Christmas is ‘Forbidden’ at UNLV

Unwrap the gag gift called "A Forbidden Broadway Christmas."

"We have Tevye singing, ‘If I Were a Gentile,’ " says "Forbidden" vet Catherine Stornetta. "It’s not exactly ‘A Christmas Carol.’ "

Nor is there anything Scrooge-y about the generous laugh allotment of "A Forbidden Broadway Christmas." Yet another variation on the enduring "Forbidden Broadway" franchise, it slides down the Artemus Ham Hall chimney at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas on Saturday, hoping to (pardon our painful punning) "sleigh" the audience. Stornetta will conduct the UNLV Jazz Symphony performing the yuletide score of satire and shtick, backing a quartet of jesters bouncing briskly from parody to parody, donning and shedding costumes as if their eggnog were spiked with amphetamines. (Estimate: 120 costume changes.)

"At one point, the show was called ‘Forbidden Christmas’ and people were somehow worried that we were making fun of Christmas," says John Freedson, a "Forbidden" producer, director and former performer. "We changed it to ‘A Forbidden Broadway Christmas,’ because all we’re making fun of are the commercial holiday traditions of Christmas. It in no way mocks religion or anything that would be sacred to anyone."

That’s assuming you don’t consider following Celine Dion a divine calling and can appreciate the octave-scaling diva crooning "O Holy Note." Or cherish religious ribbing in "A Fiddler on the Christmas Tree." Or glean holiday cheer from Barbra Streisand belting out "Babs’ Jingle Bells." Or giggle at a "Sound of Music" takeoff in which Nazis return to try and ruin Christmas.

"It’s ‘The Little Drummer Boy’ going on and on and driving you crazy," says Stornetta, who’s spent more than two decades with the "Forbidden" mother ship. "Steve and Eydie, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Ann-Margret, they all have their little numbers. It’s Tony Bennett and Liza Minnelli singing ‘Baby, It’s Cold Outside’ and ‘We Need a Broadway Christmas’ — a lot of different takes, all with a Broadway edge to it."

A jesting juggernaut since its 1982 debut, "Forbidden" was created by playwright/satirist Gerard Alessandrini and has lampooned all things Broadway over 27 years — everything from blockbusters such as "Les Miserables," "Miss Saigon," "Sweeney Todd" and "Rent" to Great White Way personalities such as Carol Channing, Kristin Chenoweth, Ethel Merman and Patti LuPone. And that’s only a fraction of their targets.

But are their targets tickled by it? "They certainly are to our face," Freedson says. Adds Stornetta: "People are flattered because it’s almost never mean-spirited — well, sometimes it’s a little jab, but usually we’re pretty nice. If you die, we take it out."

The off-Broadway original spawned a McDonald’s-like empire. Among the offshoots: "Forbidden Hollywood," "Forbidden Broadway Strikes Back," "Forbidden Broadway Cleans Up Its Act," "Forbidden Broadway 2001: A Spoof Odyssey," "Forbidden Broadway: Special Victims Unit" and "Forbidden Broadway Goes to Rehab." We shoehorned our way into the "Forbidden" legacy when "Forbidden Vegas" played a stint at the Westin Casuarina.

Though the most recent "Rehab" version closed in New York earlier this year, Freedson calls it a "hiatus" and expects a new incarnation to roar back in 2010 or 2011.

As for their UNLV stopover, Freedson says the yuletide "Forbidden" — the first one set to a symphonic score, performed by local students — amiably needles stars warbling holiday evergreens more than the staples of the legitimate stage.

"We went through our favorite Christmas albums, and that’s how we put it together," Freedson says. However, their satirical slingshots still will be aimed squarely at some Broadway behemoths. "It’s a loving pastiche," Freedson says.

Settle in for affectionate jeers amid holiday cheer.

Contact reporter Steve Bornfeld at sbornfeld@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0256.