By Ryan Mooney
Cathy Wilmot as "Annie" in Forbidden Broadway
Playing up the camp of musical theatre has become a "go to" for many shows in recent years. Everything from The Producers to Dirty Rotten Scoundrels to Evil Dead seems to have a wink-and-a-nudge homage to the fact that "yes, we're singing and dancing up here." The spoofing of artistic forms is nothing new, but few shows have done it for as long and as successfully as Forbidden Broadway, which will be the first musical of 2010 to play on a Vancouver stage.
Forbidden Broadway ran for 27 years in New York City and spoofed nearly every show to grace the stages in that time period. It was clever, and ahead of its time in terms of spoofing the artistic medium that so many love. Performed simply with an small, ensemble cast and a pianist, the creator Gerard Allesandri was awarded a Tony Award for Excellence in Theatre in 2006.
For me, Forbidden Broadway is a musical theatre aficionado’s wet dream. It's a smorgasboard of jokes, puns and impressions that clip by at breakneck speed. It's like watching thirty shows in ninety minutes. For the first time Forbidden Broadway will make an appearance in Vancouver in a "Greatest Hits" collection that includes everything from Wicked to Les Miserables to Phantom of the Opera.
Whether you're a musical theatre buff, or just know a couple of the big shows, Forbidden Broadway will have you laughing right down into your toes. I'm thrilled to be presenting this show with Fighting Chance Productions. If the critical and audience response to our previous spoof show The Musical of Musicals: The Musical is any indication I have no doubt that Forbidden Broadway is going to be a crowd pleaser that sells out quickly!