Broadway parody lyricist still taking bites of 'Forbidden' fruit

IT'S NOT that the "Forbidden Broadway" series has spent more than 30 years butchering musical theater's sacred cows. It's more like the venerable revue has tipped said revered bovines.

"Forbidden Broadway" is a theater-world fixture, thanks to its playful skewering of musicals, both iconic and long-forgotten, using the music from various scores but with original lyrics written by Gerard Alessandrini, who created the concept in the early 1980s. While the songs poke gentle fun at their subjects - often the stars who sang the originals - there is little that is mean-spirited in the musical satires.

"Forbidden Broadway's Greatest Hits," a compendium of the most popular parodies culled from the more than two dozen iterations of the show, runs through June 28 at Ambler's Act II Playhouse.

Alessandrini certainly didn't plan on making his mark on the musical-theater world in this manner. A graduate of the Boston Conservatory, he headed to New York to pursue a far more traditional career in musical theater. Work, when it came, was primarily in "small-time theater, off-Broadway, summer stock, waiting tables," he explained during a recent phone chat. But even then, he had some out-of-the-box ideas.

"I wanted to do something different, rather than the same old shows," he said. "I used to write parody lyrics of shows that I saw - reviews of the show, or what the stars might really be thinking while they were [performing]. I did it mostly for my friends, for fun."

In 1981, Alessandrini realized the parodies could be a good showcase for him and his friends. "It sort of took off on its own," he recalled. "We never really 'produced' it, we just sort of started doing it" at a supper club in Manhattan known today as the Triad.

Among his earliest targets were then-current Broadway hits like "Evita," "The Pirates of Penzance," and a revival of "The King and I" starring Yul Brynner. The early versions also spoofed Broadway icons like Mary Martin and Ethel Merman, both of whom became fans. And they weren't the only ones.

"It just kind of caused a sensation on its own," Alessandrini said. "Back then, to do parody lyrics of Broadway . . . was new and different. So a lot of the celebrities that we were spoofing came to see us. It was very exciting."

One megastar miffed by "Forbidden Broadway" back then was Carol Channing. But not because she objected to being lampooned. Channing, Alessandrini explained, came to a performance with Martin and George Burns "and indicated she felt slighted she wasn't in the show."

Today, "Oh, No Carol!" (sung to the tune of "Hello Dolly!") is a "Forbidden" standard.

Over the decades, such composing legends as Irving Berlin, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Stephen Sondheim have been targets, but a perfect example of Alessandrini's craft is his many pokes at "Les Miserables."

For instance, his take on the line, "At the end of the day, we're another day older" is: "At the end of the play, we're another year older" - a snarky reminder of the original version's almost-three-hour running time.

"It proved to be the most-spoofable thing ever," he said of the beloved, "sung-through" musical. "What more could you ask for [than] this serious musical about the French Revolution . . . and that complex plot? As well-done as it is, it takes itself very seriously."

Writing song parodies - 2,500 by his estimate - has no doubt made Alessandrini wealthy and given him some prominence among the Broadway crowd. But he has also taken serious stabs at writing musicals, including one based on the 1988 film comedy "Moon Over Parador." So far, none have reached the Great White Way, but he's still hopeful.

And what would he say should one of his musicals inspire parodies from some young wise guy looking to make his mark in musical theater?

"I will say," he replied without hesitation, "Go ahead. Do it!"

The event will feature composer Jason Robert Brown ("The Last Five Years") presenting the award to Sondheim, as well as performances by local actors who have appeared in past Arden productions of Sondheim musicals.

According to the organization's website, the Sackler goes to "outstanding users of the speaking voice who have achieved excellence in their field and who have given of themselves to help others toward that goal." Past winners include Roberta Flack, Bobby Rydell and Terry Gross.

Veteran actor Stacy Keach ("Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer," "American History X") will also receive a Sackler Award. Dolora Zajick, a mezzo-soprano opera singer, will be given the Voice Education Research Awareness Award.