Forbidden Broadway: Behind the Mylar Curtain (103 page)

That first project was Forbidden Hollywood, a send-up of movies concocted by Gerard Alessandrini as an offshoot of his successful Forbidden Broadway series. We
went through Alvin's humorous, broadly drawn sketches, and he explained that each of
the four actors would wear a basic costume to which we would add or subtract
pieces and accessories. Sometimes
they would change the entire costume,
but those changes would have to happen very quickly.

Each costume had been thoroughly
thought out: hats, earrings, shoes, coats.
There were numbers from Evita (Eva
Peron's evening gown with Madonna's
pointy bra), Pulp Fiction (an Uma Thurman blow-up doll), There's No Business
Like Show Business (Ethel Merman
and that whole goofy family), and Gone
With the Wind (a drag Hattie McDaniel).
Then there was a "Falling Apart Again"
costume for the actress who would play
Marlene Dietrich, complete with a dangling arm. Nothing was too sacred for a laugh.
The show opened in San Diego, then played Los Angeles and New York. There was
even a brief tour of Japan!

Our next project was Forbidden Broadway Strikes Back! A huge success. There
was a spoof of the egregiously overlooked VictorNictoria. Alvin concocted a junk covered "Rafreaky" from The Lion King
with soda cans, telephone cord, candy
wrappers, chopsticks for fingernails, a
canvas poncho, and a soup pan for a
hat, atop which sat a bandaged Mickey Mouse. One of the wildest creations
was an elephant costume with toilet
plungers for the legs and feet, gray bath
towels for the ears, and dryer venting
for the snout! Everything was "on the
cheap" but immeasurably clever and
always funny.

The show's finale was an elaborate
drubbing of the hit musical Rent that
opened with "Think Punk," a parody of
Kay Thompson's "Think Pink" number
from Funny Face. Christine Pedi, one
of our curvier performers, was
discovered in a very tight, pink,
breakaway "Chanel" suit. As she
entered during the dress rehearsal, Alvin said to me in a resounding
stage whisper, "Oh, Joseph. If she
farts, the jig is up!"

For more than sixty years, Alvin
Colt designed costumes for some
of the most legendary shows in the
history of the American theatre, yet
for this "little meatball of a revue,"
he was quite happy to lampoon
some of the very shows he had
originally helped create. He worked
in venues with dripping plumbing
and low ceilings. He shopped the
racks of clothes at all the discount
department stores in search of inexpensive "finds." Our "Gentleman
Giraffe" did all of this with wicked
delight, enormous glee, and a wild
sense of humor.

-Joe McFate

Alvin's outlandish costumes for the cast of Forbidden
Broadway Strikes Back and for Felicia Finley and
Danny Gurwin's space cadets in Forbidden Broadway
2001:A Spoof Odyssey.

The Lion King as spoofed by Alvin and the cast of
Forbidden Broadway Cleans Up ItsAct.

Ron Bohmer as Harvey Fierstein as Tevye in Fiddler
on the Roof, with a touch of hairspray!

Top: Jennifer Simard as Bernadette Peters taking her turn as Rose in Gypsy.
Bottom: "Welcome to the Tonysl" Jason Mills as Hugh Jackman and Megan
Lewis as Carol Charming, flanked by Jennifer Simard and Ron Bohmer.

The Forbidden Broadway: RudeAwakening cast. Clockwise from top left: Janet
Dickinson, Jared Bradshaw, Erin Crosby, and James Donegan.

Clockwise from top left: Christina Bianco as The Belittled Mermaid; Ron
Bohmer as The Phantom; and Jason Mills in "Bombay Wet Dreams".

Clockwise from top left:
Spamalot meets Sweet
Charity: Jason Mills, Megan
Lewis, and Ron Bohmer; Gina
Kreiezmar as one of our best
Lizas; Jason Mills, Megan
Lewis, and Ron Bohmer go
crazy from a sugar rush in
"Thoroughly Perky Millie:'

Top: Christina Blanco as
Maria in "Worst Side Story"
confronts the cast of In the
Heights as played by Jared
Bradshaw, Michael West, and
Gina Kreiezmar. Middle: Jared
Bradshaw as Daniel Radcliffe
strips off his Harry Potter garb
to star in Equus. Bottom: Gina
Kreiezmar as "Rafreaky."

You Gotta Get a Puppet: Jeannie Montano,
Jared Bradshaw, Michael West.