Gerard Alessandrini | |
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| Born | (1953-11-27)November 27, 1953 (age 72) Boston, Massachusetts, United States |
| Occupation | writer, director, lyricist, composer |
| Alma mater | Xaverian Brothers High School Boston Conservatory of Music |
| Notable works | Forbidden Broadway (2001)Spamilton (2016) |
| Notable awards | -Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre -Obie Award -Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics -Drama Desk Special Award) -Outer Critics Circle Award -Lucille Lortel Awards -Drama League Award for Lifetime Achievement in Musical Theatre |
Gerard Alessandrini (born November 27, 1953) is an American writer, director, lyricist and composer, best known for creating the off-Broadway musical revueForbidden Broadway. He is the recipient ofTony Honors for Excellence in Theatre, fourDrama Desk Awards (two for Outstanding Lyrics and two special awards for Lifetime Achievement), anOuter Critics Circle Award, and twoLucille Lortel Awards, as well as an Obie Award, and the Drama League Award for Lifetime Achievement in Musical Theatre.
Alessandrini was born inBoston, Massachusetts, grew up insuburbanNeedham, and graduated fromXaverian Brothers High School in 1972. After graduating from theBoston Conservatory of Music in 1977, he moved toNew York City. As a young actor, he appeared in summer stock, regional theater, and dinner theater productions ofKismet,The Fantasticks,Oklahoma! andCarousel, among others. He also worked at the off-BroadwayLight Opera of Manhattan.
In late 1981, Alessandrini conceived and wrote a musical parody revue featuring spoofs of songs from Broadway musicals, on which he had been working while employed as a waiter at Lincoln Center. After a few months of weekend performances starring Alessandrini and a few friends atPalsson's Supper Club, the show evolved intoForbidden Broadway, which opened on January 15, 1982 at Palsson's Supper Club, with a cast featuring Alessandrini, Nora Mae Lyng, Bill Carmichael, Chloe Webb, and Fred Barton. The revue caught the theatergoing public's attention afterRex Reed published a rave review[1] and ultimately ran for 2,332 performances at Palsson's before moving on to other larger venues.[2] It has subsequently been rewritten many times to include parodies of newer shows, and has had many different editions presented in New York City for more than 40 years. In 2006, the show and Alessandrini wonTony Honors for Excellence in Theatre. The most recent incarnation,Forbidden Broadway: Merrily We Stole a Song, played Off-Broadway in 2024.
As a performer, Alessandrini can be heard on five of the 13Forbidden Broadwaycast albums, as well as the soundtracks ofDisney's animated filmsAladdin andPocahontas. He also co-wrote (with Pete Blue) and performed in the television parodyMasterpiece Tonight, a satirical salute to the 20th anniversary ofMasterpiece Theatre. In 1995, some of his sketches were featured inCarol Burnett’sCBS special,Men, Movies and Carol. He has also written comedy specials forBob Hope andAngela Lansbury forNBC, as well as special material for Barbra Streisand's second duets album.
Alessandrini's directorial credits include a production of Maury Yeston'sIn The Beginning and a revue of Yeston's music and lyrics entitledAnything Can Happen In The Theater. He also "politically updated" and directed a tongue-in-cheek adaptation of the 1962Irving Berlin musicalMr. President. In 2011, he co-created the musical comedyThe Nutcracker and I, with music byTchaikovsky, book byPeter Brash and lyrics by Alessandrini. The musical debuted at theGeorge Street Playhouse in New Brunswick, New Jersey.
In 2016, Alessandrini wrote and directedSpamilton, which premiered at theTriad Theater in New York and subsequently played in London, Los Angeles and Chicago. The show parodiesHamilton and other Broadway musicals, and caricatures various Broadway stars.[3][4]
In recent years, Alessandrini has continued to update bothForbidden Broadway andSpamilton. His original musicals includeMadame X, written with Robert Hetzel, which was presented at part of the New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF) in 2011; and a musical version ofMoon Over Parador, written with Paul Mazursky and Bill Conti.
Alessandrini currently lives with his husband, designer-artist-writer Glenn Bassett, in Connecticut.
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