“Forbidden Broadway: Merrily We Stole a Song” is not your typical musical. One could call it a comedy, a musical performance, a spoof or a satire and all would apply to this charming piece. Set with a piano, a glitter curtain and countless costumes, the night begins with an opening number titled “‘Forbidden Broadway’ Comes to Boston.” Tailored for the run at the Emerson Colonial Theatre in Boston, it lets the audience in on the secret of what is about to unfold. The premise is simple: Take famous musical theater songs and roles but change the lyrics to spoof current and beloved Broadway shows.
“Forbidden Broadway,” which began in 1982, returned to Boston this past weekend for a stint of three performances, following its most recent run off-Broadway in summer 2024. Tony Award winner Gerard Alessandrini creates the series of spoofs, frequently updating the group’s works to reflect the current nature of musical theater. Its strength: The show feels ever so timely, with references to the 2024 season of musicals. Its cons: The show forfeits spoofing some of the most recognizable performances of our generation in lieu of newer ones. Still, “Forbidden Broadway” is sure to please any theater fan with a night of laughs and reminiscent memories of beloved musicals.
Filled with niche references to modern musicals including “The Great Gatsby,” “Cats,” “Annie” and “Cabaret,” just to name a few, Alessandrini's well thought out lyrics also criticize the current state of Broadway, with a jab at theme park titles conquering Broadway, and a hilarious parody of “Sweeney Todd” titled, “The Worst Shows from London” about the rise of subpar London-imported musicals. The show even includes a parody of “The Outsiders,” the latest Tony Award-winning best musical, which unfortunately fell flat, turning the well-written songs into a cringy spoof about vowel placement.
The writing from Alessandrini is clever and witty, but the true standout of the production is the cast, led by Chris Collins-Pisano, Nicole Vanessa Ortiz, Jenny Lee Stern and John Wascavage. The quartet of multitalented actors juggle the daunting task of portraying the most famous roles and performers in musical theater history while providing powerhouse vocals and balancing a hefty amount of costume changes and altered lyrics. Multiple times throughout the show, the actors leave the stage as one character only to reenter moments later in a completely new costume (with outstanding costume design from Dustin Cross), with a completely different vocal accent and singing a song from a completely different era (with masterful music direction by Fred Barton), all without skipping a beat or losing the audience.
While each of the four actors brings strong vocal and physical talents to complement the show, the standout performance is Ortiz, who belts powerhouse ballads from “& Juliet,” “Hell's Kitchen” and “Wicked.” During the highlight spoof of the night, Ortiz portrays Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba in the film “Wicked,” belting “Defying Elphaba,” a riff on the iconic “Defying Gravity.” Alessandrini’s newest addition makes comedic jabs at middle-aged Erivo playing a college student, as well as the movie’s use of CGI and special effects. To cleverly mimic Elphaba’s flying, Ortiz leaps onto an ironically small cube and wails out the iconic battle cry, while another actor flails around her cape. Laughter and applause filled the theater, the audience both in shock and thoroughly entertained after the spot-on and hilarious spoof of the film.
After 43 years of “Forbidden Broadway,” you would think the parody would feel outdated. Yet, that is far from the truth. Creator, writer and director Alessandrini took timely hits and themes from modern Broadway and turned them into this most recent version, “Forbidden Broadway: Merrily We Stole a Song,” a spoof of the Sondheim show “Merrily We Roll Along.” As the title suggests, Alessandrini borrows some of Sondheim's most famous songs to honor his tremendous impact on musical theater in the newest show since his passing. Sondheim himself even appears in the show’s single plot moment when Doc Brown and Marty McFly (from “Back to the Future”) bring Sondheim to the future and effectively erase his presence from theater history. Still, in this 110-minute production, the show starts to lose its momentum towards the end, continuing to follow the same structure of song, blackout and song. The surprise moments of audience interaction and the concluding tribute to Sondheim add a welcome change in pace to the evening.
The audience at the Emerson Colonial seemed to enjoy and understand the musical’s references, but it is evident that “Forbidden Broadway” was created with theater superfans in mind. For those not caught up on current musical theater, the niche references may be more difficult to appreciate. Nonetheless, anyone who admires catchy show tunes and comedic storytelling will certainly love “Forbidden Broadway: Merrily We Stole a Song,” which keeps you eagerly anticipating to see which character or song will be spoofed next on stage. Full of mostly spot-on and comedic spoofs, it is sure to make you crack a laugh and leave show tunes floating through your head, just with some joyful, cruel but truthful, unfiltered and plain hilarious lyrics.
