Even those who caught the season premiere episode of TV's animated "The Simpsons," Sept. 21, may have missed some of the in-jokes when Marge, Lisa and Bart caught a Broadway show.
As the trio stood outside the marquee for the show of their choice, Kickin' It -- A Musical Journey Through The Betty Ford Center, the camera quickly panned past other shows playing nearby.
Those fictitous productions included:
Neil Simon's More About Brooklyn
Tommy Tune's Gotta Mince
Hoofin' -N- Mouthin'
Ernest Goes To Broadway
and David Copperfield's Astonishing Girlfriend
As Marge Simpson put it, "When I was a girl, I always dreamed of being in a Broadway audience." "The Simpsons" periodically lampoons theatre subjects. Videos of the episode in which Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire was spoofed as the musical Oh, Streetcar! are cherished and traded by theatre fans.
-- By David Lefkowitz