BWW Reviews: FORBIDDEN BROADWAY, Vaudeville Theatre, September 15 2014

As you'd probably expect, Forbidden Broadway pokes fun at itself from the outset, before anybody else can get a jab in, pointing out its swift (and perhaps a little surprising) transfer and its less-than-prime location.

And then they get on with the real business of mocking everyone else in the West End and on Broadway. Between them, they send up scores of stars and shows, including Kristin Chenoweth (thanks to Christina Bianco's uncanny ability for diva impersonation), the Girl in Once, Liza Minnelli, Angela Lansbury, Cameron Mackintosh, and a frighteningly convincing pair of Miss Saigon marines half-deafened by their own microphone volume.

Of course, some of the targets were in the audience. Ben Lewis's skit on Robert Lindsay's performance in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels had an added piquancy because the man himself was in the fifth row listening to the digs about his singing ability and his choice of work - it could easily have been incredibly awkward, but fortunately he was laughing along with everyone else.

And of course, there were some old standard numbers used again - the Les Mis medley (plus the repeated gag about the turntable as Damian Humbley's Valjean attempted to stop rotating) was there, as was the Jersey Boys sketch (featuring Anna-Jane Casey as Frankie Valli) - but as long as it still works, there's no need to change too much.

On press night, the place is usually packed out with theatre folk - this audience was happy to join in with the Sondheim song 'Into The Words', having a bit of a giggle at the trickiness of his lyrics (although one audience member behind me - former cast member Sophie-Louise Dann - had a bit of an advantage with this).

Theatre folk or not, some of the Forbidden Broadway jokes do sometimes cut a little close to the bone, veering towards cruelty rather than the good-natured fun that's supposed to be behind it. 'Buenos Aires', sending up a production (and heavily criticising an actress) that hasn't had its West End opening yet, felt rather unkind rather than affectionate.

Still, any show that has this much content and this much humour is never going to please every viewer and listener - and a raucously appreciative audience showed that Forbidden Broadway hits its targets much more often than it misses.

Forbidden Broadway is running at the Vaudeville Theatre.

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