Search - Gerard Alessandrini, Catherine Stornetta, Christine Pedi :: Forbidden Broadway, Vol. 7: 2001 - A Spoof Odyssey

All FB albums are worth hearing

Michael A. Benedetto | New York, NY USA | 02/23/2001

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Gerard Alessandrini has certainly gone to the well many, many times with his "Forbidden Broadway" series. As such, the most timeless subjects have been more or less exhausted -- we certainly don't need another appearance by Ethel Merman in *every* new edition, and the concept of stars inappropriate for their roles (this time, Cheryl Ladd as Annie Oakley) is nothing new at all. The "Strikes Back" edition set a standard which worked extraordinarily well at the time, but Alessandrini has hewn perhaps too closely to that standard in subsequent editions.Still, the well isn't dry yet, and there are plenty of gems on this album. Notable among them: "Sondheim's Blues", the second half of the "Music Man" sequence, "Scars", "Beauty's Been Decreased" and the "Aida" sequence. A previous reviewer decried the Gwen Verdon number as tasteless; it was actually written to appear in the show and dropped immediately after her unexpected death, and was recorded as a tribute to her talent. That said, it is only mildly amusing, far less so than the brilliant "Contact" parody which was too visual to record, or even the numbers preserved from earlier editions of the show.On the whole, of course, people new to the series would be well advised to pick up volume 2 or volume 4 first -- while these parodies are fresh, they lack the thrill and bite of the ones included on those albums. I still laugh harder at the memory of number 4's "Shall We Boink?" than I have at anything here that I've just heard for close to the first time."

Do the Math

Michael A. Benedetto | 03/15/2001

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Four CDs cover the first 20 Years of Forbidden Broadway, Gerard Alessandrini's viciously witty satire of New York Theatre. The last year has seen Three new CDs, FB "Cleans Up Its Act" "20th Anniversary Edition" and now "2001 a Spoof Odyssey". Do the math. Alessandrini is running out of ideas, and is spreading the remaining ones too thin. . Sanitized Time Square - Been there. Disnified Broadway - Done that, and so many times. Asinine casting faux pas, plotless pointless set-monster musicals, and Ethel Merman and Liza. We've heard it all before - and last time, it was funnier. Now normally when a writer (or director or actor) has truly entertained me on numerous occasions, I'll forgive the odd show that disappoints. This would be the case here except for two things: Alessandrini is in the vicious parody business - he's never spared anyone else Besides, if he's going to actually include couplets like: "If lyrics are no longer witty... Then I don't want to go " he's inviting the pans.When you hear the AIDA lampoon, you'll be reminded of the dim bulb in Cyrano de Bergerac who taunts the hero with the brilliant witticism: Your nose is very large Yes, there are a few true Forbidden Broadway tracks on Spoof Odyssey. Dame Judi Dench singing "Why can't Americans do theatre like the Brits?" (with apologies to My Fair Lady), I Hate Ben (with apologies to Kiss Me Kate) and about 1/3 of "Let's Ruin Time Square Again" (no apologies necessary to Rocky Horror which understands how easy it is for good parody to go bad). Oh yes, there is one absolutely true Forbidden Broadway track: TROUBLE - yes, the same Trouble from Volume 3 which was just re-released on the 20th Anniversary compilation - and it's back again with a more hackneyed Robert Preston impersonation and all of 4 words changed. Granted it's one of the better bits, more worthy of rerunning than say, referring to Miss Saigon as Viet-Numb, but oh, he reran that gag too"

Live from the Diner, Eggs Over Easy and a side of REhash

Randy Goldberg | 02/20/2001

(2 out of 5 stars)

"The recording of the latest edition of 'Forbidden Broadway' is here to let us know the wit and fun which once made it a guilty pleasure is as dead as Ethel Merman (who inexplicably appears yet again.)When FB first opened it was done by a group of wanna-be stars taking aim at some of the egos and disasters who were taking jobs from those plucky kids and keeping them unemployed. It could be catty, rude and plain delightful. If only the same could be said of the new recording.It starts with a painfully unfunny airline intro which as a LITTLE too close to Jan Hooks in 'Pee Wee's Big Adventure' which is, as far as this writer knows, yet a Broadway musical. It is followed by another of Alessandrini's love/hate letters to the Brits with a number sung by "Judi Dench." Not funny. Even less funny is the recylying of a "Music Man" parody first done in FB in the early 80s. If anything could be worse than the current revival of MM, it is this spoof, although the segment where Winthrop begs Hill to leave is quite funny.To be honest, the "I Hate Ben", "Saturday Night Fiasco" and "Beauty's Been Decreased" are moderately amusing. Only one number on the recording is worth having been recorded at all and that is "Sondheim's Blues." One just wishes it had been recorded by someone more talented than Danny Gurwin who is featured to not good effect in almost every number. One wonders what attributes he may have in performance that do not record. His voice is passable for the chorus of a dinner theatre production of "Joseph" and he has no mimicry skills whatsoever. He pales even more in comparison with FB alum Bryan Batt who managed to give fully rounded performances even without any visuals.The women are both strong. But please! Why have a number about Gwen Verdon who just died? Especially an unfunny one? Christine Pedi may do an incerdible Verdon impression, as she does of Liza, Lupone and Streisand but unless the material is good, so what?Mr. Alessandrini seems stuck in the past. Broadway he has told us over and over through the years is dead. And by gum! he's going to prove it. There are no stars like Ethel Merman. Well it's nice to want to keep the flame alive BUT SHE IS DEAD! Mr. Ed was a tv show during the heyday of the 50s (a decade when Ethel appeared on Broadway) so why not a duet between Mr. Ed and Ethel? (Ok, so he didn't appear on Broadway but that is only because the Weisslers were not producing musicals during his lifetime.)Perhaps the next edition of the show should be solely devoted to performers who are dead. Not whose careers are dead, that would be too large a cast. The biggest problem with the Merman et al fascination is: do many people under 30 really know who she was? Do they really want to shell out $ to hear jokes they do not understand?One wonders how Mr. Allessandrini feels about the success elsewhere many FB alums have had. Chloe Webb of the original cast has had an extraordinary career. Bryan Batt seems to never be out of work. Perhaps not being allowed to play in the sandbox with the big guns he has had to make do in the cat box. But almost 20 years later someone needs to clear the litter. The concept of the show is still sound, it just needs a new voice."