Taboo!

I've been watching the 2004 documentary "Show Business" and it includes footage on Taboo.

It got me interested in the score again, and I still feel it is one of the best scores I've heard for a musical in recent years.

However...I never saw the show. Why wasn't it a bigger hit?

Also, why is the show not performed regionally? I have a feeling it would do so well regionally.

Last I heard Rosie still controlled the rights, but I would imagine they would have lapsed by now. As far as I know, though, the rights are not available.

I am actually very fond of the score and think they simply needed a tryout to help focus the book.

lol at the the person saying the show is creepy. It's not creepy at all.

It's not Boy George who does not allow the show to be done

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I saw it and loved it! I think it was a classic case of not having the tourist appeal that a show needs to survive.

"Hold up your head, never be afraid to shine. Viva la difference in my body and my mind."

That is my fondest memory of Taboo!

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I know the show was quite different (and a much smaller production) but the UK original is on DVD and is fascinating to watch. A lot of it is very good--I'd love to track down the Broadway one to compare. It sounds like a number of the changes were good but (and this may be completely wrong of me) they made the show almost too big.

(Wasn't it a minor success in England? Of course the production was so intimate, I doubt it would cost all that much to regroup--with the cast talking to the audience at intermission, etc. I know it's often talked about with the British pet Shop Boys musical that came out around the same time--Closer to Heaven which had a rather too cliched Jonathan Harvey book, but has a great score, but never got beyond it's rather tacky, tiny original production. Of course Taboo used well known Boy George hits as well as new songs, and the PSB scored Closer to Heaven with original songs save for one bside).

Updated On: 6/10/11 at 12:15 AM

Ahem. For a minute I thought someone was calling me.
But let me chime in on this one.


Taboo deserved best score that year over them all. Including Caroline or Change (sorry Jordan).

Michael Riedel almost singlehandedly destroyed Taboo every day on the Post before ever giving it a chance to even open. I blame him for its demise.
Swirled with Rosie's Publishing lawsuit at the same time---it was just another thorn to deal with.

The show's problem was that it was 2 stories running parallel. Too much of a book--too little time to tell both stories. UK's version is smaller, better, faster, easier to understand.

Boy George was FUN as Leigh Bowery.
Raul Esparza, Jeffrey Carlson and Euan Morton gave amazing performances.
Sarah Uriarte Berry and Liz McCartney were stellar.

The ensemble consisted of Jennifer COdy and Curtis Holbrook...need I say more?

It was fun, energetic...and one of the more in your face...shameless shows on Broadway that year. The show celebrated 'it gets better' before it became trendy to do so. it was bold, brazen and soooooooo much fun.

The book...was a bit much of a mess yes.
but poignant when it needed to be.
AIDS, 80's, Outrageous costumes and fashion, Raul singing 'Petrified'
liz McCartney singing 'Talk AMongst Yourselves'...Jeffrey Carlson as Marilyn.......perfection.

if the show were open today---I think it would do well.....
it was just the wrong time. dead of winter didn't help either.

The show was never creepy.... it was full of life and one of the most energetic ensembles at that time.

The rights are not available...but it would do very well if it were.

As I said, i feel it needed some more time and work to hone the book, which featured many character and had difficulty establishing the conflict for each in a satisfying way.

It differs a lot from the London version: the story was a fictionalized narrative of a small-town boy moving to the big city to meet all these famous people and their vibrant club scene; the Broadway version was the story of those people and their scene.

Busch did an admirable job, but it was both underfed and unfocused, as I find books often are in their first production when following so many plot threads.

Sorry, I don't find the show creepy. It's Boy George who is creepy.

Philip is a real (and fascinating) person:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&biw=1432&bih=672&q=philip+sallon&aq=0&aqi=g1g-s1g8&aql=&oq=Philip+Sallon

You might also be interested in checking out Boy George's Take It Like a Man.

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