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in context. This remained true for the entire run; we would
go into rehearsal with fifteen new numbers, and it would take weeks to find the
right order.
    Ian Neuberger and Davis Gaines, flying high as Twiggy and Tommy
Tune in our version of My One and Only.
    One of my favorite numbers that I added to the show at this time was "Chita/
Rita." I had been searching for a good
idea for a spoof of Chita Rivera, whom I
consider to be one of the greatest stars
in Broadway history. I spent hours listening to her cast albums, and while West Side Story was playing one night, I
began to remember her club act, which I had seen several
years before. Then I thought, "Wait a minute, that was Rita
Moreno's act. No, it was Chita. No, it was Rita. Chita! Rita!"
To this day, I'm not sure whose act it was. But as my thoughts
bounced back and forth between their names, the song
"America" was playing on the stereo, and all the words fit
perfectly.
    Sue Terry as Chita and Roxie Lucas as Rita. Oh
no, sorry; that's Sue as Rita and Roxie as Chita.
Or maybe it's the other way around ...
    When I handed the parody to the girls in the show, they
went wild with enthusiasm, and Fred Barton said, "This is
exactly what the doctor ordered." The girls' joy was shortlived when they tried to memorize some of the wordiest lyrics
I'd ever written. I had even put words to Bernstein's dance
music. (I thought, "That'll show you, Steve Sondheim!" I was
young.) There wasn't a moment of rest in the number, but
everybody's hard work paid off.

    When Forbidden Broadway originally opened, it wasn't very polished. You might
even say it was sophomoric. The show was a hit because it was so outrageous; nobody
had seen anything like it, and we performed it with unabashed commitment. But by
1984, the show started to have an arc to it. We had so much fun at Palsson's in those
days. It seemed as if every Broadway star came to see us, along with other major celebrities, and they would hang out afterwards and talk with us-people like Jeremy
Irons, Maggie Smith, Mary Tyler Moore.
    I don't know how much of this was due to the success of our show and how much
to the fact that the Upper West Side was becoming more trendy, but Palsson's became
a real celebrity spot. Liz Taylor came in one night after The Little Foxes, wearing a
full-length white ermine cape with a dragon embroidered on the back of it. Cher
would show up after Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Deanand she'd still be in costume. You could go to Palsson's after our show and see Al
Pacino, Robert De Niro, Robin Williams, Raul Julia. I remember that Sella Palsson
was a little overwhelmed to have mega-celebrities like that in the club. It was a small
place, and the staff just wasn't used to it.
    You might say that we missed some opportunities. Madeline Kahn dropped by
Palsson's one afternoon; she found me backstage painting some props, and she
hinted that she'd like to do the show, but I didn't pick up on it. There was some talk
of our moving the show to Broadway, to the Helen Hayes. But because we didn't
cash in and do a Broadway run, an HBO special, or anything like that, I think that
allowed us to keep going Off-Broadway for years.
    In those days especially, Forbidden Broadway wasn't about making a lot of money
and winning awards. We were just a bunch of young people affectionately thumbing our noses at Broadway and trying to cause as much trouble as we could. And
we did.

    "Jennifer Holler-day in `Screamgirls"'
    JENNIFER

    [The lights come up on JENNIFER as Effie White with
her back to the audience, wearing a very thickly
padded, pink satin pant suit and a black wig. She
slowly turns around to face the audience.]

    IMAN enters as Ben Harney/Curtis Taylor, jr She sees
hint and goes over to tenderly sing in his ear, but then
she blasts hint on the "I

    [The force of her note lifts him straight up in the air and
smashes him against the proscenium. He slides to the