Musical Theatre West To Present FORBIDDEN BROADWAY GREATEST HITS VOLUME I, Previews Begin May 1

Musical Theatre West is thrilled to present Forbidden Broadway Greatest Hits Volume I, Previews May 1st, opens May 2nd  and runs through May 17th, 2009 at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center in Long Beach.

Your favorite shows…Wicked, Les Miserables, Chicago, Annie, Cats, Mamma Mia, Jersey Boys and Lion King. Your favorite stars...Liza, Carol Channing, Ethel Merman, and Michael Crawford... Nothing is sacred to the sharp wit and barbed satire from the creators of Forbidden Broadway...one of the longest running Off-Broadway hits of all time Forbidden Broadway is a hilarious musical that, in reality, is 20 shows rolled into one - the big moments and the big mistakes.

Forbidden Broadway was first seen at Palsson's Supper Club on New York's Upper West Side in January 1982. An unemployed actor, Gerard Alessandrini, wanted a showcase for his talents. He decided to assemble some of the musical parodies of Broadway shows he had written since childhood into a nightclub act. Critics and audiences were wowed and it has since become New York's longest running musical comedy revue. Forbidden Broadway has won Drama Desk, Obie and Outer Critics Circle. Most of its victims (stars and casts) make a point of stopping by to see what Gerard Alessandrini has done to them. Updated regularly, Forbidden Broadway has had several editions, countless revisions, three New York City performance spaces, several national and international tours, and thousands of special performances. The show also became known for talented but as yet unknown actors, many of whom have gone on to stardom on Broadway, on television and in the movies. Looking back at Forbidden Broadway provides an informal and very funny history of the American musical theatre. It has remained one of the funniest evenings on or Off-Broadway. As long as Broadway and Hollywood exist, there will be a Forbidden Broadway, poking, prodding, teasing, pleasing, jeering and cheering, but always with love.

Currently cast in the Musical Theatre West production of Forbidden Broadway are Larry Raben (Forever Plaid, The Producers, The Andrews Brothers), David Engel, (The Producers, The Andrews Brothers, Forever Plaid) and Susanne Blakeslee (Forbidden Broadway, NY).

Ticket prices for Forbidden Broadway at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center range in price from $30 and $58 with special premium seating available ranging in price from $66 to $78 (first eleven rows center, subject to availability). Group discounts for parties of 15 or more are available by calling Michael in the Group Sales Department. All tickets are available by calling the Box Office at 562-856-1999 x 4, or in person at the Box Office at 4350 E 7th Street, Long Beach (corner of Ximeno Avenue).

Musical Theatre West’s 2009/2010 season kicks off in October ’09 with Meet Me in St. Louis then followed by Sweeney Todd, The Marvelous Wonderettes and 1776.  RENT, The Musical is a bonus show offered in December ’09.