Forbidden Broadway Goes to Rehab

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Forbidden Broadway Goes to Rehab
FB Goes to Rehab.jpg
Poster
Music Various
Lyrics Gerard Alessandrini
Book Gerard Alessandrini
Basis Broadway musicals
Productions 2008 Off Broadway

Forbidden Broadway Goes to Rehab is the 2008 incarnation of Gerard Alessandrini's long-running hit Off-Broadway musical revue Forbidden Broadway , which parodies notable current Broadway and Off-Broadway musicals. It was initially announced that this would be the final version of the show, until the franchise was revived with Forbidden Broadway: Alive & Kicking! in 2012 and Forbidden Broadway Comes Out Swinging! in 2014.

Gerard Alessandrini American playwright, parodist, actor and theatre director

Gerard Alessandrini is an American playwright, parodist, actor and theatre director best known for creating the award-winning off-Broadway musical theatre parody revue Forbidden Broadway. He is the recipient of Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre, an Obie Award, four Drama Desk Awards, an Outer Critics Circle Award, and two Lucille Lortel Awards, as well as the Drama League Award for Lifetime Achievement in Musical Theatre.

An Off-Broadway theatre is any professional venue in Manhattan in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than Off-Off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer than 100.

<i>Forbidden Broadway</i> musical

Forbidden Broadway is an Off-Broadway revue parodying musical theatre, particularly Broadway musicals. It was conceived, written and directed by Gerard Alessandrini.

Contents

Production

Forbidden Broadway Goes to Rehab opened on September 17, 2008 at New York's 47th Street Theatre [1] and closed on March 1, 2009. The show was conceived, created and written by Alessandrini [2] and was co-directed by Alessandrini and Phillip George.

New York City Largest city in the United States

The City of New York, usually called either New York City (NYC) or simply New York (NY), is the most populous city in the United States and in the U.S. state of New York. With an estimated 2017 population of 8,622,698 distributed over a land area of about 302.6 square miles (784 km2), New York is also the most densely populated major city in the United States. Located at the southern tip of the state of New York, the city is the center of the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban landmass and one of the world's most populous megacities, with an estimated 20,320,876 people in its 2017 Metropolitan Statistical Area and 23,876,155 residents in its Combined Statistical Area. A global power city, New York City has been described as the cultural, financial, and media capital of the world, and exerts a significant impact upon commerce, entertainment, research, technology, education, politics, tourism, art, fashion, and sports. The city's fast pace has inspired the term New York minute. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy.

The plays and musicals parodied in Forbidden Broadway Goes to Rehab include August: Osage County , Equus , Spring Awakening , In the Heights , A Tale of Two Cities , South Pacific , Mary Poppins , Gypsy , Sunday In The Park With George , Young Frankenstein , and Xanadu . The personalities portrayed include Bernadette Peters, Patti LuPone, Liza Minnelli and Kristin Chenoweth. [3] [4]

<i>August: Osage County</i> darkly comedic play by Tracy Letts

August: Osage County is a comedy-drama play by Tracy Letts. It was the recipient of the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The play premiered at the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago on June 28, 2007, and closed on August 26, 2007. It had its Broadway debut at the Imperial Theater on December 4, 2007, and the production transferred to the Music Box Theatre on April 29, 2008. The Broadway show closed on June 28, 2009, after 648 performances and 18 previews.

<i>Equus</i> (play) 1973 play by Peter Shaffer

Equus is a play by Peter Shaffer written in 1973, telling the story of a psychiatrist who attempts to treat a young man who has a pathological religious fascination with horses.

<i>Spring Awakening</i> (play) play by Frank Wedekind

Spring Awakening is the German dramatist Frank Wedekind's first major play and a seminal work in the modern history of theatre. It was written sometime between autumn 1890 and spring 1891, but did not receive its first performance until 20 November 1906 when it premiered at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin under the direction of Max Reinhardt. It carries the sub-title A Children's Tragedy. The play criticises the sexually oppressive culture of nineteenth century Germany and offers a vivid dramatisation of the erotic fantasies that it breeds. Due to its controversial subject matter, the play has often been banned or censored.

Opening cast

[1]

Christina Bianco is an American actress, singer and impressionist. Bianco is best known for her theatrical work, television appearances and YouTube videos in which she impersonates celebrities, both singing and speaking.

