“Forbidden Broadway: Merrily We Stole a Song” at Theater555 (Photo: Carol Rosegg)

Forbidden Broadway: Merrily We Stole a Song starts on a high note and I mean that literally. Franchise veteran Jenny Lee Stern appears in the audience before the lights have gone down, dressed as an usher urging us to turn off our phones and keep the aisle clear. Of course, her cast mate, Chris Collins-Pisano, playing a flustered theatergoer, stands up and proceeds to make his way down towards the stage, actively going against her admonition. Stern launches into a Guys & Dolls parody “Sit Down You’re Blocking the Aisle”, letting her remarkable belt tear into Frank Loesser’s melody and Forbidden Broadway mastermind Gerard Alessandrini’s lyrics.

I have noticed that some Broadway ushers are sharper-edged these days, a direct correlation, I’m sure, to a steep increase in audience misbehavior. This prologue captured that experience perfectly, if obviously, and it’s never a mistake to let Stern unleash her powerful voice. Having been overwhelmed by the relentless negativity of the last Forbidden Broadway production I saw, I relaxed into my seat a little. Maybe Merrily We Stole a Song would be more in line with that opening number.

It both is and isn’t. Some of the songs still announce at the beginning that what they’re parodying is bad or it doesn’t work or any other combination of words that boils down to “this sucks.” When that happens, particularly in the Six section, there’s not really anywhere for the comedy to go and the whole song just repeats itself until it ends. A Hell’s Kitchen sequence turns “This girl is on fire” into “This show is a liar” because it’s not one hundred percent factual about Alicia Keys’ childhood. Who cares? The musical does not purport to be a documentary. Does anyone even think about that when they leave the show?

But on the whole, this iteration succeeds in finding more to say about the ridiculousness of Broadway’s current slate. Forbidden Broadway newcomer Danny Hayward does a masterful job transforming from Joel Grey to Alan Cumming to party-hatted Eddie Redmayne over the course of one “Willkommen.” The Outsiders section correctly highlights that beefcake is an important part of the musical’s success. “Bump-A-Knee” cheekily lampoons Bunny Christie’s tiny Alice in Wonderland-inspired rooms in the last revival of Company. Nicole Vanessa Ortiz nails a Cynthia Erivo impression, including the “Defying Gravity” riff Erivo does in the Wicked trailer, but her “Audra in Gypsy” number is underbaked both in writing and performance.

Unsurprisingly, Jenny Lee Stern walks away with the show. In the last third alone, Stern takes on Patti LuPone, Hillary Clinton, and Shaina Taub. As Stern’s LuPone takes the mic she sneers, “Forbidden Broadway? They’re still doing that?” It’s the best joke in the show for a couple of reasons: it sounds like something Patti would actually say and it’s a joke at Forbidden Broadway’s own expense. 

When the show is constantly putting down other work, it gives the impression that the parody version is superior; as if Alessandrini is disparaging the original writers and elevating himself. This quick joke lands so well because it situates Forbidden Broadway in the theatrical continuum as the shaggy cousin in the corner cracking jokes. There’s a place for that and when the show leans into it, it makes a compelling case for its ongoing popularity.