Forbidden Broadway - 20th Anniversary Edition on CD and Hoopla

Forbidden Broadway – 20th Anniversary Edition
by Gerard Allesandrini [Music Compact Disc 782.14 For — also Hoopla Digital service online] 

Forbidden Broadway is a series of frequently retooled cabaret shows, mocking huge Broadway hits and the people behind them. A case of four singers (two men, two women), with piano accompaniment take well-known (and frequently well-loved) hit Broadway songs and completely change the lyrics to poke fun at the occasionally-over-the-top nature of Broadway, or larger-than-life Broadway perfomers. Forbidden Broadway, itself, will run a few years, then disappear, then come back with all new songs, then disappear again. Having first been performed in 1982, it has gone through 21 different incarnations, mostly in New York City, although occasionally on the road as well — there’s been a London show, and one in Los Angeles, Forbidden Hollywood, which poked fun at the movie industry. Over the course of all these productions, there have also been over a dozen different Forbidden Broadway CD recordings. This particular album, their 7th, was released in 2000 and referred to as their 20th Anniversary Edition. It features tracks from most of the preceding albums, as well as few that had been previously unreleased. There are a few “blah” songs, but most of the contents are hilarious, for anyone who is a fan of musical theatre. If you’re not a fan of musical theatre, you’re

Some of my favorites from this collection: “Trouble in New York City” (thematically about Broadway musicals, but parodying “Trouble in River City” from The Music Man), “My Souvenir Things” (mocking Broadway show producer Cameron Mackintosh’s merchandising, to “My Favorite Things” from The Sound of Music), “Into the Words” (having fun with the Stephen Sondheim style of songwriting prevalent in Into the Woods), “Chita – Rita – America” (being silly about a Chita Rivera/Rita Moreno rivalry, set to “America” from West Side Story), “Somewhat Overindulgent” (mocking Mandy Patinkin’s singing style, set to “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”), a medley of Les Miserables parodies including “At the End of the Play” and “I Dreamed a Show”, “And I am Telling You I’m Not Screaming” (having fun with the hit song “And I am Telling You I’m Not Leaving” from Dreamgirls), and “Ambition” (mocking the classic “Tradition” from Fiddler on the Roof).
[Although this is a review of the CD collection that is in the libraries’ physical collection, this album and multiple other Forbidden Broadway musical albums are also available through the Hoopla digital online music service.] [ official Forbidden Broadway web site ]

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library

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