firma (debut of The Coop theater company) **
Forbidden Broadway: The Next Generation
Dublin Carol ** 1/2
Soft Power
The Decline and Fall of The Entire World As Seen Through The EyesOf Cole Porter ***
Thanks for reading. Michael Giltz is the creator of BookFilter, a book
lover’s best friend. It’s a website that lets you browse for books online the
way you do in a physical bookstore, provides comprehensive info on new
releases every week in every category and offers passionate personal
recommendations every step of the way. He’s also the cohost of Showbiz
Sandbox , a weekly pop culture podcast that reveals the industry take on
entertainment news of the day with top journalists and opinion makers as
guests. It’s available for free on iTunes. Visit Michael Giltz at his website.
Download his podcast of celebrity interviews and his radio show, also called
Popsurfing and also available for free on iTunes.
POSTED BY MICHAEL GILTZ AT 10:00 PM
NO COMMENTS:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)Newer Post Older Post Home
Create Blog Sign In
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2019
THEATER: "Forbidden Broadway" Is Back and
Broadway Trembles (With Giggles)
FORBIDDEN BROADWAY: THE NEXT GENERATION *** out
of ****
THE TRIAD
Don't take it for granted. The silly, sly new edition of Forbidden
Broadway is comfortably ensconced at The Triad on the Upper West
Side. Let's hope it runs and runs so long the show has to toss in newnumbers ( Mrs Doubtfire, anyone?), bring in new performers and then
we can all take it for granted again. Right now, creator GerardAlessandrini's franchise is as fresh as ever. Sure, you know what toexpect and thank god for that.
Clockwise from left Immanuel Houston(standing), Aline Mayagoitia, Jenny
Lee Stern, Joshua Turchin and Chris Collins-Pisano
Photo by Carol Rosegg ©2019MICHAEL GILTZ AT WORK
Michael Giltz is a freelance writer
based in NYC and can be reached atmgiltz@pipeline.com
FAVORITE LINKS
Americablog
Five O'Clock Lightning baseball blogDeep Pop -- Lori Lakin's Blog
The Back Page -- Jason Page on ESPN
Radio
Cine-Blog -- George Robinson's Blog
Documents On Art & Cinema - Daryl
Chin's Blog
Brucie G's Wondrous Blog Of
Adventure and Mystery -- Bruce
Greenspan's Blog
BLOG ARCHIVE
▼ 2019 (81)
► November (1)
▼ October (21)
Here's where I run down the list of songs and tell you which spoofs are
spot on, which performers do the best at capturing the vocal quirks ofsuch and such a star and maybe which ones are a little wide of themark. Hey, you can't reinvent the wheel when covering a revue like
this.
And Alessandrini doesn't reinvent the wheel when it comes to
delivering the goods. After all, it's not the idea of Forbidden
Broadway that's so clever. It's the execution. Needless to say, the wigs
of Conor Donnelly and the costume of Dustin Cross work overtime
(and must be awfully sturdy since they get thrown on and ripped off ata furious pace). The choreography of Gerry McIntyre delivers on a
small stage while skewering the big moves of Broadway. Musical
director and pianist Fred Barton seamlessly papers over any tinypauses in action or momentary blips during scene changes. And aboveall Alessandrini's book and lyrics are up to his usual high standards.
Everyone in the cast has a winning moment, though Joshua Turchin as
the juvenile is a modest weak link. It doesn't really matter, not in the
context of its "let's put on a show" vibe. Immanuel Houston isespecially fun as André De Shields. Chris Collins-Pisano tackleseveryone from Beetlejuice to Harold Prince with amusing energy. AndAline Mayagoitia delivers a delicious Bernadette Peters.
But first among equals is Jenny Lee Stuart, with her terrific voice and
equally terrific comic timing. She's hilarious as Gwen Verdon in aFosse/Verdon bit (jumping in to say her name right on top of Collins-Pisnao saying 'Fosse"). She elevates the easy mocking of ReneeZellwegger in the bio-musical Judy by creating a fully realized
Garland. Indeed, the lyric "Zellwegger smells in my part" is notAlessandrini's finest internal rhyme. But who cares when Stuart iskilling it in every way? And her Mary Poppins was equally splendidand served a much better spoof.
I'd already blocked the godawful movie Mary Poppins Returns from
my mind. But I especially disliked the bathos of "The Place Where Lost
Things Go," a cloying ballad that seemed to suggest to children thattheir mother wasn't really dead, just misplaced, perhaps lost in the
seat cushions of the couch or buried under a pile of stuff in the attic.
Ok, that's not precisely what it tries to say, but it's perfect forsatirizing. Alessandrini turns it into a ballad called "The Place WhereThe Lost Shows Go," an ode to the flops and forgotten musicals ofyesteryear. The costumes and wigs capture the practically perfect
nanny to a t. The flood posters from old flops will warm the heart of
any theater lover and the number is easily appreciated by even casualfans. And Stuart's performance is drily perfect. Hey, if my praisingStuart causes some backstage tension, they can always write a songabout it!BOOKS: Don't Bother Trying To
"Find Me"
THEATER: "The Sound Inside"
Gets Muffled By Final...
THEATER: Stuff and Nonsense
for Friendly Crowds --...
THEATER: "Scotland, PA" or,
The Bloody King Of Bur...
THEATER: "For Colored Girls"
Returns. Finally!
The Movies, Books, Theater,
Concerts, CDs I've See...
BookFilter Reading List
TV and Film Must Watch List
THEATER: "Forbidden
Broadway" Is Back and
Broadway...
THEATER: "Soft Power" In
Hard Times
THEATER: "Dublin Carol" Hits
a Mournful But Hopefu...
THEATER: COLE PORTER
REVUE "DECLINE ANDFALL" IS T...
