‘Forbidden Broadway’ Satirical Revue To Make Long-Awaited Broadway Debut

Gerard Alessandrini’s longtime Off Broadway satirical revue Forbidden Broadway will make its long-in-coming Broadway debut this summer, producers announced today.

The new iteration – full title: Forbidden Broadway on Broadway: Merrily We Stole a Song – will begin previews at the Hayes Theater on July 29, with opening night set for August 15. The engagement, with Alessandrini directing, will run through November 1.

The cast and the rest of the creative team will be announced later. In addition to a five-person cast including the onstage pianist, weekly guest stars will appear throughout the engagement.

Alessandrini, who first staged the revue in 1982 at New York’s 130-seat Palsson’s Supper Club, said in a statement today, “I’d never have believed that Forbidden Broadway would end up on the street that we love – and love to lampoon.”

The musical-comedy cabaret-style revue has undergone numerous revisions and revamps over the decades as Alessandrini updates the show to include parodies of current Broadway shows. The upcoming version will include some classic bits as well as spoofs of new, recent and upcoming fare such as The Notebook, Water for Elephants, Hell’s Kitchen, Back to the Future, The Great Gatsby, Sweeney Todd, Into the Woods, Company and, as that full title makes clear, Merrily We Roll Along.

In addition to its Off Broadway iterations and venues, Forbidden Broadway has been staged in more than 200 cities around the world. For his work on Forbidden Broadway in all its forms, creator Alessandrini and the show received a 2006 Tonys Honor for Excellence in the Theatre.

Shows and performers parodied over the years include The Phantom of the Opera, Wicked, Les Misérables, The Lion King, Spamalot, Annie, Julie Andrews, Mel Brooks, Carol Channing, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Patti LuPone and many others. Performers who made early-career appearances in the show include Jason Alexander, Brad Oscar, Michael McGrath and Chloe Webb.

The Broadway staging will be produced by Broadway & Beyond Theatricals (Ryan Bogner, Victoria Lang & Tracey Stroock McFarland) in association with John Freedson and Harriet Yellin.