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The Off-Broadway Theatre Review: Forbidden Broadway: Merrily We Stole A Song
By Ross
Never off key, but sometimes off its mark, the latest edition of Forbidden Broadway circa 2024 titled Merrily We Stole A Song opens hilariously off-Broadway at Theatre 555 on West 42nd St. with a forceful “Sit Down Your’e Blocking the Aisle” delivered strong and parody perfect by Jenny Lee Stern (Broadway’s Rocky). It’s the best of openings, informing us with sharp humor that they’ll confiscate our devices if we disturb their silly undoings of Broadway, here off-Broadway by a crew that forever surprises. Written, created, and directed by Gerard Alessandrini, best known for writing and directing the many editions of Forbidden Broadway and Forbidden Hollywood, with a strong assist from musical director Fred Barton (Spamilton) and choreographer Gerry McIntyre (Berkshire theatre’s Godspell), the show spins out song after song, slicing and dicing apart almost every show that is on Broadway and off with a wit and a will that just keeps going.
The cast is astoundingly talented, with Stern finding humor and jest in her powerful voice and elastic transformative features. She is joined in brilliance of voice by Chris Collins-Pisano (Off-Broadway’s Forbidden Broadway: The Next Generation), Danny Hayward (National Tour of Finding Neverland), and Nicole Vanessa Ortiz (Studio 42’s Smokey Joe’s Cafe) on a straightforward cabaret-style set by Glenn Bassett (Off-Broadway’s Forbidden Sondheim), with hilariously spot-on costumes by Dustin Cross (Off-Broadway’s The Other Josh Cohen), clever lighting by Joan Racho-Jansen (Off-Broadway’s The Physics Show), and a solid sound design by Andy Evan Cohen (Off-Broadway’s Just Another Day). The latest edition of Forbidden Broadway finds its solid footing in a formula that just keeps giving, until it basically hurts.
The voices ring perfectly true and the parody finds its mark particularly when they start the skewering with the often revived Broadway productions of Cabaret (Hayward and Stern) – a show I loved, but many NYC critics did not – and almost every Sondheim show they can slide into the program. They even manage to nail Harry Potter inside a poke at Merrily framed with a strong “Sondheim Revival Intro” (Ortiz), “Old Friends” fun (Collins-Pisano, Stern, Hayward), “Company/Bump-A-Knee” (Full Cast), and a pitch-perfect “Patti LuPone” by the consistently amazing Stern. Even “Hillary Clinton” (Stern) and “Oh, Mary Todd!” (Collins-Pisano) are given the perfectly hilarious treatment sided up to “Shaina Taub: Cheap Marching/Finale” (Stern and cast), following a strong “Ben Platt at The Palace” (Collins-Pisano) ribbing and a clever punch at “The Outsiders” by Hayward, Stern, and Collins-Pisano.
As always, a few of the parodies miss their intended target, like the misguided “Back to The Future Part I” and “Back to Back to the Future” formulation sung by Collins-Pisano and Hayward that fail to find frivolity in their abduction of a young Sondheim (Stern) at a turning point in his search for a career. It’s a shame, as there was a clever seed at the base of all of that messy mobility. The stronger “Audra in Gypsy” has a similar smart seed, and is performed in exacting fashion by the generally impressive Ortiz, much like she does with “& Juliet/Sore“. Those seeds sprout something much more solid, and vocally uplifting. All in all, it’s a fun festive evening poking fun at the big leagues that are blocks north and east of Theater 555 on 42nd St and 10th Ave. I wish Forbidden Broadway: Merrily We Stole A Song had found a better cabaret environment though, cause this kind of show, I believe, is better served up with a two-drink minimum. And it would have made a hilarious evening of parody even better, if you can imagine that.
