Musical theater geeks — really anyone with a passing interest in staged stories with characters breaking out into song — should see Forbidden Broadway, the entertaining send-up of classic and would-be classic numbers. The cabaret serves up delicious show tunes from this decade and decades past, from West Side Story to Wicked.
"Somehow it manages to be both scorching and respectful. … And funny. Very funny," says CL theater critic Mark E. Leib of the production. Read what else Leib has to say in this week's review of the Forbidden Broadway. 7:30 p.m., Straz Center for the Performing Arts, 1010 N. MacInnes Place, Tampa. Runs through Feb. 20, 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays-Sundays; 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays; 4 p.m. Nov. 21, Dec. 5, Jan. 23, Feb. 13; some dates no show. $31.50. 813-229-STAR, strazcenter.org.
Dreamscape-y, harp-riddled, and tender are a few ways to describe the music of singer-songwriter Joanna Newsom graces the Ybor Ritz stage tonight. With an unmistakable child-like delivery, Newsom strums her signature harp and is accompanied by myriad instrumentation that creates some of the most eerily captivating music around today. In her first Bay Area appearance, the lovely Newsom will likely offer up a set steeped in songs from her latest triple-album, Have One on Me, as well as selections from her critically-acclaimed 2006 album, Ys 7 p.m. Ritz Theatre, 1800 E. Ninth Ave., Ybor City. $23.5o; order in advance for will call here. (information contributed by Andrew Silverstein).
This article appears in Nov 11-17, 2010.