By Joe Contreras, Latin Life Denver Media

They’re all there, Hamilton, Frozen, Phantom of the Opera, Wicked, Cabaret and many more of Broadway’s most famous theatre productions come together or fall apart rather, in the production of ‘Forbidden Broadway, Merrily We Stole A Song’ currently playing at the Garner Galleria Theatre in the Denver Center of the Performing Arts through June 29, 2025.

Forbidden Broadway has been around for 35 years and has performed in Denver for at least 10 of those years. If you have not had a chance to see this non-stop laugh after laugh production, now is your chance to join in this all-new fall-down funny, satirical roast of over 30 Broadway hits. Even if you are not familiar with all the Broadway plays taken to task in this show you will still find it highly entertaining.

It features outrageous costumes, silly spoofs of the songs you know by heart. The Jersey Boys song lyrics of Frankie Vallie & The Four Seasons “Walk Like A Man” becomes “Walk Like A Man, Sing Like A Girl” and “Sherry Baby” becomes “Scary Broadway”.

The madcap impressions and songs are performed by a stellar cast of four, Chris Collins-Pisano, Nicole Vanessa Ortiz, Katheryne Penny and Miles Davil Tillman. Each of them have impressive acting credentials performing in everything for Aladdin to Mamma Mia as well as in some of the productions they are now making fun of. Their voices are impressive hitting all the notes in breakneck transitions from one play to the next.

Also, not to forgotten, is the pianist, who provides the live music for the show, Jack Lipson who has piano’ed everywhere from the Hollywood Bowl to the Lincoln Center.

The show takes aim at some of the over the top productions and the absurd lengths producers go to trying to reach a mass audience. Cats, Back to the Future and The Lion King are targeted for their extravagant if not ridiculous production designs. Not even the audiences that attend these shows are spared as Forbidden Broadway chides them for spending hundreds of dollars to see the silly lavishness.

As the advertising material states, “Whether you are a seasoned theatre-goer or new to it all, the Tony Award winning Forbidden Broadway is your one-stop ticket to non-stop laughs: a hip and fresh view of theatre’s tried and true that will leave you begging for more! The New York Times made Forbidden Broadway a “Critics Pick” calling it “The Best Edition of Forbidden Broadway in recent memory!”

Forbidden Broadway, Merrily We Stole A Song, created and directed by Gerard Alessandrini, plays the Garner Galleria Theatre thru June 29, 2025.

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