Search - Gerard Alessandrini, Ron Bohmer, Jason Mills :: Forbidden Broadway, Vol. 8 - Special Victims Unit

Not just "La Cage" AW FUL

R. Burnett | SoCal | 04/27/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Having been a fan of this series since the first album, and having seen numerous productions of the show, I was eagerly awaiting this release. Better luck next time. The targets are soft, the rhymes and gags are recycled, and worst of all the impersonations are lousy, with the possible/passable exceptions of Bernadette and the "Wicked" gals. With all the devastating success achieved in earlier editions skewering Patti Lupone, Julie Andrews, and others, why trot them out again when this recording's singers aren't recognizable as these stars, either as imitation or parody? The only real fun was had whenever the inspired Christine Pedi joined in. I'd recommend this only for completists."

Lyrics Are Still Missing

Rufussars | 05/14/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"My immediate complaint seems to be a continuous one from previous albums. Some lyrics are just too wordy to decipher without a lyric booklet. As others have said, this CD does recycle some of Gerard's better jokes and gags. However, considering it's done somewhat tastefully, and the show has been running for 20+ years, I'll cut him some slack. All impersonations tend to drift in and out a little, and while it's true that Liza, Merman, Julie Andrews, and others have had better imitations in the past, those of Idina Menzel, Kristin Chenoweth, Hugh Jackman, and Marissa Jaret Winokur are fairly good. Bernadette Peter's and Judy Garland's, however, actually reach the point of excellent. Listening to a 1:14 length parody of "The Producers" with a 7 minute parody of "Fiddler on the Roof" makes one wish that Gerard had more consistent segment lengths. By reducing the random songs from this album, such as the "Night Mother" and "Forbidden Assassins" spoofs, more space could've been made for hit shows, like "Avenue Q", "Thoroughly Modern Millie", "Hairspray", and "The Producers", to be more than touched upon. It seems like a waste to have such great shows receive partially negligable parodies. Hopefully, they can be reused in expanded versions on a future CD. But, until then, though this album may lack the charm and witty humor of earlier editions, this CD is not nearly as atrocious as others are claiming. It's just a bit "recycled, recycled, recycled...and everything old is still old again.""

A few good laughs

Joseph Grienenberger | San Diego, CA | 12/28/2005

(2 out of 5 stars)

"As with all the previous editions of "Forbidden Broadway," there are some hearty guffaws to be had. Unfortunately, whereas the first several albums were virtually wall-to-wall laughs, this edition's really meaty material is doled out in small portions -- and one has to suffer through some bland fare in between.



Mr. Alessandrini's brilliance in the past was two-fold: 1) The lyric spoofing was so vivid that the listener could conjure visuals even if they hadn't seen the revue live, and 2) the humor was just the right length -- it got the job done, and often left one wanting more. Much of the current material is not up to Mr. Alessandrini's usual standards, for it's difficult to figure out what's going on, and some of the segments are much too long [especially the opening crime scene sketch and the "'night Mother" parody -- the latter of which I gave up on after a couple of minutes]. Some of the contexts are much too obtuse to have any general comic appeal [the "Wicked" leads being friends; "Fiddler" ostensibly having no Jews in the cast]. Some of the titles promised more comic riches than were actually mined -- Julie Andrews presenting the next hundred years of the American musical could have been a cavalcade of wacky ideas of further trash that might be foisted on the public, but instead it's just some blathering about how more mediocrity is on the way.



The performers have a lot of energy, but they largely lack the vividness of Mr. Alessandrini's previous longtime rep artists. Part of this may be due to the fact that although the current artists have the requisite vocal chops to handle the material, their diction is less-than-ideal at times. [People have groused about previous recordings not having lyrics, but they weren't needed in the past.] On the plus side, these newest artists are very good at mimicking stars; indeed, the Bernadette Peters impression makes this CD actually worth the purchase price -- it is perfect and hilarious, from the Peters-specific line reading styles [the curious ascending pitch at the ends of some lines] to swallowing the same vowel sounds that Miss Peters does. [This performance really is quite brilliant!] Other highlights of this recording are the commentary on the trend toward puppets and unwieldy production designs in "Avenue Q" and "Lion King," the manic perkiness of "Thoroughly Modern Millie," the love song to Sondheim that pokes fun at the difficulty in singing some of his music, and the on-target skewering of how gay the Tony Awards have become. And the wacky quasi-Eastern chorus vocals in the "Bombay Dreams" send-up are Mr. Alessandrini at his finest -- like all great comedy, they are completely unexpected and thereby chortle-inducing.



This recording is only for completists like me [after only two listenings, I now have a short list of tracks I'll play]; anyone unfamiliar with "Forbidden Broadway" should check out the first three editions as a better introduction to this often brilliant series [the original "Les Miserables" sequence is still one of my all-time favorite comedic sketches].



P.S. Please, Mr. Alessandrini -- no more perfunctory Patti Lupone riffs and PLEASE no more rehashes of 'I'm 30 years old tomorrow' from "Annie" -- oy!



P.P.S. And even the Ethel Merman shtick is starting to grow stale. After the hilariously sublime "Swell! Now, how'd ya like to hear ME sing a duet?" years ago, everything subsequent has paled in comparison.

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