After attending West End Live I was determined to get myself to the theatre for a good old musical. And what better choice was there for someone like me, or professes to be a musical theatre geek, than Forbidden Broadway.
As the title gives away, it is an American export. It all began in 1982 when writer Gerard Alessandrini came up with the first version of the show, and it has been running in New York, on and off, since then. I'm not sure if this is the first version to cross the pond (I don't imagine so) but The Menier Chocolate Factory is the perfect location for it. A small theatre a little bit along from London Bridge The Menier has a reputation for showing interesting fringe performances, and can be great a place to check out new productions before they transfer to big old West End theatres, like Little Shop of Horrors back in 2006, and La Cage aux Folles in 2009 (two amazing shows!).
Now on with the show! Forbidden Broadway is a satire that affectionately mocks those musicals you know and love. And it is a big barrel of full of belly laughs. I was crying with laughter after about the first 10 minutes. I have to admit there were a few reference I didn't quite get at times as I hadn't seen all the shows, but that didn't really take anything away from the experience. An example of this can be seen with my favourite part of the show, when Cameron Mackintosh (well the actors version of him) was welcomed on stage to sing how he knew how to make the 'Americans Cream'. This was a frantic and superb performance mocking how special effects can take over the show, but also bring in the tourists and money. It was only afterwards I found out that current Mackintosh juggernaut 'Miss Saigon' has a song titled 'American Dream' which I can only imagine has very much the same tune as 'Americans Cream'. Other shows to be featured included Matilda (this was the one that had me crying with laughter: "my mother says I'm a triple threat") Book of Mormon (wonderfully clever) Once (again haven't seen the show but still so funny), Les Mis (Stuarts favourite section) and many more.
For the whole performance there were only four actors on the simple stage, with the pianist. All of members of the quartet (Anna-Jane Casey, Sophie-Louise Dann, Damian Humbley and Ben Lewis) were fantastic, amusing and captivating. I was impressed with the range of characters they portrayed, as well as the extremely quick costume changes! I particularly enjoyed Sophie-Louise Dann's portrayal of Idina Menzel. I didn't think it was possible for anyone to sound so much like Idina's distinctive voice but I was wrong, Dann blew me away with her version of 'Let it Go'. The show is running until the middle of August so if you love musical theatre and feel the need for a bit of mischievous fun I highly recommend Forbidden Broadway!
You can get tickets from www.menierchocolatefactory.com, and if you go let me know which section you enjoyed most.
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