FORBIDDEN BROADWAY Coming to Broadway This Summer — Page 2

LucyEth2 said: "Saw an industry reading of this a while back when it was solely a parody of Sondheim shows and it was pretty toothless. Love the subtitle, but hope the scope of the show is broadened to include Broadway as a whole and all the shows of the past decade or more that are so ripe for parody. At his best, Alessandrini is a comic genius, IMHO, but this needs to be much sharper and tighter if it's going to survive on Broadway."

FORBIDDEN SONDHEIM was a separate show, distinct from FORBIDDEN BROADWAY, although it had some of the same elements and M.O... I was at that reading too – and about 6 months later, a revised version opened at a new place called "Green Fig," next to Green Room 42. I saw it the night Ben Brantley was there (not as a critic since he doesn't write for the Times anymore.) It seemed about 50% new from the reading, with lots of revision – and crowds were breaking down the doors to get in. 

The Broadway press release says "The production plans to parody shows featured in the current and recent Broadway seasons, including “Back to the Future,” “Company,” “The Great Gatsby,” “Hell’s Kitchen,” “Into the Woods,” “Merrily We Roll Along,” “The Notebook,” “Sweeney Todd” and “Water for Elephants.”  – so this sounds like a more traditional FORBIDDEN BROADWAY and not a recreation of FORBIDDEN SONDHEIM.

 

Wish they do forbidden Hollywood and update it. Soundtrack gets me everytime 

I generally think opening this on Broadway is a mistake, but I think it’s particularly a mistake to be lampooning the current season. Why would the general public pay these prices to see a parody of shows they haven’t yet seen or even heard of? 
This is already such an incredibly niche show and on Broadway it’ll be competing against… well, the actual shows.  

They have canceled their Broadway run due to the “crowded landscape.”

Uh the landscape this spring/summer has been famously crowded with new productions, and that was known when they announced.

In short, they didn't sell many tix.

I have to assume Oh Mary announcing its transfer had something to do with this decision. As that will be the hot comedy ticket for the summer. Does anyone know if they started casting? If no big names were attached it likely wouldn’t sell. I think most people especially for a revue type show wait to buy tickets til the cast is announced. 
 

 

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I doubt investors pulled out: they probably weren't there to begin with.

As much as I might have liked to see this, it was always a baffling announcement from day one, and the point about the Broadway landscape is a big reach considering little has changed since this was announced 2 months ago.

Even Off-Broadway this wouldn't sell on the level of a Charles Busch play or a Marla Mindelle musical.

It was also never a show that would have been appropriate for stars to appear in. Anyone remotely famous would be viewed as "punching-down" on poor little Broadway, when usually the people performing in Forbidden Broadway are underdogs lampooning those more successful than them.

The crowded landscape argument is a little disingenuous when the same article says new Summer programming for the Hayes Theater will be announced soon. It's just too crowded for a show where it not belonging on Broadway is literally in the title.

Another one for the "postponed" file.  

“The show, written by Gerard Alessandrini, was to begin previews July 15 and to open Aug. 5 at the Helen Hayes Theater, and was to be capitalized for $3.2 million, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. It is not clear if the producers had successfully raised all that money, and ticket sales, which began earlier this month, had been slow.”

 

I’m so sorry to hear Forbidden Broadway won’t be going on as scheduled. Does that mean the Hayes will be vacant? It seems to me that the Hayes would have been perfect for Oh, Mary!, a much better match than the Lyceum. 

Updated On: 4/26/24 at 07:14 PM

macnyc said: "I’m so sorry to hear Forbidden Broadway won’t be going on as scheduled. Does that mean the Hayes will be vacant? It seems to me that the Hayes would have been perfectfor Oh, Mary!, a much better match than the Lyceum."

But the Hayes is primarily 2nd Stages subscription house & likely has things booked for Fall.  If Mary sells well it will continue to extend as long as it keeps selling.

Looks like it’s found an Off-Broadway home:

From Playbill: 

“The Broadway engagement of Gerard Alessandrini’s Forbidden Broadway may have been postponed, but the latest edition of the musical parody, Forbidden Broadway: Merrily We Stole A Song, has found a home Off-Broadway.

Previews will begin August 23 at Theater 555 prior to an official opening September 12.”