Forbidden Broadway: Behind the Mylar Curtain (17 page)

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
floor and crawls offstage. I

[MAN enters as a stagehand, with a hand truck. He
waits for her to finish.[

[With great effort, the MAN hoists JENNIFER onto the
truck and rolls her offstage.[

"The Impossible Song"