Broadway receives royal treatment through spoofs

“Forbidden Broadway: Special Victims Unit” Directed by William Selby CLO Cabaret Theatre… “Forbidden Broadway: Special Victims Unit” Directed by William Selby CLO Cabaret Theatre Through March 31 $34.50-$39.50 (412) 325-6766

Through March 31, the CLO Cabaret Theatre welcomes “Forbidden Broadway: Special Victims Unit” to its stage. The hilarious musical comedy does more than just entertain – it touches on a few forbidden truths about theater and the decline of the art in our decade.

The theater is reminiscent of the glamorous ’40s and captures the excitement of what theater-going used to entail. Shrimp cocktail is served in martini glasses, an usher escorts guests to their seats and the decorated stage, mylar and bright lights add to the ambience.

“Forbidden Broadway” features a small but enormously talented group of actors including Tim Brady, Christiana Craig-Dukes, Christine Laitta and Tom Schaller. Also accompanying their singing and acting is live piano played by Deana Muro. With each player performing a number of roles, it feels like we’re watching a cast of 30.

The show opens with an older version of “Annie” played by Christiana Craig-Dukes who gets “gunned down.” Striking and strange, this opening certainly grabs the audience’s attention. Detectives, spoofing the popular television series “CSI,” come out to investigate the heinous crime and the cast performs their version of “On Broadway.” Throughout the show, there are several spoofs about past theater productions, including Billy Joel’s “Movin’ Out,” “Wicked,” “Hello Dolly” and more.

But two spoofs in particular are not only hilarious, but blatantly show the point of “Forbidden Broadway” is all about. One poked fun at Disney’s Broadway blockbuster, “Beauty and the Beast.” Belle (Christiana Craig-Dukes), the Beast (Tom Schaller) and cast perform “Be Depressed,” their version of “Be Our Guest.” In this particular scene, the lyrics give us insight into the magical world of Disney as they poke fun at the lack of content in this “drama drawn in crayon.” “The Lion King,” which won several Tony Awards, receives similar treatment.

Disney pops up as a reoccurring theme throughout the show. The spoofs suggest that something is lost by introducing children’s cartoons and movies into theater – the medium, once a respected and thriving art form, has perhaps been overly commercialized, cheapened and slowly distorted.

The other spoof that made its point was the “Les Miserables” act in which the cast, dressed in the proper 18th-century French attire, performs a song whose lyrics included “six more months.” The spoof pokes fun at the monotony of this single production that had one of the longest runs in Broadway history with 8,372 performances. But the show was brought back again for “six more months,” apparently to squeeze every last drop of public appeal it had left in it. The cast is barely standing and performs walking around in circles to further suggest the dullness of repetition. Their act begs the question of what happened to this art form.

The show ends with the thought in mind that big shows sell while real shows die – of course, they do keep the actors employed. Overall, “Forbidden Broadway: Special Victims Unit” is entertaining, comical and unexpectedly thought provoking.