Boy George's Taboo
My most recent musical acquisition has been the boy George written and composed musical, Taboo. Having listened through the entirety of the cast album, I have come to thoroughly enjoy the show in both concept and music, which examines the London club scene of the 1980's, focusing in specifically on the lives of two of the biggest icons of that time and place--Boy George and Leigh Bowery. It is interesting to me that George O'Dough (aka Boy George) would conceive of and create a musical about himself and, actually, go even further and insert himself in it. Boy George, however and interestingly enough, does not portray himself (Euan Morton in the Broadway cast), but rather, his mentor and owner of the club, Taboo, which is the backdrop for the entire story, Leigh Bowery.
The show was not a commercial success on Broadway. It ran for a decent 100 performances (plus previews) and built a cult following (also thanks in part to the much more successful two year London run) and cost producer, Rosie O'Donald, her entire investment. The show closed early on Feb. 8, 2004.
The production was changed significantly between its London and New York incarnations with a completely rewritten book and slightly altered number list.
Taboo is a good example of a growing trend in musical today's musical theatre, the pop-based musical. The show recycles many popular tunes of the setting era including Boy George and Culture Club's "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me" and "Karma Chameleon." Although some have predicted that this growing contingent heralds the end of the genre, I strongly disagree. In fact, I think it is worth ointing out that exactly this has been going on since the musical theatre's very inception. After all, we must never forget that John 's Beggar's Opera was also pasticcio. It took popular airs of its day and wove them into a coherant dramatic story, thus creating what was perhaps the first musical as we know it today. Furthermore, shows like Taboo and Mamma Mia are not elevating the revue format which has previously been so popular when presenting a pop cannon (see Leiber & Stohler's Smokey Joe's Cafe), but rather they seek to create a book musical with a linear plot out of music that the public will recognize and that will have mainstream apeal, something that Broadways needs a bit more of right now.
An article on modern pop pasticcio in musical theatre:
http://www.tcg.org/am_theatre/at_articles/AT_Volume_20/March03/at_mar03_musical.html
The show was not a commercial success on Broadway. It ran for a decent 100 performances (plus previews) and built a cult following (also thanks in part to the much more successful two year London run) and cost producer, Rosie O'Donald, her entire investment. The show closed early on Feb. 8, 2004.
The production was changed significantly between its London and New York incarnations with a completely rewritten book and slightly altered number list.
Taboo is a good example of a growing trend in musical today's musical theatre, the pop-based musical. The show recycles many popular tunes of the setting era including Boy George and Culture Club's "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me" and "Karma Chameleon." Although some have predicted that this growing contingent heralds the end of the genre, I strongly disagree. In fact, I think it is worth ointing out that exactly this has been going on since the musical theatre's very inception. After all, we must never forget that John 's Beggar's Opera was also pasticcio. It took popular airs of its day and wove them into a coherant dramatic story, thus creating what was perhaps the first musical as we know it today. Furthermore, shows like Taboo and Mamma Mia are not elevating the revue format which has previously been so popular when presenting a pop cannon (see Leiber & Stohler's Smokey Joe's Cafe), but rather they seek to create a book musical with a linear plot out of music that the public will recognize and that will have mainstream apeal, something that Broadways needs a bit more of right now.
An article on modern pop pasticcio in musical theatre:
http://www.tcg.org/am_theatre/at_articles/AT_Volume_20/March03/at_mar03_musical.html