1st Night Photos: Forbidden Treats at Menier

Conceived and written by Gerard Alessandrini (who, at the time, was an out-of-work actor) and co-directed by Phillip George, Forbidden Broadway premiered in 1982 in New York, where it became a long-running – and continuously updated – Theatreland institution. In 1997, Alessandrini received the Drama League Award for Lifetime Achievement in Musical Theatre, and in 2006, the show itself won a special Tony Award.

In the West End, Forbidden Broadway was first seen in 1989 at the Fortune Theatre, where it ran for two-and-a-half months. Ten years later, it was mounted at the fringe Jermyn Street Theatre before transferring to the West End’s Albery Theatre (now the Noel Coward) for a month (See News, 8 Mar 1999).

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PHOTOS BY DAN WOOLLER FOR WHATSONSTAGE.COM.

For 1st Night Photos, our Whatsonstage.com photographer Dan Wooller was at the Chocolate Factory, where cast members Anna-Jane Casey and Steven Kynman enjoyed a reunion with their former Sunday in the Park With George co-stars from the Chocolate Factory’s acclaimed 2005 revival. Other first night guests included Victoria Wood and former Peter Pan co-stars Gay Soper and Gina Beck.

Among Forbidden Broadway‘s targets are Broadway hits young and old, including Les Miserables, Jersey Boys, Hairspray, Spring Awakening and Billy Elliot. Joining Casey and Kynman in the cast are Sophie-Louise Dann and Alisdair Harvey. Directed by Phillip George, continues at the Chocolate Factory to 13 September 2009.