Forbidden Broadway: Behind the Mylar Curtain (52 page)

Of all the shows Forbidden Broadway has ever spoofed, none is more identified with us
than Les Miserables. It's ripe for parody because it takes itself so seriously, it's throughcomposed, and it's endless. Also, any show about a horrifically bloody revolution in
which all of the characters wear fabulous costumes strikes me as hilarious.

When Les Miz show opened in London at the RSC, it was such a hit that we knew
it was bound to come to New York sooner rather than later. I thought I'd better get
right on it, so I made a special trip to London to see the show-and by the end of the
first act, I was totally confused. I thought the singing and diction were questionable;
I had a hard time following the story and understanding the
lyrics. At intermission, I opened my Playbill and found the
synopsis. I started reading it and I was literally thinking, "Oh,
I see! Now I get it! It's not the big, famous French Revolution,
it's the little, later one!" Everything became clear, and then
I was into it-but if I hadn't read that thorough synopsis, I
would have been lost.

Roxie Lucas dreamed a show in days gone by...

I was impressed by the scale of the show, and I was somewhat moved by the story in the second act because I could
follow it better. The whole thing seemed completely new,
yet it somehow made my mind feel closed; it wasn't like the
Sondheim musicals, which take you to someplace different
but in an enlightening way.

When it came time to actually write a parody of the show,
I listened to the cast album till I felt my ears would burst.
Although the music was often lovely, it really doesn't have
the drive of a classic Broadway score. I thought to myself, "I
need to get some good, old-fashioned show tunes into this
parody!" One day, while walking through Shubert Alley, I noticed someone wearing a button that said, "Les Miserables, c'est magnifique." Inspiration struck: "Les Miz, French. French, Gan-Can." There's nothing like a Cole Porter
song to kick off a revolution.

The first show Forbidden Broadway spoofed in an all-out mini-version was Les Miz.
Before that, we had been spoofing individual stars and trends. One of the reasons we
took a new approach for Les Miz was because there really were no huge names in the
cast. That was another major change on Broadway at the time.

The idea for the "turntable" didn't come to us immediately. We worked up the Les
Miz number for the Boston production of the show, during our hiatus in New York.
We were actually considering having a Lazy Susan sort of turntable built into the stage
in Boston; Harriet Yellin, our producing manager at the time, reluctantly called in
carpenters to figure out how to do it. They said, "We can have it ready in about three
weeks," which seemed like a long time. Phill George, who was helping stage some of
the numbers, said, "Well, until the turntable comes, why don't we just mime it?"

So the cast mimed it-and, of course, it was hysterically funny. We immediately
realized that was the way to go. So we called off the carpenters, saved a lot of money,
and put into the show one of the funniest bits ever. At the time, we had no idea we'd
be able to use and update that number for year and years, because we had no idea
that Les Miz and/or our show would run for years and years.

After that, for each new edition of the show, I would add a spoof of another character or song from Les Miz. I think if we ever strung all of the parodies together, we
would have a show as long as the original.

"More Miserable"

[A sultry FRENCH CHANTEUSE is discovered atop the
piano, wearing a pink boa and a beret. She is smoking a
cigarette through a long holder. She sings.]

FRENCH CHANTEUSE