It should be no secret that I have the utmost respect for Gerard Alessandrini and his masterpiece Forbidden Broadway. I'd like to call what I do "homage" to him, but I think "ripoff" is the more appropriate title.

Anyway, last Friday I caught the "Roast of Utopia" summer edition, the first time in over a year that I've been to Forbidden Broadway. Hilarious, as always, but in particular the very funny "Spring Awakening" and "Company" sketches stand out in my mind as being worth the ticket prices alone. I suggest catching it in August before they switch over to the new "Rude Awakening" Edition because he may decide to remove Company for then.

The interesting thing is, even though the name of the Forbidden Broadway edition only changes every two years or so, Sr. Alessandrini actually makes major updates every six months or so. So for example, if you went to the opening night performance of "Forbidden Broadway: SVU" and then returned to "SVU" a full year later, it would be a mostly-different show, albeit with the same opening number.

So in short, they should just change the name every September. Although I suppose preparing for a new opening night every 12 months would be a pain...