(L–r) Fiddler on the Roof ’s Tevye (Kyle L. Collins), the Phantom of the Opera (Chip Stubbs) and Little Orphan Annie (Laurel Posey) in Workshop Theatre’s production of Forbidden Broadway, Greatest Hits Vol. 1. Broadway’s greatest legends will meet Broadway’s greatest satirist in a hilarious and loving tribute as Workshop Theatre closes its 2009–2010 season with

Forbidden Broadway:

Greatest Hi ts Vol . 1, a “best–of” sampler of the off–Broadway hit that will play Workshop’s stage May 7–22.

Using lightning–fast costume changes and barbed lyrics set to familiar melodies of the Great

White Way, Forbidden

Broadway is a cabaret revue sharply spoofing show tunes, characters, and plots of classic and contemporary Broadway musicals.

Workshop’s production will mock such popular

shows as Chicago, Rent,

Annie, Into the Woods, The

Phantom of the Opera,

Wicked, Les Misérables, Fiddler

on the Roof, Mamma

Mia! and Hai rspray (to name a few), many of which have been produced on local stages. It also targets famous Broadway actors, writers, composers, directors, choreographers, and producers, including Carol Channing, Rita Moreno, Chita Rivera, Bob Fosse, Idina Menzel, Ethel Merman, Mandy Patinkin, Stephen Sondheim, Harvey Fierstein, Barbra Streisand, and Cameron Mackintosh.

Forbidden Broadway

was first seen at Palsson’s Supper Club on New York’s Upper West Side in January 1982. An unemployed actor, Gerard Alessandrini, wanted a showcase for his talents and decided to assemble some of the musical parodies of Broadway shows he had written since childhood into a nightclub act. Critics and audiences were wowed, and it subsequently became New York’s longest– running musical comedy revue.

Updated regularly, Forbidden

Broadway had several editions, countless revisions, three New York City performance spaces, several national and international tours, and thousands of special performances.

In 2006, the show and Alessandrini were awarded Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre. The 25th Anniversary production,

Forbidden Broadway: Rude

Awakening, won the 2008 Drama Desk Award for outstanding revue. The final

incarnation, Forbidden

Broadway Goes to Rehab,

ended its run at the 47th Street Theatre in New York on March 1, 2009.

Director and choreographer Dedra Daniels Mount has assembled a talented ensemble of lunatics who will have the opportunity to take on some of Broadway’s greatest roles — although in a hysterically skewed manner. Kyle L. Collins, Matthew DeGuire, Elissa Horrell, Laurel Posey, Linda Posey, and Chip Stubbs will lead audiences through an informal and very funny history of the American musical theatre, accompanied by musical director and onstage pianist Randy Moore.

The production team also includes the talents of Randy Strange as set designer, Barry Sparks as lighting designer, Ruth Mock as costumer, and Ann Burns as stage manager. The production is sponsored by Ken and Cheryl Wheat.

Performances are 8 pm May 7–8, 11–15, and 18–22, with a 3 pm matinee on May 16. Tickets are $20 for adults, $18 for seniors/military, $14 for students, and $10 for children under 12.

Tickets go on sale at noon on May 3. Reservations are available by calling the box office at (803) 799-6551 or visiting www.workshoptheat re. com.

Workshop Theatre is located at 1136 Bull Street, on the southeast corner of Bull and Gervais Streets in downtown Columbia.