FORBIDDEN BROADWAY CELEBRATES 25 YEARS
OF LAMPOONING THE GREAT WHITE WAY WITH
FORBIDDEN BROADWAY: RUDE AWAKENING
NEW EDITION OPENS OCTOBER 2ND
AT THE 47TH STREET THEATRE
CHITA RIVERA TO READ
PROCLAMATION FROM MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG
RENAMING 47TH STREET “FORBIDDEN BROADWAY”
On Tuesday, October 2nd, Gerard Alessandrini’s FORBIDDEN BROADWAY marks its 25th Anniversary with a brand-new edition FORBIDDEN BROADWAY: RUDE AWAKENING, at the 47th Street Theatre (304 West 47 Street). To mark the occasion, Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Office of Theatre, Film and Television has named October 2nd 2007 as “Forbidden Broadway Day.” At 6:00PM, prior to the opening night performance on October 2nd, two-time Tony Award winner (and beloved subject of Forbidden Broadway parodies) Chita Rivera will be on hand to read a proclamation from Mayor Michael Bloomberg and unveil a street sign renaming West 47th Street “Forbidden Broadway.” Opening night curtain is at 7:00PM.
FORBIDDEN BROADWAY: RUDE: AWAKENING features spoofs of the season including Spring Awakening, Curtains, A Chorus Line, Grease: You’re The One That We Want, Legally Blonde, Frost/Nixon, Mary Poppins in addition to Company and Grey Gardens along with some classic bits from FORBIDDEN BROADWAY’s past quarter century. This edition is created and written by Gerard Alessandrini and directed by Mr. Alessandrini and Phillip George. Featured in the cast are: Jared Bradshaw, Janet Dickinson, James Donegan and Valerie Fagan, with David Caldwell on piano. Costumes are by the legendary Alvin Colt, who was just honored with an exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York. Sets are by Megan Halpern and lighting is by Marc Janowitz.
A theatrical institution, FORBIDDEN BROADWAY has received national and international notoriety, racking-up over 10,000 performances in more than 200 US cities, as well as engagements in London, Tokyo, Singapore and Sydney. The show was a recipient of a 2006 Tony© Honor for Excellence in the Theatre.
FORBIDDEN BROADWAY has been an unstoppable force in theatre since 1982 when Gerard Alessandrini created the first edition that lampooned the Broadway shows and stars of the day. It has been a favorite among theatre lovers, as well as the Broadway stars themselves (Carol Channing, Kathleen Turner, Raul Esparza, Donna Murphy, Christine Ebersole, Bernadette Peters, Tommy Tune, Stephen Sondheim, Patti Lupone, Cameron Mackintosh, and Hal Prince, to name a few) who often stop by to laugh at themselves alongside their public. FORBIDDEN BROADWAY has won numerous awards in its history in addition to the Tony Honors, which include Obie, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Drama League, and Lucille Lortel Awards. FORBIDDEN BROADWAY is produced by John Freedson, Harriet Yellin and Jon B. Platt.
ABOUT THE CAST & CREATIVE TEAM
JARED BRADSHAW (Performer) Forbidden Broadway SVU: New York, Chicago, and San Diego. NYC: Dr. Sex, Talk of the Town, TheaterworksUSA. Regional: The Last Five Years, Smokey Joe’s Café, Jekyll and Hyde, Cabaret, Disney Cruise Lines. BFA Musical Theatre: Shorter College, Rome, GA. Thanks: Lindsay, family, mentor Terrance Mann, Nani/Saperstein. www.jaredbradshaw.com
JANET DICKINSON (Performer) Broadway: How the Grinch Stole Christmas! Off-Broadway: Secrets Every Smart Traveler Should Know, Bush Is Bad & Forbidden Broadway in Detroit, Milwaukee & Boston. Theatres: Mountain Playhouse for 14 seasons (over 100 shows), Florida Studio Theatre, Cape Fear Regional Playhouse, City Theatre Pittsburgh, Human Race Theatre, Struther’s Library Theatre, Embassy Theatre, Cumberland Theatre. Originally from Bemidji, Minnesota!
JAMES DONEGAN (Performer) most recently appeared in the original cast The Roast of Utopia Special Summer Edition. Other favorites: Company (Bobby), My Fair Lady (Freddy), Jesus Christ Superstar (Jesus) & Evita (Che). James’s CD, “So Much Spring,” is available at jamesdonegan.net (“auspicious debut” — NEXT). For Marc.
