REVIEW: Forbidden Broadway at the Vaudeville Theatre

Forbidden Broadway basically takes the piss of Broadway and West End shows. I couldn’t think of another way to describe it! But fear not, its not really rude or offensive (well.. it is, but in a funny way!). An edition of the show made its West End premiere in 1999, and on Broadway in 1982. It had a run at the Menier Chocolate Factory back in 2009 and this year returned to the theatre. Its now transferred to the West End and is playing at the Vaudeville Theatre. 

This show is filled with bold, laugh out loud numbers, from ‘The Show with No Imagination’ to ‘One Note Liza’. Forbidden Broadway is the show that says it how it is, for example I’ve never seen or heard someone sum up Once in a better way! Being, whats seems, one of the very few people that didn’t enjoy the Once in the West End, I absolutely howled at this section. Also, I loved the Matilda/Child Actor section! “My Daddy says I’m a triple threat” has to be one of my favourite lines from the production!

FORBIDDEN BROADWAY will transfer to the Vaudeville Theatre for limited engagment

The Menier Chocolate Factory's production of Forbidden Broadway will transfer to the West End's Vaudeville Theatre for a limited 11-week run from 9 September.

Three of the cast - Damian Humbley, Anna-Jane Casey and Ben Lewis - will remain with the production, and they will be joined by YouTube star Christina Bianco.

Bianco, whose latest YouTube video of "Let It Go" has received over 5 million views, has appeared in Forbidden Broadway: Goes to Rehab in New York.

Merrily We Roll Along the Musical: Theatre Review

Based on the 1934 play of the same name, Merrily We Roll Along originally opened on Broadway in 1981 to a very poor reception. It officially opened on the 16^th November 1981 to mostly negative reviews but the score by Sondheim was widely praised. It closed after only 16 performances and 52 previews. An off-West End production opened (with Maria Friedman) in 1992 at the Haymarket Theatre, Leicester and ran for three weeks. A West End production opened at the Donmar Warehouse in 2000 where it won the Olivier Award for Best Musical and it now has returned to the West End, this time transferring to the Harold Pinter Theatre from the Menier Chocolate Factory directed by Maria Friedman. 
Merrily We Roll Along follows three best friends, Franklin Shepard, Mary Flynn and Charles Kringas. It’s a story of friendship and how working with your friends can destroy and strengthen relationships. Throughout the show Franklins love life is one of the main stories, showing his relationships crumble and blossom with Beth and Gussie and of course Mary and Charles. The show actually goes backwards, so the last scene is first and the first scene is the last. This may sound confusing but the way Sondheim has written the show it flows really well and is clearly stated what and where they are in each scene.