Sure enough, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas – that wonderful time of year when sugar plum fairies and ghosts of holidays past return to local stages for yet another season of yuletide entertainment.
But what's one to do if you'd rather have a little satirical ha-ha-ha mixed in with your traditional ho-ho-ho?
That's easy: Point your sleigh to Detroit's Gem Theatre where "A Forbidden Broadway Christmas" will lift the spirits of anyone who's already tired of the overly hyped season of good cheer!
Based on the popular "Forbidden Broadway" spoofs that have skewered hit musicals since 1982, creator and writer Gerard Alessandrini strikes again with more laugh-out-load parodies of tunes and stars both old and new – but this time, with a holiday theme.
A favorite target is Disney – in particular, its takeover of Broadway – that gets its comeuppance multiple times. Kimberly Vanbiesbrouck is delightful as Mary Poppins, who cheerfully bemoans the fact that her "new show is practically putrid in every way." Later, Janet Caine harpoons Ariel, the Little Mermaid. But it's "The Lion King" that takes the most shots, as Mark David Kaplan roars with "The Circle of Mice," while Vanbiesbrouck and Caine "feel the pain tonight" with "costumes that kill all living things." (Wardrobe supervisor Kevin Milican deserves a round of applause all his own for this show. It has to be exhausting!)
Stars under the microscope include Celine Dion ("O Holy Note"), Barbra Streisand ("J-J-J-Jingle Bells") and Judy Garland (all played by Caine). Jason Richards has great fun as George Hamilton, while Kaplan is the always happy Tony Bennett, Ella Fitzgerald and Elvis ("You're nothing but a savior").
Other highlights include Kalpan as Tevye from "Fiddler on the Roof" who wishes "I were a gentile" because Jews miss out on so much holiday fun. And Richards gets down and dirty with puppets from "Avenue Q," and, later, charmingly drives us up a wall ("rump-a-pum-pum") as The Little Drummer Boy."
Where the four superb singers especially excel, however, are in the long-form, mini-musicals. "Les Miserablah" – with its revolving stage – is a scream, as Kaplan struggles with "This Song's Too High" and Vanbiesbrouck shows us what the background actors do when there's a lull in the action. And Rolfe's revenge from "The Sound of Christmas" – "How do you execute a nun?" – is hilarious.
(FOR "REVIEW BOX")
MINI-REVIEW:
'A Forbidden Broadway Christmas'
Gem Theatre, 333 Madison St., Detroit. Tue.-Sun., through Dec. 30 (plus two special New Year's Eve shows at special prices). $39.50. For information: 313-963-9800 or http://www.gemtheatre.com
