History Theatre / ForbiddenBroadway

-->'''Mag:''' It's an old crone I'm getting to be, Maureen, an old crone...
-->'''Maureen:''' Stop reversing your syntax, you hateful cow! You'd try the patience of a saint!

** In "I Ham What I Ham," George Hearn fastens a bracelet around his arm and shouts, "At last, my arm is complete again!" (Hearn replaced Len Cariou in the title role in the original production of ''Theatre/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet''.)

** The parody of the 1996 Broadway revival of ''Theatre/TheKingAndI'' had Donna Murphy playing Anna in her previous character of Fosca from ''Theatre/{{Passion}}'' (which closed too quickly to parody on its own).

* BadBadActing: Creator/DavidMamet tries to teach Music/{{Madonna}} how to act in ''Theatre/SpeedThePlow'', and doesn't make much headway: "I strain in vain to train Madonna's brain."
* BetterThanABareBulb: As always, but in particular the act of hanging a lampshade ''on'' the lampshading in "The Song That Goes Like This" from ''Theatre/{{Spamalot}}'', owing to the tendency of actual post-millenial musical comedies to poke fun at musical conventions and styles -- generally, "real" musicals didn't do that when this revue launched.

''Forbidden Broadway'' is typically performed by a cast of two men and two women, with piano accompaniment. The show went on hiatus in 2009, and returned to Broadway in the summer of 2012.

* ActorAllusion: [[invoked]] Many, especially musical references to the careers of pop singers appearing in musicals. For example, when ''Theatre/BloodBrothers'''s Broadway run featured David Cassidy and Petula Clark in leading roles, their 1960s hits "I Think I Love You" and "Downtown" became "I Think I'm Acting" and "[[DownerEnding Downshow]]".

* FollowTheBouncingBall: The Creator/StephenSondheim sing-along tells the audience to "follow the bouncing razor."

* ActorAllusion: Many, especially musical references to the careers of pop singers appearing in musicals. For example, when ''Theatre/BloodBrothers'''s Broadway run featured David Cassidy and Petula Clark in leading roles, their 1960s hits "I Think I Love You" and "Downtown" became "I Think I'm Acting" and "[[DownerEnding Downshow]]".

* RageAgainstTheAuthor: "Into the Words" and "Forbidden Theatre/{{Assassins}}", both aimed at StephenSondheim for writing music and lyrics too difficult for his actors to perform.

[[caption-width-right:250:''Forbidden Broadway'' does ''MerrilyWeRollAlong'']]

* ActorAllusion: Many, especially musical references to the careers of pop singers appearing in musicals. For example, when ''Theatre/BloodBrothers'''s Broadway run featured Petula Clark in the lead role, her 1960s hit "Downtown" became "[[DownerEnding Downshow]]".

* PaintedOnPants: The ''{{Rent}}'' parody includes a song called "Ouch, They're Tight!"
* RageAgainstTheAuthor: "Into the Words" and "Forbidden Assassins", both aimed at StephenSondheim for writing music and lyrics too difficult for his actors to perform.
* ReadingAheadInTheScript: The characters of the ''Rent'' parody read ahead in the script for ''Theatre/LaBoheme'' (the opera on which the plot of ''Rent'' is VERY loosely based) to see what they should do next.

* TruckDriversGearChange: Inverted in "I Couldn't Hit The Note" (pastiche of [[Main/MyFairLady "I Could Have Danced All Night"]]). Spoofing how JulieAndrews couldn't hit high notes anymore, the song keeps modulating [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdQ2yq-erIY down.]] This became HarsherInHindsight when ''Forbidden Broadway'' continued to perform the number after Andrews lost most of her range in a botched throat surgery.

* IntercontinuityCrossover: Sometimes they make a bit of sense, like ''Grand Hotel'' and ''TheSoundOfMusic'' both getting crossed with ''{{Cabaret}}'' as all three are set in 1930s Germany/Austria. Sometimes they just pair up things that were running in the same Broadway season, like ''Theatre/WhosAfraidOfVirginiaWoolf'' and ''{{Doubt}}''.

* BetterThanABareBulb: As always, but in particular the act of hanging a lampshade ''on'' the lampshading in "The Song That Goes Like This" from ''{{Spamalot}}'', owing to the tendency of post-millenial musical comedies to poke fun at musical conventions and styles.

* SuspiciouslySimilarSong: Alessandrini has occasionally written ersatz versions of songs he couldn't get permission to parody.

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* FakeCrossOver: ''Forbidden Broadway: SpecialVictimsUnit'' opens with versions of Jerry Orbach and B. D. Wong on the case, as both were Broadway ''and'' ''LawAndOrder'' stars.

* ActorAllusion: Many, especially musical references to the careers of pop singers appearing in musicals. For example, when ''BloodBrothers'''s Broadway run featured Petula Clark in the lead role, her 1960s hit "Downtown" became "[[DownerEnding Downshow]]".