Forbidden Broadway has been around for the better part of 40 years, and its “Next Generation” rendition is currently onstage at Shea’s 710 Theatre to February 16. The show is a send up to all things Broadway, poking fun at the composers, choreographers, and other elements that make up a Broadway show.

I’ve known about the show for years, heard snippets on the Sirius Broadway channel, and was eager to see the show live. That said, the show itself was…disappointing. It’s not the talent: the quartet of performers and the accompanist were phenomenal performers who poured all kinds of energy into it. It’s the show itself that is not as enjoyable as I wanted it to be. The humor is very much “inside the industry,” hence the scattered laughs from a not-very-full theatre. The opening number tells you you’re in for a night of irreverent song parodies. So, OK…I’m ready to laugh. What follows is a nonstop song cycle that calls out choreographer Bob Fosse –  dubbed “Saucy Fosse” –  and his angular dance style and penchant for lean and leggy dancers. Next a cigarette smoking ex-Annie star wonders why she hasn’t had any parts since her ‘tween orphan days. Then, Stephen Sondheim’s wordy lyrics become an audience sing-a-long. Disney-fied musicals are raked over the coals for the dazzling sets and scenery and the happily ever afters. Tony Award winning costume designer Julie Taymor gets her moment for her over-the-top Lion King headdresses. The ghost of Ethel Merman appears to poke fun at today’s autotune and amplification to support smaller singing voices. It just becomes a little too much after the first…oh, I don’t know….10 minutes or so.

Again, it’s not the cast’s fault at all, even though most of the female singing is in a high belt and even the men are using their falsetto a lot.  Chris Collins-Pisano, Gina Kreiezmar, Kevin B. McGlynn, and Katheryne Penny are working hard with costume and wig changes, and lots of faced-paced singing and dancing. Music director Catherine Stornetta is onstage at the piano and her playing is tremendous (her final gesture as she left the stage was…odd, however). It’s just the show itself is more of a mockery and less of a celebration. Most of the humor is aimed at industry members and less at the audience who goes to theatre to revel in the stage magic. Poking fun at it just feels rather mean spirited.

Listening to the audience on the walk out was revealing, too: early-middle agers didn’t know who Robert Goulet or Ms Merman or Mr Fosse were (sad, actually), and wondered why there wasn’t a story.

Before you scoff, dear reader, about Buffalo audiences and what they like, I was in the same theatre when Broadway storyteller Seth Rudetsky packed the house with his songs and send ups, and that audience was in stitches all night and laughed and clapped like mad. Buffalo audiences love theatre and theatre stories when presented as an homage or with a more inclusive presentation, perhaps.

See for yourself: Forbidden Broadway runs to February 16, just under two hours, with a brief intermission. Find details and tickets at http://www.sheas.org.