Skewering the Stars in ‘Forbidden Hollywood’

Should Bruce Vilanch ever relinquish his Oscar telecast gig, the motion picture academy might prevail upon writer-director Gerard Alessandrini to fill the joke-writing breach. Judging from his wickedly funny “Forbidden Hollywood,” playing a limited engagement at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa, Alessandrini is up to the challenge.

Like its parent phenomenon “Forbidden Broadway,” “Hollywood” operates as ruthless cabaret, putting the silver screen through a Cuisinart with the lid off.

The format and much of the material is identical to the show’s 1995 Coronet Theatre premiere, although Alessandrini has nipped and tucked for topical content. It begins in deceptively ingratiating manner, with expert performers Eric Gutman, Eric Lee Johnson, Kathryn Kendall and Leisa Mather selling the Leonard Sillman-esque title number to musical director Matthew Ward’s redoubtable accompaniment.

The evening quickly bares its fangs with “You Shouldn’t Be in Pictures,” in which Mather, Kendall and Gutman savage Renee Zellweger’s Nurse Betty and Bridget Jones, Melanie Griffith’s maternal connections and Keanu Reeves’ first name.

Offenbach flourishes herald Nicole Kidman (Mather), whose “Moulin Rouge” get-up, complete with attached swing, is perhaps the standout of Alvin Colt’s invaluable costume parade. As choreographed by Phillip George, the subsequent number, “Pre-Nups Are a Girl’s Best Friend,” cuts to the tabloid marrow.

Equally inspired is “Summer Movies,” appropriating “Summer Nights” from “Grease.” Mather’s Gwyneth Paltrow and Johnson’s Batman sing “Tell me more, tell me more/Do they blow up a car?/Tell me more, tell me more/Is Mike Myers the star?” With the entrance of Gutman’s Austin Powers and Kendall’s Queen Amidala, pandemonium ensues.

Not everything carries the same Swiftian thrust. The two Streisand riffs, though well-performed, cancel each other out, and the Winona Ryder sendup is upstaged by the props. Despite Mather’s hysterically toneless Dietrich in “Falling Apart Again,” two plastic surgery numbers seem redundant.

Still, Alessandrini’s writing displays pith and vinegar, and his four-member cast of thousands is comparable to any this franchise has employed through the decades. Thus, when Kendall’s Toto-hating Judy Garland and Gutman’s sandpaper-voiced Gene Kelly and Mather’s Vivien Leigh and Johnson’s Hattie McDaniel collide with audience nostalgia, you forgive “Forbidden Hollywood” for the occasional stale popcorn kernels, because beneath its lampoonery lurks the affection of a genuine fan.

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“Forbidden Hollywood,” Orange County Performing Arts Center, Founder’s Hall, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa; Wednesdays-Fridays, 7:30 p.m.; Saturdays, 7:30 and 9:30 p.m.; Sundays, 2 and 7:30 p.m.; Sept. 12, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Ends Sept. 22. $46-49. (714) 556-2787, (714) 740-7878. Running time: 75 minutes.