If you can only see one musical this year, it really should be "FORBIDDEN BROADWAY"

By Barbara Sherman

The Times, Jan 28, 2010, Updated Jan 29, 2010

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Maybe the Broadway Rose Theatre Company in Tigard had to wait this long to do “Forbidden Broadway,” which is a spoof of hit musicals over the last couple of decades.

Both Dan Murphy, the choreographer, and Rick Lewis, the director, want the audience to “get it,” and luckily, people who haven’t been to New York to see the original shows have had the opportunity see about half of the plays satirized in “Forbidden Broadway” at the Broadway Rose over the last 18 years.

Murphy also is Broadway Rose’s co-founder and general manager, and Lewis has directed or musical-directed more than a dozen Broadway Rose shows as well as multiple productions around the Portland area.

Some people think Broadway musicals are classic and should not be tampered with, and others see them as fertile ground for satire.

Gerard Alessandrini falls in the latter category, creating “Forbidden Broadway” as an Off-Broadway production that debuted in 1982. The satirical revue spoofs plots, music, characters and actors from many popular productions and has been updated over the years to include more recent shows.

Both Lewis and Murphy are transplants from New York, but they didn’t meet until Murphy had started the Broadway Rose in Tigard with his wife Sharon Maroney, the company’s artistic director.

Lewis was a pianist and musical director/arranger when he broke his wrist, noting, “It’s hard to work as a left-handed pianist.”

That eventually led him to concentrate on directing and musical-directing here in the Northwest after one misstep. Lewis purchased 10 acres of land sight unseen in Philomath because it didn’t look that far from Portland on the map. Once here, he sold the property and lived first in West Linn before moving to Vancouver.

Lewis and Murphy have now collaborated on at least two dozen shows, but they haven’t forgotten their earlier lives in the Big Apple.

Contrary to what many people may think, Lewis said he finds the Portland area more creative theatrically than New York.

“Living in New York is a grind,” he said. “You have to keep your name out there and take every job you are offered. I have done more successful, creative work here.”

Murphy added, “You get caught up in the New York grind, and you don’t realize it until you leave. For example, you spend so much time waiting in line for everything.”

When they were working in New York, Murphy actually lived in Brooklyn and Lewis lived in New Jersey. “That took off some of the pressure of everyday living,” said Murphy, with Lewis adding, “and being able to live like a human being.”

Murphy noted, “Now I feel sorry for the people who can’t get out.”

Both still return to New York on occasion, with Murphy heading there in March to hold auditions for upcoming Broadway Rose shows.

Now “Forbidden Broadway” is coming up, and the first rehearsals were right around the corner when the two got together in mid-January to talk after a production meeting.

“Forbidden Broadway” originally opened as a three-person show, with Lewis explaining that doing take-offs on classic productions “is what every actor does in his living room.”

There are about 32 characters in the cabaret revue; three of the actors have performed for Broadway Rose before, and all four “are very talented musicians,” Murphy said.

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