My TABOO review - SPOILERS!

I was there last night, too, and like Robyn, I'm not sure how I feel about it either. I didn't have a bad time, but I'm not sure that's a strong enough response to foreshadow a major success.

First, about Raul Esparza (Philip Sallon). I think my daughter hit the nail on the head. She said that there were a lot of good, even great, voices up on stage....but you wouldn't necessarily be able to identify them again. Raul's voice is distinctive. There's no doubt who you're listening to when you hear him. And his stage presence is incomparable. The guy's a star.

As for the show:

It's never clear whose story this is...it's ABOUT Boy George and ABOUT Leigh Bowery. But who is the heart...the emotional center...of the show? I came away feeling that it was actually Philip Sallon's story. He was the character for whom I had the most feeling... due in no small part, I'm sure, to Raul's compelling stage presence. Some of the ensemble dance numbers seemed unfocused, as if the dancers were up there just doing whatever they wanted rather than something intentional. (But it occurred to me that if it *were* left up to the dancers to do whatever the hell they wanted, the dancing would have been more inspired.)

And I agree with Robyn... George O'Dowd was the weak link for me, too. I don't have any more of a sense of Leigh Bowery now than I did two days ago, and I never felt anything for him. You have to understand...I'm a pushover emotionally...it's almost IMPOSSIBLE to NOT have me feel something when someone exposes their soft underbelly, even if its someone I don't particularly like. I felt nothing and was just as happy when he left the stage because whenever he was on, I was constantly thinking "Oh, yeah...that's the REAL George playing someone else". It got in the way. On the other hand, I thought Euan Morton was terrific. He sings beautifully, acts well, totally captured the Boy George character, and IMO, had a reasonably strong stage presence.

To be fair, my 17 year old daughter was not as put off by the Leigh Bowery character as I was. Maybe I'm responding defensively as someone closer in age to the real George. What is funky and artistic in a 20 year old seemed sad and pathetic at 50. Maybe that was the point, but I doubt it. I don't know. Maybe I'm being age-ist. Or maybe, really, its time that I should rethink my jeans and long flowing hair of MY era even though that's *really* who I am. Maybe its time for me to buy some makeup and get an age-appropriate haircut. I suspect that this is NOT the message that Rosie hopes the show will carry home. To fail in getting past the surface,the feathers and glitter and makeup, ...to fail to let the audience find a thread of something they have in common with the person BEHIND the frou-frou exterior is a HUGE flaw.

I didn't hate it, and there was a lot I enjoyed: Raul, Euan, Liz, and Jeffery Carlson,the guy who played Marilyn...although from the mezzanine with my middle-aged vision, I kept thinking it was Sandra Bernhardt up on stage (a comment on my eyes more than a reflection on his performance...).

It's difficult for me to completely divorce my reactions from everything I've read over the past couple of weeks. I don't have strong feelings about Rosie, one way or another. I honestly can't tell how I might have reacted if I walked in cold off the street knowing nothing. I want to see this show work. I just don't think it's going to be "the next big thing" and it would better serve the purpose of seeing it have a viable run if it wasn't being postured as such.

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It's what I suspected all along. It's Christopher Renshaw, the director, that's most to blame. Every review posted on this board reflects that,knowingly or not. Btw, Boy George is only 42 years old (hardly ancient), he just looks beat up for his age.

My major problem was the lack of "fun", there had to an energy to that time period that was exciting, the show treats it like The Crusades. Lighten UP!

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