INTERVIEW: It’s ‘Forbidden’ not to laugh at this Broadway parody
Photo: Jenny Lee Stern (left) as Gwen Verdon and Chris Collins-Pisano (right) as Bob Fosse star in Forbidden Broadway: The Next Generation! at the Triad Theatre. Photo courtesy of Carol Rosegg / Provided by Glenna Freedman PR with permission.
It’s back, and it’s funnier than ever.
Forbidden Broadway, the beloved parody of the theater world, has returned to its off-Broadway roots for a new show dubbed The Next Generation! The limited engagement continues at the Triad Theatre on West 72nd Street in New York City.
This time around, Broadway fans should expect some tongue-in-cheek jokes referencing everything from The Ferryman to Dear Evan Hansen to Frozen to Hadestown. Billy Porter, Karen Olivo and Santino Fontana are all fair game in this loving tribute to the glitz and clamor of Midtown Manhattan.
Forbidden Broadway, the brainchild of Gerard Alessandrini, has even got some of the gang back together, including accomplished performer Jenny Lee Stern. She starred in the FB edition called Alive & Kicking and the offshoot parody Spamilton. She has also appeared in Rocky, A Christmas Story and Jersey Boys.
“I am thrilled to be working in this new space and back with Gerard and all the material,” Stern said in a recent phone interview. “It’s so, so fun.”
Stern came to this edition of FB somewhat late in the process. They had been auditioning other actors for a number of weeks and trying to figure out what direction to head in. Alessandrini kept bringing up Stern’s name as a possibility.
“It was a no-brainer,” she said of her decision. “There’s something about Gerard Alessandrini, when he gives me a call, no matter what, I tend to say yes. I know it’s going to be exciting. I know it’s going to be really collaborative. I had such an awesome experience the last time. I was looking forward to doing it again.”
Her only repeat character from the previous edition is Judy Garland, but there’s a twist: In The Next Generation! she is portraying Renée Zellweger portraying Garland in the movie Judy. Think about that level of parody for a second.
“Last time, in Alive and Kicking, it was Judy talking about how Tracie Bennett [in End of the Rainbow] was totally over the top and didn’t do her justice, and now we take a similar take with Renée Zellweger, talking about how all these stars are trying to play me but when will they realize nothing will live up to the original,” she said. “It’s very funny, and there is a moment in the middle of the number where Judy tries to do her spin on Renée, which is a twist. I don’t think I’ve ever played a character playing another character, you know a celebrity playing another celebrity. That was particularly fun to collaborate and put together.”
The personal and professional have come together for Stern’s Forbidden Broadway performances. Now that she’s a mother of three children, she finds herself playing a lot of mother characters. On stage, she portrays mom, grandma, auntie. “It’s just been great growing up with Forbidden Broadway, literally and figuratively,” she said with a laugh.
To prepare for her impersonations, Stern will watch as many YouTube clips as she can find. For Alive and Kicking, she started watching Garland concerts online, and that led to a perfect rendition of the iconic singer. This research actually helped her with another role.
“I just played Judy Garland in a world-premiere musical in Wilmington called The World’s Greatest Entertainer, so Judy has been under my skin for a while,” Stern said. “But Renée Zellweger was new for me. Bette Midler was new for me. More of the things I’m doing are characters in an overall parody of the show rather than a specific character, like a celebrity diva. So there wasn’t a lot of source material, but the one that I found and continue to find the most challenging is Mary Testa because she’s just so lovely and wonderful. She’s hard to parody.”
Testa, of course, is currently starring in Broadway’s Oklahoma!, but this stripped-down role is a bit of a departure for the powerful performer. This has kept Stern on her toes, trying to find the right balance.
“I spend tons of time online mostly watching people’s mouths,” Stern said. “I try to mimic the shape that their mouth makes when they speak, and then the voice kind of comes from there.”
The audiences have been enjoying Stern’s carefully thought out impersonations. Ditto for the rest of the cast, which includes Immanuel Houston, Aline Mayagoitia, Chris Collins-Pisano and Joshua Turchin. Fred Barton is on piano for the evening.
“That’s the thing about Forbidden Broadway, how it differs from doing a regular book musical is that every night is a different mix of people,” Stern said. “It’s been a lot of great responses from theater insiders and sometimes even people that have worked on those specific shows, so we always love getting those kinds of audiences. But then … eventually we’ll get the tourists that just come in. They’re like, oh, this looks good. Let’s see this, and maybe they haven’t yet seen all of these shows.”
Stern added: “The great thing is you’re going to have a good time. You’re going to laugh. You’re going to even perhaps be moved and relate to something, whether or not you’ve seen the actual shows. Each vignette itself is funny on its own, just as a funny bit. Then we do sneak in the real, real inside stuff for when the people who are in the shows or wrote the shows or designed the shows come, and that’s always fun when we get the validation of ha-ha. They got that secret little Easter egg.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Forbidden Broadway: The Next Generation! is currently playing a limited engagement at the Triad Theatre on West 72nd Street in New York City. Click here for more information and tickets.
