News release Public Information Office   SLU 10880   Hammond, LA 70402   phone: 985-549-2341   fax: 985-549-2061 publicinfo@selu.edu Spring 2004 news releases Public Information home News archive Contact: Christina Chapple Date: 1/11/05   Click on image for publication quality photo  LOVE LETTER TO BROADWAY -- Southeastern Louisiana University's Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts will presents “Forbidden Broadway” at 7 p.m. Jan. 26. Tickets for the funny, long-running New York musical review range from $15 to $30 and are available at the theater box office, 220 E. Thomas St., or online through Ticketweb at www.ticketweb.com. "FORBIDDEN BROADWAY" PROVIDES A SCATHINGLY FUNNY LOOK AT BROADWAY’S BEST       HAMMOND –  “Forbidden Broadway,” the famed New York musical review that lovingly skewers Broadway’s greatest hits, is coming to Southeastern Louisiana University’s Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts on Jan. 26.       Curtain time for the scathingly funny love letter to the “Great White Way” is 7 p.m. at the historic downtown Hammond theater, located at 220 E. Thomas St.       “Forbidden Broadway’s” theme is, “Why see just one Broadway hit when you can laugh at them all?” The informal and funny history of the American musical theater slings arrows at “Fiddler on the Roof,” “Hairspray,” “Gypsy,” “The Lion King,” and “Chicago” -- to name just a few – while the cast skewers celebrities from Ethel Merman to Liza Minnelli to Sarah Brightman.       “Forbidden Broadway” was the brainchild of Gerard Alessandrini, an unemployed actor who had been creating musical parodies of Broadway shows since childhood. In 1982, he assembled those parodies into a show at Palsson’s Supper Club on New York’s Upper West Side and wowed critics and audiences alike.      Continually updated, “Forbidden Broadway” has become New York’s longest running musical comedy revue and has won a Drama Desk, Obie and Outer Critics Circle awards. Over the years, the show has gone through several editions, countless revisions, three New York City performance spaces, several national and international tours, and thousands of special performances. It has also become known for launching the careers of talented unknowns, who have gone on to stardom on Broadway, television and in the movies.       Tickets for “Forbidden Broadway” are $30, Orchestra 1 and Loge; $23, Orchestra 2 and Balcony 1; $18, Orchestra 3; $15 Balcony 2. Tickets are available at the Columbia box office (985-543-4371), located in the theater's lobby, from noon until 5 p.m., weekdays or online through Ticketweb, www.ticketweb.com.