FOUR STARS
EVER seen Phantom Of
The Opera? Miss Saigon? Les Misérables? Matilda?
Well a fabulous show
which pokes fun at these and other musicals will make you see them in
a new light.
Forbidden Broadway, on
at the Menier Chocolate Factory, is a guaranteed giggle-fest and
features send ups of all those famous shows including old timers such
as Les Mis, Phantom and Miss Saigon as well as relative newcomers to
the West End stage, Pajama Game, Spamalot and Jersey Boys.
In fact any and every
show is fair game and even some of the actors are not immune from
being mocked - for example Idina Menzel in Wicked and Alex Jennings
as Willy Wonka in Charlie And The Chocolate Factory.
Created in 1982 by
Gerard Alessandrini that lampooned the Broadway shows and stars of
the day, this current and updated version focuses very much on the
West End.
It features just four
performers, Anna-Jane Casey, Sophie-Louise Dann, Damian Humbley and
Ben Lewis who sing and dance their way through a series of numbers
from a variety of productions with some very swift costume changes
along the way and an extremely generous and infectious dose of
pizzazz.
The songs are attacked
with gusto and feature some classic re-writing of the original lyrics
as well as some suitably hilarious and hammy acting and a few clever
props including a toy aeroplane which zooms along a zip wire during
Miss Saigon.
And even if you have
not seen some of the shows chosen for mockery you will undoubtedly
recognise them from the revamp of the songs.
It is all great fun and
at times my ribs were aching from laughing so much.
In fact there are so
many highlights it would be impossible to list them all but my
personal favourite was their rendition of Les Misérables - one of
the funniest things I've seen on stage in a long time.
Forbidden Broadway is
on at the Menier Chocolate Factory in Southwark Street until August
30. Tickets from £25. Visit www.menierchocolatefactory.com or call
the box office on 020 7378 1713.
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