Broadway satire bites the jazz hands that feed it

Review

Musical theater: Sometimes it's funny. Sometimes it's clever. It's usually entertaining to some degree. But not all can claim these qualities at once like "Forbidden Broadway: Greatest Hits: Vol. 1." Now running at the David A. Straz Jr. Center for the Performing Arts, "Forbidden Broadway" is one bit of theater you won't want to miss.

Brainchild of actor Gerard Alessandrini, the show has survived myriad incarnations since 1982, generating new material alongside Broadway's evolution. In each, hits and their makers are parodied so brilliantly, their flaws and hyperbole filleted with such expert precision, some might wonder how the originals ever survived the Great White Way.

Edward Staudenmayer directed Jaeb Theater regular Heather Krueger, Lauren Gemelli, Derek Baxter and Justin Lore in a production that elicited howls of laughter. Shtick after shtick showcased these performers' unfathomable gifts, as well as Alessandrini's immaculate writing skills and diabolical powers of perception.

Krueger rocked an impression of a 30-year-old Andrea McArdle, aka Annie. Red-mopped and nursing a cigarette, she proved a jaded old thing while lamenting her lost fame. She moved on to a wonderfully demented version of Carol Channing.

It would not be too much to say that Krueger has one of the best voices this side of the Mississippi. This girl's got pipes, plus a real gift for comedy. Her small break in character opening night - a snort of laughter that escaped after Gemelli paid tribute to Cookie Monster - added to Krueger's already endearing stage presence.

Lore, donning kitty whiskers and 'tude, might very well have rescued "Cats" from becoming the hairball that it is. And then there was Baxter, who played into Krueger's crackup with a cheek pinch during an ingenious revision of "Tradition" from "Fiddler on the Roof."

Even Straz-produced "Wonderland" was incorporated with spoofs of "Hairspray," "Les Miserables," "Phantom of the Opera," "Chicago," "West Side Story," "In the Heights" and many more victims.

The satire here was really directed at the hype and hoopla behind musical theater. Alessandrini seemed to be saying that marketing - plus puppets, Disney and high tech - has clouded the crystal purity of talent and entertainment. Bigger isn't always better, and Staudenmayer's small cast proved this point by knocking the socks off every number.

One more thing: It's not necessary to be a Broadway expert to enjoy this production, though it helps with grasping the subtler jokes. Still, it's funny as all get out.