By Marilyn Lester***It’s clever and witty and in the ongoing tradition of Forbidden Broadway, Forbidden Sondheim: Merrily We Stole a Song (presented by LePlaykill Productions, John Freedson, Harriet Yellen and Gerard Alessandrini) is still ultimately a love letter to B
roadway musicals, even with its sharp parody edge. The real miracle of the Forbidden series success is its progenitor (and director), Gerard Alessandrini, whose fertile mind never runs dry of the creative ideas that keep the madness flowing.
The original version of the Forbidden Broadway revue opened on January 15, 1982 and the spoofing of show tunes, characters and plots of Broadway musicals has since been unending. Longtime musical director, Fred Barton, was again at the piano for Forbidden Sondheim, energetically playing the demanding music with his one-man orchestra mastery. Previous Forbidden Broadway Sondheim parodies were represented, plus a few new ones, executed by Chris Collins-Pisano, Dayna Jarae Dantzler, Jenny Lee Stern and Michael West (who played Sondheim), with special guest Forbidden Broadway veteran Christine Pedi.
Highlights of the show fell on the capable shoulders of Pedi 
and Stern, who both brought the ethos and spirit of past, classic Forbidden shows to life. Pedi, master of vocal imitation, brought out her inner Ethel Merman with a parody based on Gypsy‘s “Some People” (music by Jule Syne) and as Elaine Stritch in a spoof of the star pre-sobriety, sung to the tune of “Broadway Baby” (Follies). Stern donned wigs for spot-on turns as Ann Miller appearing at New Jersey’s Papermill Playhouse in Follies (1998 production) with “I’m Still Weird,” Bernadette Peters and a hilarious Patti Lupone “Here’s to the Ladies who Crunch” (Company), as in chewing the scenery, and nailing all of Lupone’s voclisms and newsworthy behaviors.
A running theme of Forbidden Sondheim was the harmonic complexity of the master’s music as well as the profundity of his lyrics. Dantzler offered an appropriately frenzied “Another Hundred Syllables” (Company), while Collins-Pisano as Mandy Patinkin 
vented about his confusion with the entirety of Sunday in the Park with George and his role in the production. West, in the role of Sondheim himself throughout, was perfection in timing while musing about box office in “Send in the Crowds” (A Little Night Music). Closer was a cast offering of “Parody Tonight” (A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum).
While Forbidden Sondheim was entertaining, it was also unpolished. At almost 90 minutes, with the cast on book, the presentation was more like attending a workshop, especially in the overcrowded confines of Don’t Tell Mama. Having West portray Sondheim throughout often misfired, especially when his role was to comment on parodies of current musicals, not his own: Six and Kimberly Akimbo, although the spoof of the new, revised Camelot—”Chatalot”—was especially inspired. More effective would have been to either create a new Forbidden Broadway based on current shows or write new Sondeim material to join the parodies already done.
Photos by Maryann Lopinto
