Forbidden Broadway Opens at Pittsburgh's Cabaret at Theater Square, March 16

The Pittsburgh CLO announced today that the long-running off-Broadway revue Forbidden Broadway will become the second show to take center stage for an extended run at the Cabaret at Theater Square. Preview performances will begin Thursday, March 2nd with opening night on March 16th.

"We are thrilled to produce Forbidden Broadway in Pittsburgh for the first time," stated Executive Producer Van Kaplan. "The Cabaret at Theater Square space will be completely reconfigured with a new set and seating arrangement for Forbidden Broadway. It will be a new theatrical experience for Pittsburgh. One of the incredible advantages of the Cabaret Theater is the ability to change the entire look and feel of the space from production to production. The artistic possibilities are always fresh and exciting."

"Forbidden Broadway is the madly inventive, hilariously scathing homage to Broadway's biggest shows and brightest stars. Now celebrating its triumphant 23rd year Off-Broadway, Forbidden Broadway features its own greatest hits lampooning The Lion King, Miss Saigon, Les Miz, Beauty and the Beast, Chicago and Cats. Forbidden Broadway also includes more current hits like Mel Brooks' The Producers, ABBA's Mamma Mia, Thoroughly Modern Millie and many more Broadway past and present favorites," according to press notes.

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.  The show has become New York's longest-running musical comedy revue. Forbidden Broadway has won Drama Desk, Obie and Outer Critics Circle awards. "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 who have gone on to stardom on Broadway, on television and in the movies.

Alessandrini is best known for writing and directing all the editions of Forbidden Broadway and Forbidden Hollywood in New York, Boston, Los Angeles and around the world. He was also a member of the original cast of Forbidden Broadway. He is from Needham, Massachusetts and the Boston area, where he graduated from the Boston Conservatory of Music. In 1982, he created and wrote Forbidden Broadway, which has spawned 15 editions, seven cast albums and a 23-year-and-counting run in New York. Some of Gerard's sketches were featured in Carol Bumett's 1995 special, Men, Movies and Carol. As a performer, Alessandrini can be heard on four of the five Forbidden Broadway cast albums and on the soundtracks of Disney's animated classics Aladdin and Pocahontas. In the summer of 2001 he co-directed a revival of Irving Berlin's last musical Mr. President, which he also updated and "politically corrected." Alessandrini is the recipient of an Obie Award, an Outer Critics Circle Award, two Lucille Lortel Awards and four Drama Desk Awards for Forbidden Broadway and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Drama League.

Tickets to Forbidden Broadway are affordably priced for family entertainment from $35 to $37. Preview performances from March 2 – March 12 are available from $31 to $33. Tickets will go on sale Monday, January 9th and can be purchased online at www.CLOCabaret.com, by calling (412) 456-6666 or at the Box Office at Theater Square.

Pittsburgh CLO offers special group discounts and corporate ticket programs to accommodate any size group. Lunch and dinner packages and/or party planning options are also available. Interested parties should call Jackie Carl at (412) 325-1582 or email jcarl@pittsburghCLO.org to learn more about these opportunities.

For more information, please visit www.CLOCabaret.com.

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