DRAMA CLUB

THEATER: “Forbidden Broadway,” Golden Girls Drag, And “Anchorman” The Musical?

Nothing is sacred in this week’s column, from fearless skewering of Broadway gems to loving mockery of  The Golden Girls. Plus, the Anchorman stage musical becomes a film. Is there no decency left?

KICKING IT

The return of Forbidden Broadway—the scathing send-up of the Great White Way—proves that the revue still packs a punch after a three-year hiatus.

Forbidden Broadway: Alive and Kicking, as the new edition is called, expertly parodies Newsies, Smash, Evita, Book of Mormon and even An Evening with Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin. It’s a delight for showtune queens, but broad enough to pull in Broadway novices: Our favorite number was a knock at  Nice Work If You Can Get It, with “Matthew Broderick” warbling  “Nice song if I could sing it, and when I sing it, you will cry.”

Can’t make it to the Big Apple to see the show? No problem, the cast recording comes out November 27. Ever since the release of the first Forbidden Broadway album in the ’80s, theater kids and seasoned Broadway folks alike have gathered round the Victrola to double over in laughter at creator Gerard Alessandrini‘s steel-edged showtune parodies.

If this keeps up, someone’s going to have to spoof the spoof!

BACK TO YOU!
Newsflash: the sequel to the 2004 Will Farrell comedy Anchorman will be filmed like a Broadway musical. “We were going to do Anchorman 2 as a Broadway musical first, for like six months and then go shoot the movie,” explains director Adam McKay. “That was our initial idea.”

Thankfully, the stage version won’t happen (I hope), but the film—which focuses on how the advent of the 24-hour-news cycle impacts Ron Burgundy’s San Diego television station—will still have plenty of singin’ and dancin’. “We always do it live on the set,” McKay explains. “If the actors get freaked out, don’t sweat it. We can always re-record it later. And every time we’ve done it, we end up using the live track. We’ll probably do it the same way in this.”  In other words, Autotune to the rescue! [BroadwayWorld]

THANK YOU FOR BEING IN DRAG

Having trouble finding the perfect gift for your gayest gay? Get him tickets to The Golden Girls: The Christmas Episodes, coming to San Francisco’s Trannyshack in December. Picture it: Drag dollies Heklina, Cookie Dough, Matthew Martin, and Pollo Del Mar as Dorothy, Blanche, Rose and Sophia! After watching a few minutes of the SF Golden Girls on YouTube, I was  busting a seam at all the classic one-liners. Even the cheap hand-painted Miami interiors are cheeky fun.

Entering its seventh year, the popular holiday show spoofs two classic episodes: “‘Twas the Nightmare Before Christmas”—when a department-store Santa robs the crisis center Rose works at and ruins the gals’ holiday plans—and “Scared Straight,” when Blanche’s brother Clayton reveals he’s a big flaming “hobo.”

Featuring a rotating cast of guest stars, The Christmas Episodes runs from December 6 to 30. Proceeds from opening night benefit Camp Sunburst, which helps children and families living with HIV/AIDS.

We’d gladly sit through a million St. Olaf stories to see this!

Photos: Carol Rosegg, Jose Guzman Colon

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