Musical theater conventions past, present and future come in for a riotous ribbing in the latest edition of Gerard Alessandrini’s perennial parody revue Forbidden Broadway. This one’s subtitled Merrily We Stole a Song and it ties in with the recent revival of Merrily We Roll Along which originally opened the same year as the first Forbidden show, 1982. This latest edition was initially announced to open on Broadway (a first for the series) at the Hayes Theatre. But those plans fell through and this compact, delightfully intimate show is snugly at home at Theater 555, way Off-Broadway, practically on the West Side Highway. Alessandrini’s satiric lyrics and smooth direction are as sharp as ever, offering a comically distorted snapshot of the current Broadway scene as well as a tribute to its past.

The program opens with a spot-on jab at tardy theatergoers set to a familiar tune. Instead “Sit Down You’re Rocking the Boat” from Guys and Dolls, an angry usher warbles “Sit Down You’re Blocking the Aisle.” Right away, Alessandrini’s piercing wit is front and center—he miraculously rhymes “shih tzu” with “jiu jitsu”—and we are off to the races.

There are lampoons of almost every show now or recently running on the Main Stem and even a few in the near future. The new Sondheim revue from London, Old Friends, offers an opportunity to poke fun at its star Bernadette Peters, magnificently mimicked by Jenny Lee Sterns, a FB veteran. She also displays impressive impressionist abilities with her hilarious turn as Patti LuPone, alternating between over-articulating and blurring her lyrics, a smug Hillary Clinton revealing in her role as a Broadway producer, and Shaina Taub, author and star of Suffs.

Equally adept at shifting personae is Danny Hayward who transforms to all the Emcees in Cabaret—Joel Grey, Alan Cumming and Eddie Redmayne—in a wicked takedown of the current overblown revival. He also does a mean Jeremy Jourdan in a nasty take-off of The Great Gatsby which incorporates a tap number from Singin’ in the Rain. Nicole Vanessa Ortiz displays impressive pipes and range as she demolishes Audra McDonald’s upcoming Mama Rose in Gypsy, Cynthia Erivo in the Wicked movie, and the leads in Hell’s Kitchen and & Juliet. Chris Collins-Pisano has a jolly time impersonating everyone from Cole Escola in Oh, Mary! to Ben Platt in his Palace Theater concert to the silly, soulful lead in The Outsiders, which Alessandrini cleverly morphs into “Gee, Officer Krupke” from West Side Story.

My only caveat is the framing device of Marty McFly and Doc Emmett Brown from Back to the Future visiting Broadway’s past and future in their time-tripping DeLorean gets a bit repetitive. The reliable and versatile Fred Barton returns to tickle the ivories and act as music director in this latest fun frolicking Forbidden Broadway.

While Forbidden Broadway has been merrily chugging along for over 40 years, the musical satire genre has not had many other successful offerings, particularly of the political variety. Perhaps it’s because our current political landscape is so ridiculous (the eating of cats and dogs is now a big issue) that parody would seem redundant. The 1960s and ’70s were rife with political comedies like Barbara Garson’s MacBird, Gore Vidal’s An Evening with Richard Nixon and Peter Ustinov’s Who’s Who in Hell. Selina Fellinger’s 2022 totally fictional POTUS was a rare recent exception. The last revue tackling real-life national issues I can recall was written by Alessandrini in 2001 when he “politically corrected” and adapted Irving Berlin’s 1962 musical Mr. President to reflect the Bush-Gore election. The results were mixed. The same can be said for a new attempt at current-event comedy: Ghost of John McCain at SoHo Playhouse.

The basic idea by Grant Woods and Jason Rose, who receive a “Conceived by” credit, is intriguing. (Scott Elmegreen wrote the book and Drew Fornarola the songs.) After his death in 2018, John McCain (Jason Tam doing his best in a relatively straight role surrounding by caricatures) finds himself inside Donald Trump’s brain. The Orange One evidently can’t get the Arizona Senator and former Presidential candidate out of his mind. After encounters with Hillary Clinton, Lindsay Graham, Roy Cohn, a stand-in for Trump voters named Karen, and myriad others, McCain resolves to convince Trump to give up his authoritarian, scatter-shot ways and become a truly responsible conservative leader. Good luck with that!

The trouble is Elmegreen’s book and Fornarola’s songs push too hard and come too fast. One outlandish idea follows another in such rapid succession (Catie Davis is the speed-demon director), we scarcely have time to get the joke, let alone laugh at it. The gags and concepts are too often scattered and confusing. For example, Trump is represented by both his teenage image of himself (the energetic Lukas Kolbe Mannikus who is an able singer and dancer) and Trump’s actual brain (Aaron Michael Ray, reasonably funny).

There are some insightful moments amid the chaos. Zoya Love does a marvelous job of delineating the alienated Trump voter Karen in Fornarola’s surprisingly moving song, “Invisible” in which the motivations behind the MAGA movement are movingly explained. Lindsay Nicole Chambers provides several incisive portraits including a justifiably enraged Hillary Clinton (her song “I Told You So” is a highlight), Trump’s bubbled-headed daughter-wife (a combination of Ivanka and Melania), and a Sexy Lady Fox News Anchor. When the latter is asked her name, she replies “It doesn’t matter.” Ben Fankhauser completes the cast with an over-the-top Lindsay Graham in black-mesh and as Joe Biden as a doddering janitor.

Mieka Van Der Ploeg does have fun with the costumes including garments representing the COVID-19 virus, an actual brain for Trump and, for some reason, a giant dancing cheeseburger. Set designer Lawrence E. Moten III efficiently uses the small Soho Playhouse space to create the illusion of a second-rate hotel lobby.

The point of Ghost of John McCain is that Trump’s mind is a jumbled mess, but unfortunately, so is the show, but there are some laughs to be had. Ironically and sadly, our current election season is much more absurd than the events depicted onstage.

Forbidden Broadway: Merrily We Stole a Song: Sept. 19—Jan. 5, 2025. Theater 555, 555 W. 42nd St., NYC. Running time: 90 mins. with no intermission. Theater 555.

Ghost of John McCain: Sept. 24—Nov. 10. Soho Playhouse, 15 Vandam St., NYC. Running time: 90 mins. with no intermission. ovationtix.com.