VALERIE FAGAN (Performer) Forbidden Broadway SVU in NY, Boston (2006 Elliot Norton Award Nominee), Chicago and Forbidden Vegas (2005 Vegas At Its Best Entertainer.) National Tours of Man of La Mancha (Aldonza) Les Misérables (Fantine) & NSMT Hairspray (Prudy). Published co-author of 6 Women with Brain Death (NYMF 2005.) Honored to sing “God Bless America” for NBC starting the New York City Marathon. valeriefagan.com
GERARD ALESSANDRINI (Creator, Writer & Director) is best known for writing and directing all the editions of Forbidden Broadway and Forbidden Hollywood in New York, Los Angeles, London and around the world. He was also a member of the original cast of Forbidden Broadway. Gerard is from Needham, Massachusetts and the Boston area, where he graduated from the Boston Conservatory of Music. In 1982, he created Forbidden Broadway, which has spawned 15 editions, 8 cast albums and a 25-year-and-counting run in New York. Television credits include writing comedy specials for Bob Hope and Angela Lansbury on NBC, Carol Burnett on CBS and “Masterpiece Tonight,” a satirical revue saluting “Masterpiece Theatre” on PBS. He can be heard on four of the eight FB cast albums and on the soundtracks of Disney’s Aladdin & Pocahontas. Directing credits include many corporate industrials and regional musicals, including a production of Maury Yeston’s musical In the Beginning. Gerard also co-directed a revival of Irving Berlin’s last musical Mr. President, which he updated & “politically corrected.” Gerard is the recipient of an Obie Award, an Outer Critics Circle Award, two Lucille Lortel Awards, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Drama League and three Drama Desk Awards for Best Lyrics for Forbidden Broadway. Most recently, Gerard received a 2006 Tony Honor for Excellence in the Theatre.
STEVE SAARI (Pianist) has worked with the Rockettes, Tommy Tune, Martin Short, Vince Gill, Three Dog Night. Solo recording: “Variations On A Theme.” Broadway: Martin Short’s Fame Becomes Me. Tours: Dr. Dolittle with Tommy Tune; I Love You, You’re Perfect… Off-Broadway/Regional: Forbidden Broadway SVU; I Love You, You’re Perfect…; Ragtime; Mister Fabulous; Martha: the Musical. www.stevesaari.com
DAVID CALDWELL (Musical Director) conducted the American premiere of Stephen Schwartz’s Children of Eden. He is the composer/lyricist of All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten and Uh-oh, Here Comes Christmas, both based on the writing of Robert Fulghum. David also composed a score for Fulghum’s novel Third Wish
PHILLIP GEORGE (Director). As director Off-Broadway: Shout!, Forbidden Broadway: SVU, Forbidden Hollywood, Whoop-Dee-Doo (Drama Desk Award, Best Musical Revue), Forbidden Broadway Twentieth Anniversary Edition, Forbidden Broadway Cleans Up Its Act, Forbidden Broadway Strikes Back, Forbidden Broadway 2001: A Spoof Odyssey (Drama Desk Award, Best Musical Revue), The Remarkable Ruth Fields (1993 Bistro Award, Best Musical Best Director), When Pigs Fly (as Assoc. Director to Mark Waldrop), Blackout (Amas), Bring Me a Dwarf (Wing & Drop Co.), Miss Pretty Hard (Dance Theater Workshop with Katherine Griffith), Forbidden Broadway 1988–93. London: Kean (nominated for Evening Standard Award, Best New Musical); Forbidden Broadway (The Albery, West End); Shout!; Frankly, Scarlet (co-author with Peter Morris); Listen to the Wind; Much Revue About Nothing; Forbidden Broadway; The Famous Five; The Arcadians; Escape from Pterodactyl Island (1999 Michael Steward Award). Regionally: Forum (5th Ave Theatre, Seattle), Best Little Whorehouse, Footloose, Return to the Forbidden Planet, Annie Get Your Gun, The Secret Garden (Paper Mill). Currently Artistic Director: Wing & Drop Co. Club Acts: Ruben Flores, Randall Frizado, Chris DiCristo.
ALVIN COLT’s (Costume Design) costumes have been represented in 88 Broadway shows which include the original productions of On the Town and Guys and Dolls, plus Li’l Abner, Fanny, Destry Rides Again, Sugar, Pipe Dream, Wildcat, Lorelei, Greenwillow and numerous others. A Tony Award winner, he has also been nominated four times for both the Tony Award and television’s Emmy Award, having designed costumes for over 90 programs on all major networks. Mr. Colt is the recipient of TDF’s Irene Sharaff’s Award in costume design, and received a Drama Desk nomination for Forbidden Broadway. He was inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame in 2001. Recently, The Museum of the City of New York celebrated Mr. Colt’s work with “Costumes and Characters: The Designs of Alvin Colt.”
The playing schedule for FORBIDDEN BROADWAY: RUDE AWAKENING is as follows: Mondays, Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8:15pm and Sundays at 7:30pm, with matinees on Wednesdays at 2:30pm, Saturdays at 4:00pm, and Sundays at 3:30pm. Tickets are $65 on Saturdays, at 8:15pm, Sundays at 7:30pm and Mondays at 8:15pm and are $60 for all other performances. For tickets and information call Telecharge at (212) 239-6200. For Group Sales call (212) 840-5564.