Replacements and understudies

Original cast album

The tracks featured on the cast recording [5]

  1. Forbidden Broadway Goes to Rehab
  2. All That Chat
  3. In the Heights Segment
  4. Tale of Two Cities Segment
  5. South Pacific Segment
  6. Mary Poppins: 2nd Season
  7. August: Osage County
  8. Daniel Radcliffe in Equus
  9. Patti Lupone [sic] In Gypsy
  10. Young Frankenstein
  11. Xanadude
  12. Kristen [sic] Chenoweth: Glitter and Be Glib
  13. Sondheim: Putting Up Revivals
  14. Stephen Sondheim Finale
  15. My Musical Comedy Smile
  16. The Pajama Game
  17. See Me on a Monday
  18. (Dying Is Easy) Comedy Is Hard

See also

Forbidden Broadway, known also as Forbidden Broadway, Volume 1, is the first album released by Gerard Alessandrini, the creator of Forbidden Broadway. Because the album features the five cast members from the original show, the album bears the label "Original Cast Recording."

Forbidden Broadway, Volume 2 is the second album released for Forbidden Broadway (FB), an off-Broadway musical that spoofs Broadway's latest musicals. The album was recorded and mixed in February 1991 in New York at Sear Sound.

Forbidden Broadway, Volume 3 is the third album released to accompany Gerard Alessandrini's off-Broadway show Forbidden Broadway, which spoofs Broadway's latest musicals. Volume 3 was recorded at Sound On Sound, New York City, November 11 & 15, 1993; mixed at DSW Mastering Studios, NYC, and released in 1994.

Related Research Articles

<i>Gypsy</i> (musical) 1959 musical by Jule Styne, Stephen Sondheim and Arthur Laurents

Gypsy is a 1959 musical with music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents. Gypsy is loosely based on the 1957 memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee, the famous striptease artist, and focuses on her mother, Rose, whose name has become synonymous with "the ultimate show business mother." It follows the dreams and efforts of Rose to raise two daughters to perform onstage and casts an affectionate eye on the hardships of show business life. The character of Louise is based on Lee, and the character of June is based on Lee's sister, the actress June Havoc.

Patti LuPone American actress

Patti Ann LuPone is an American actress and singer, best known for her work in stage musicals. She is a two-time Grammy Award winner and a two-time Tony Award winner. She is also a 2006 American Theater Hall of Fame inductee.

Kristin Chenoweth American actress, singer and author

Kristin Dawn Chenoweth is an American actress and singer, with credits in musical theatre, film and television. In 1999, she won a Tony Award for her performance as Sally Brown in You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown on Broadway. In 2003, she received wide notice for originating the role of Glinda in the musical Wicked, including a nomination for another Tony. Her television roles have included Annabeth Schott in NBC's The West Wing and Olive Snook on the ABC comedy-drama Pushing Daisies, for which she won a 2009 Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. Chenoweth also starred in the ABC TV series GCB in 2012.

Forbidden Hollywood is the parody show that opened Off-Off-Broadway and was taped live in Hollywood. It was created by Gerard Alessandrini, who also created the ever-popular series of Off-Broadway parodies of Broadway theatre, Forbidden Broadway. But this production, instead of spoofing Broadway, lampooned popular films such as Forrest Gump, Sense and Sensibility, Pulp Fiction, Casablanca, The Wizard of Oz Disney's and Aladdin, and songs featured in them, although most of the score consists of songs from musicals used to comment on the films. It also spoofs movie stars like Tom Hanks, Keanu Reeves, Barbra Streisand, Ann-Margret and Whoopi Goldberg. A The New York Times reviewer wrote that although the production had funny moments, "the tone that defines the show is a glib disaffection for Hollywood", lamenting that the show missed the opportunity to use more songs from films, and concluding: "It's fine if Mr. Alessandrini wants to see Hollywood as the enemy, but you have to know your enemy to take good aim at it."

<i>Forbidden Broadway Strikes Back</i>

Forbidden Broadway Strikes Back is a version of Forbidden Broadway created by Gerard Alessandrini. It previewed September 5, 1996 and opened at the Triad Theater October 16, 1996. The show won Alessandrini the 1997 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics and was nominated for the 1997 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revue.

