You might think that after 23 years and nearly two dozen savagely satirical lampoons, Forbidden Broadway creator Gerard Alessandrini would be forbidden from Broadway. But you’d be wrong. Andrew Lloyd Webber, a frequent target of Forbidden Broadway , always wants to know what’s happening with the franchise. “He has a great sense of humor — I don’t know if that’s known about him,” says Alessandrini over the phone from New York.
Back in the late 1980s and early ’90s, Forbidden Broadway was in residence at the Park Plaza Hotel, but it’s been a good decade since Hub theatergoers have been treated to the deliciously savage homage. That will change on Valentine’s Day when the Huntington Theatre Company brings the current incarnation of the show, Forbidden Broadway — Special Victims Unit , to the Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts. The show takes aim at the latest, mostly American-produced Broadway blockbusters including Spamalot , Hairspray , Avenue Q,Wicked , and The Producers , with Alessandrini supplying the clever lyrics that hoist the shows on the petard of their own tunes.
As a kid growing up in Needham in the 1970s, when Boston was still a Broadway tryout town, Alessandrini loved coming to the Theater District . “I used to see all the Sondheim/Prince shows that came to Boston first, like Follies and A Little Night Music. ” He was active in community theater and later studied music, drama, and dance at Boston Conservatory. “When I was young, I had a big voice and sang the lead in Kismet when I was 19 and the next year Fiddler on a Roof . I looked like I was 40 when I was a teenager.”
Alessandrini had fun performing, but seeing live theater remains a passion. He’ll see a show multiple times before embarking on a take-off. “It’s the vanity we’re spoofing. It’s the hype.” And over the years of producing multiple versions of the show, he’s arrived at some theories about what makes a good Forbidden Broadway number. “Some shows are so spoofable, like Les Miz . Sondheim shows are easy to do because there are many layers.” Some shows, like Chicago , seem easy but turn out to be difficult. “I knew there was something spoofable about it, but we had four numbers before we had ‘Glossy Fosse,’ which is about other people raking in the success when basically it was Bob Fosse’s show.”
So you could say Forbidden Broadway is like the industry police, holding producers and other miscreants accountable. Which partly explains the current title. “I’m a big fan of Law and Order , which is a very New York show. And we’re sort of policemen policing Broadway, getting retribution for the crimes committed. Sometimes I see a really bad show — the producers made a miscall, actors are suffering, and shouldn’t that be a crime? The poor audience is there in their seats suffering. Shouldn’t someone be charged?”
FORBIDDEN BROADWAY — SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT | Huntington Theatre Company | Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA, 527 Tremont St, Boston | February 14–March 12 | $55-$60 | 617.933.8600 or bostontheatrescene.com.
