BWW Reviews: FORBIDDEN BROADWAY: ALIVE & KICKING! at the Denver Center

The last time Denver audiences saw any incarnation of Forbidden Broadway was about two decades ago, and a return was long overdue. Forbidden Broadway: Alive and Kicking! is currently in the midst of a several month run at the Denver Center's Garner Galleria Theatre.

A tradition in New York City since the early 1980s, Forbidden Broadway holds up a funhouse mirror to the Great White Way, poking fun at the biz from a performers stance. While Alive and Kicking! debuted a couple years ago, most of the show's numbers will make sense to Denver audiences who more recently caught the touring Broadway productions. Some mockeries of shows like Newsies and Porgy and Bess have been replaced by classics from Annie, Les Miserables and Wicked, of course, making the production more of a "greatest hits" version of the revue.

Cast members Jordan Leigh, Chad T. Reagan, Sarah Rex and Lauren Shealy constantly make you forgot this is only a four-person show. The ladies are every bit as belty, bawdy and brash as you'd hope, and the gents command with powerful vocals alongside impeccable impressions. It's refreshing to see these talents performing at the Denver Center also calling the city home.

Thankfully Denver caught the early legs of the Pippin and Kinky Boots tours, adding some of the more modern musical numbers to the farce. Cyndi Lauper and Harvey Fierstein dish about figuring out the glittery assembly line of recent shows. ("Don't surprise them, homogenize them!")

Denver audiences will love the feature "Book of Morons," where natives Trey Parker and Matt Stone (costumed as Mormons, no less) boast their genius behind The Book of Mormon and South Park: "To murder good taste is our mission, insult all and stand tall." It's actually difficult to believe they didn't actually pen this number, too.

"Once is Enough" doesn't hold back its jabs at the folksy Irish musical's bold choice of actors playing their own instruments while some their dialect is subtitled. It's easily one of the best-written numbers of the night. Alongside it is "Into the Words," in which some of Stephen Sondheim's classic characters wail over the wordsmith's whimsical rhetoric, led by the theatre God himself.

While I didn't totally expect it to be missing, it was nice to see how many Broadway references for the aficionados remained, like impressions of actors who may be lesser-known to Mile-High crowds.

Even attendees who miss most of the Broadway innuendo will find familiarity in the Frozen parody "Let It Blow," gloriously shrieked by Broadway's favorite Adele Dazeem ("My vocal howling changed the singing of each child..."), and Carrie Underwhelming's twangy Maria from NBC's The Sound of Music Live!

While it was necessary to add cognition for Denver audiences, it seemed like a decent portion of the show focused on Disney's Broadway takeover, and the money-hungry Mickey joke-while hilarious-grew a little tiresome. Two Lion King numbers, oh my.

The fabulous Forbidden Broadway: Alive & Kicking! will ruin all your favorite musicals in a wonderfully witty way. The show runs through March 1 at the Denver Center's Garner Galleria Theatre. Tickets start at $25 and are available online at DenverCenter.org or by calling (303)893-4100.