Forbidden Broadway Cleans Up Its Act is the fifth incarnation of Gerard Alessandrini's Forbidden Broadway, his popular off-Broadway musical revue spoofing "the best of Broadway". All the parody lyrics were written by Gerard Alessandrini. This version was co-directed by Alessandrini and his long-time collaborator Phillip George. George had up till then only been credited with "Musical Staging" and as "Assistant Director". George also contributed many of the more successful ideas and dialogue sketches to the more recent Forbidden Broadway editions. The show played in the basement of Ellen's Stardust Diner, and the album is the fifth volume in the series. Because it features none of the original 1982 Forbidden Broadway cast members, it is labeled "The Unoriginal Cast Recording". It was recorded in December 1998 and released in 1999.

Forbidden Broadway: 20th Anniversary Edition is the sixth volume in the Forbidden Broadway Cast Albums. Although there isn't a show with the same title, the CD has twenty-five of Forbidden Broadway's best songs, including eight previously unreleased tracks. It was conceived, created and written by Gerard Alessandrini.

Forbidden Broadway 2001: A Spoof Odyssey is the 21st century's first incarnation of the Off-Broadway revue Forbidden Broadway. It was conceived, created and written by Gerard Alessandrini and satirizes Broadway's latest shows and stars. Phillip George co-directed with Alessandrini, with Catherine Stornetta the musical director and piano accompanist. George contributed some of the ideas and dialogue for the sketches.

<i>Forbidden Broadway: Special Victims Unit</i> musical

Forbidden Broadway: Special Victims Unit is the ninth incarnation of Gerard Alessandrini's musical revue. The revue ran Off-Broadway from 2004 to 2007.

"Everything's Coming Up Roses" is a song from the 1959 Broadway musical Gypsy: A Musical Fable, with lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and music by Jule Styne. Introduced in the musical's inaugural production by Ethel Merman, "Everything's Coming Up Roses" became one of Merman's signature songs.

Lewis Cleale is an American theatre actor and singer. He is originally from Houlton, Maine.

<i>Young Frankenstein</i> (musical) musical

Young Frankenstein is a musical with a book by Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan, and music and lyrics by Brooks. It is based on the 1974 comedy film of the same name written by Brooks and Gene Wilder and directed by Brooks, who has described it as his best film. It is a parody of the horror film genre, especially the 1931 Universal Pictures adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and its 1939 sequel, Son of Frankenstein.

62nd Tony Awards award ceremony

The 62nd Tony Awards ceremony was held on June 15, 2008. The Antoinette Perry Awards for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Awards, recognize achievement in live American theatre. CBS television broadcast the event from Radio City Music Hall in New York City as it has since the 51st Awards ceremony in 1997. The event recognized Broadway productions playing during the 2007 – 2008 season and was hosted by Whoopi Goldberg.

<i>Forbidden Broadway: Rude Awakening</i>

Forbidden Broadway: Rude Awakening is the 2007 incarnation of Gerard Alessandrini's long-running hit Off-Broadway musical revue Forbidden Broadway, which parodies notable current Broadway and Off-Broadway musicals.

The Broadway.com Audience Choice Awards are audience chosen awards honoring the year's Broadway productions.

<i>Spamilton</i>

Spamilton: An American Parody is a musical parody of the Broadway show Hamilton. Written by Gerard Alessandrini, creator of the parody revue Forbidden Broadway, Spamilton also parodies several other musicals, included Gypsy, Chicago, The King and I, Assassins, Camelot, The Book of Mormon and Sweeney Todd, and personalities, like Patti LuPone, Audra McDonald, Stephen Sondheim, Stephen Schwartz, Barbra Streisand, Bernadette Peters, Carol Channing and Liza Minnelli.

References

  1. 1 2 Brantley, Ben."Giving Their Regards by Skewering the Shows" September 18, 2008
  2. ↑ "Forbidden Broadway: Comes Out Swinging! Brand New Edition at The Davenport Theatre, 354 West 45th Street - Ben Brantley of The New York Times calls it "A Godsend"!". www.forbiddenbroadway.com. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  3. ↑ Gans, Andrew.Name Change: Forbidden Broadway Goes to Rehab Will Open Sept. 17" playbill.com, September 4, 2008
  4. ↑ Sommer, Elyse."Review, 'Forbidden Broadway Goes to Rehab' " September 15, 2008
  5. ↑ "Connecting to Apple Music". itunes.apple.com. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
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