The Book of Mormon (musical) with tyrannical, charismatic men with way too many children, our heroes... must confront a one-eyed, genocidal warlord with an unprintable name... That's enough to test the faith of even the most optimistic gospel spreaders (not to mention songwriters). Yet in setting these dark elements to sunny melodies "The Book of Mormon" achieves something like a miracle. It both makes fun of and ardently embraces the all-American art form of the inspirational book musical. No Broadway show has so successfully had it both ways since Mel Brooks adapted his film "The Producers" for the stage a decade ago." Jon Stewart, host
Forbidden Broadway: Rude Awakening Forbidden Broadway: Rude Awakening Forbidden Broadway: Rude Awakening is the 2007 incarnation of Gerard Alessandrini's long-running hit Off-Broadway musical revue "Forbidden Broadway", which parodies notable current Broadway and Off-Broadway musicals. "Rude Awakening" opened on October 2, 2007 at New York's 47th Street Theatre and closed on March 24, 2008. The show was conceived, created and written by Alessandrini and was directed by Alessandrini and Phillip George. The musicals parodied in "Rude Awakening" include "Wicked", "A Chorus Line", "Les Misérables", "The Little Mermaid", "Grey Gardens", "Chicago", "Spring Awakening", "Jersey Boys", "Spamalot" and "Mary Poppins". The tracks featured on the cast recording