London Takes Peek at Forbidden Broadway
Date: 8 March 1999
A little bit of Broadway comes to the London fringe this month when the New York hit revue Forbidden Broadway arrives at the Jermyn Street Theatre for a limited ten-week season. Previews begin tomorrow with the opening next Wednesday, 17 March.
The show first came to London in the 1980s when it had a short run at the West End's Fortune Theatre, but this is an all-new version of the show, which has been updated a dozen times during its continuing 16 year run off-Broadway.
Broadway's biggest shows, brightest stars and notorious flops are irreverently panned, poked, lampooned and lambasted, while set to the tunes of a medley of favourite show-stoppers. Parodies include many hits that have already transferred to and been revived in the West End or are due to arrive soon. The Lion King, Chicago, Beauty and the Beast, Annie, Into the Woods, The Sound of Music, Cabaret, Cats and Les Miserables all receive the Forbidden treatment.
The cast for the London production are American Christine Pedi, who has performed in many of the show's award-winning editions in 30 US states and in Japan, along with British recruits Sophie-Louise Dann, Mark O Malley and Alistair Robins.
Forbidden Broadway is conceived and written by Gerard Allessandrini, directed and choreographed by Phillip George, designed by Nigel Hook, with musical direction by Paul Knight. It is presented in London by David Babani, John Freedson and Harriet Yellin. Forbidden Broadway was created by Alessandrini in 1982. In 1997, he received the Drama League Award for Lifetime Achievement in Musical Theatre.
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