THEATER: "Terra Firma" Is On
Shaky Ground
THEATER: "The Glass
Menagerie" Sans Tricks OrTrea...
THEATER: Wrestling With
Faith in "Heroes Of The Fo...
THEATER: A Bright Future In
Reach For "Chasing Rai...
THEATER: The Not-So "Great
Society"
THEATER: BOO! A Halloween
Scare Fest Closes Its Ey...
THEATER: "A(loft) Modulation"
-- A Play With Jazz ...
THEATER: "Freestyle Love
Supreme" and "DerrenBrow...
BOOKS: A Fantasy Classic
Finally Translated Into E...
► September (10)
► August (9)
Jenny Lee Stern and Chris Collins-Pisano
Photo by Carol Rosegg ©2019
Indeed, Forbidden Broadway always balances between insider dope
and tourist-friendly fare. Sometimes it's easy to do. Even casual fans
will guess King Kong The Musical was both really expensive and lost a
lot of money for its investors so any jokes about can kill.
My modest caveats are the spoofs that only work if you've seen the
show. It's funny to mock Oklahoma! with "Woke-lahoma!" Actually,
the song title alone is a winner. Still, I thought the numerous digs in
this number work far better if you've actually seen the currentproduction. (My guest disagreed and since he hasn't seen the current
revival but laughed at the spoof, what do I know?) Similarly, I suppose
the grim nature of Irish drama is always a rich target and "How AreThings In Irish Drama" is kind of funny. But since The Ferrymanclosed more than a year ago this number already feels outdated when
Forbidden Broadway: The Next Generation just opened!
Finally, I think the Harry Potter bit is off target. Alessandrini's spoofs
are almost always funny because they come from a great love for
musicals and an encyclopedic knowledge of what's happening on stageand behind the scenes. Not here. He mocks the super-high prices of
the two-part play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. But that take is
about seven months out of date. Ever since the original cast left, the
box office for Harry Potter has dropped in half, from more than $2
million a week to more often $1 million. (It's still sold out and stillworth seeing.) Discount ticket offers have been coming fast and
furious. So you can find a lot of bargains -- relatively speaking -- to
this show. If you were going to mock anything, it should have beenthat . And if you want to talk high ticket prices, Moulin Rouge! has
been charging (and getting) eye-watering premium prices from its firstpreview, while Hadestown brazenly doubled its prices the day after
winning the Tony for Best Musical. I expect Forbidden Broadway to
be on the cutting edge of gossip and this is one time the show missesthe mark.► July (7)
► June (3)
► May (6)
► April (10)
► March (5)
► February (1)
► January (8)
► 2018 (38)
► 2017 (6)
► 2016 (2)
► 2015 (29)
► 2014 (2)
► 2013 (5)
► 2012 (17)
► 2011 (15)
► 2010 (10)
► 2009 (43)
► 2008 (86)
► 2007 (781)
► 2006 (2412)
► 2005 (5)
Not that it matters! Two or three numbers that spoof stuff you haven't
seen is probably par for the course for most people attending this
show. Most of the time, you're a big enough fan to get the joke anywayor you can enjoy the performances and songs in their own right. That'ssurely the case for this edition. In the Star Trek universe, the TV series
Star Trek: The Next Generation is arguably the best of all the shows in
the franchise. I haven't seen enough of Forbidden Broadway during
its illustrious history to make that claim. But Forbidden Broadway:The Next Generation sure is fun.
THEATER OF 2019
Frankenstein: Under The Radar Fest at the Public ** 1/2
Minor Character: Under The Radar Festival at the Public ***
Ink: Under The Radar Festival at the Public ** 1/2
Choir Boy ** 1/2
White Noise ** 1/2
Kiss Me, Kate ***
Ain't No Mo' *** 1/2
Ain't Too Proud **
The Cradle Will Rock * 1/2
Mrs. Murray's Menagerie *** 1/2
Oklahoma! (on Broadway) ** 1/2
Socrates **
The Pain Of My Belligerence *
Burn This **
Hadestown *** 1/2
All My Sons * 1/2
Tootsie ** 1/2
Ink ***
Beetlejuice **
Estado Vegetal ***
Hans Christian Andersen * 1/2
Cirque du Soleil: Luzia ***
BLKS ** 1/2
Moulin Rouge ** 1/2
Bat Out Of Hell **
Unchilding **
Sea Wall/ A Life ** 1/2
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child ***
Betrayal *** 1/2
Fifty Million Frenchmen ** 1/2
Freestyle Love Supreme ** 1/2
Derren Brown: Secret ***
(A)loft Modulation * 1/2
The Great Society **
I Can't See *
Heroes Of The Fourth Turning ** 1/2
Chasing Rainbows: The Road To Oz ***
The Glass Menagerie (dir Austin Pendleton & Peter Bloch) **
Terra Firma (debut of The Coop theater company) **
Forbidden Broadway: The Next Generation
Dublin Carol ** 1/2
Soft Power
The Decline and Fall of The Entire World As Seen Through The EyesOf Cole Porter ***
Thanks for reading. Michael Giltz is the creator of BookFilter, a book
lover’s best friend. It’s a website that lets you browse for books online the
way you do in a physical bookstore, provides comprehensive info on new
releases every week in every category and offers passionate personal
recommendations every step of the way. He’s also the cohost of Showbiz
Sandbox , a weekly pop culture podcast that reveals the industry take on
entertainment news of the day with top journalists and opinion makers as
guests. It’s available for free on iTunes. Visit Michael Giltz at his website.
Download his podcast of celebrity interviews and his radio show, also called
Popsurfing and also available for free on iTunes.
POSTED BY MICHAEL GILTZ AT 10:00 PM
NO COMMENTS:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)Newer Post Older Post Home