Theater

‘Forbidden Broadway’ neatly nails excesses of theater season

It couldn’t have come at a better time — the end of a theater season that just kept on giving. Much like “Rocky,” one of its hapless targets, Gerard Alessandrini’s “Forbidden Broadway Comes Out Swinging!” throws plenty of punches — and most of them land.

Granted, for this new edition of the long-running musical revue, spoofs of “The Bridges of Madison County,” “Aladdin” and NBC’s live broadcast of “The Sound of Music” practically write themselves. Even so, it’s hard to imagine anyone topping Alessandrini’s wicked satirical take on those shows and many others.

The sight gags alone are priceless, from a Thighmaster-flexing Patina Miller (Mia Gentile) in the opening number of “Pippin” to the Rock ’Em Sock ’Em Robots re-enacting the climactic boxing match in “Rocky.”

An overhead projector reduces “Les Misérables” to a classroom presentation, while “Matilda” gets its comeuppance, too — with the grotesque Miss Trunchbull (Marcus Stevens) hissing at her hapless young charges, “You are vermin with Equity cards!” and promising to “crush you like a ‘Spider-Man’ hydraulic.”

Not surprisingly, celebrities take it on the chin, with Sylvester Stallone (Stevens) teaching his “Rocky” star Andy Karl (Scott Richard Foster) how to mumble; Carrie Underwood (Carter Calvert) warbling Rodgers and Hammerstein in a country twang and Fran Drescher (Calvert) nasally assaulting our ears in “Cinderella.”

Whines Woody Allen (Stevens) to director Susan Stroman (Calvert) of their critically bashed “Bullets Over Broadway”: “We should have listened to the actor who plays Cheech when he told us how to fix it.”

Not all the sketches land, and to lampoon the over-the-topness of stars like Liza Minnelli and Mandy Patinkin is like shooting fish in a barrel. But the hilarious stuff — especially an older sketch, spoofing “Once” for its pretentious lack of pretentiousness — more than compensates for the occasional misfires.

The hardworking quartet of actors dazzle with their quicksilver changes and endlessly versatile characterizations. But the show’s true stars are costume designers Dustin Cross and Philip Heckman and wig designer Bobbie Cliffton Zlotnick, whose outlandish creations score laughs before a single word is spoken.

Over its 32 years — give or take a hiatus or two — “Forbidden Broadway” has become a theatrical institution. For its cool appraisal of an overheated season, it’s more valuable than ever.