Taboo - What Happened?

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 1/13/09 at 11:12am

I am fully aware that it flopped and fully aware that Charles Busch's book is a major weak link. But could someone fill me in on the whole behind the scenes story because I've only heard bits and pieces like Rosie's interference and Raul's storming out in a rehearsal. And if there's a link to an already existing thread o nthe subject, could someone post it? Thank you.

[Scott Briefer]

Posted: 1/15/09 at 11:16pm

I disagree that Charles Busch's book was weak. I loved Taboo and saw it twice. Basically, there was some backstage drama and one - not to be mentioned - very nasty New York critic (if you can call him that) took it upon himself to destroy Taboo. He claims that it was his job to report the rumors, but his accounts were simply nasty and inappropriate. Taboo was not judged on it's merits, but bad PR.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 1/15/09 at 11:29pm

I disagree too. If anything the book was the biggest improvement from London to Broadway.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 1/15/09 at 11:44pm

What I never understood was why the Producer Loved the show in London than spent a ****eload of Money to bring it to Broadway and completely have it re-written and changed so much.
It was a bloody mess the night I saw it, the two bright lights were Morten and Carlson who completely captured their characters.

Than I got the CD and I said, yup the score is Primo and it could have worked but "When Queens collide": be they Lesbionic, Out of Control Rock Icons and Gender Confused Divos, the Train will probably wreck.

Sarah Uriate Berry's "Il Adore" is Breathtaking,
Download it NOW.

[Scott Briefer]

Posted: 1/15/09 at 11:48pm

When did you see it. I saw it almost immediately after opening and it was brilliant. I thought the re-writes were excellent.

[etoile]

Posted: 1/16/09 at 12:18am

"And if there's a link to an already existing thread o nthe subject, could someone post it?"

Why ask for someone to post a link to one of the half dozen threads on the very same subject rather than just search yourself?

[amoni]

Posted: 1/16/09 at 12:21am

They only problem was opening in the dead of a crappy winter. It didn't have the instant recognition of the land of Oz or a movie star from blockbuster superhero movies. Had it opened in the summer like "Hairspray", it would have stood a better chance.

[gcal]

Posted: 1/16/09 at 12:27am

It also opened the same year as Wicked, Avenue Q, Caroline or Change, and Bombay Dreams.

Remember, too, that Rosie was still in the middle of her legal drama with her magazine company. I think she was distracted and the press took advantage of the fact that the "Queen of NIce" was caught up in court and a show with bad word of mouth.

See the "Showbusiness: The Road to Broadway" about that 2003-2004 season.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 1/16/09 at 12:31am

I saw it on a Press night.
Toked and excited to see something New.
But the story needed to focus on George
and
not Leigh Bowery
who should have remained a secondary
character.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 1/16/09 at 4:53am

Rosie O'Donnell is what happened.

There is no arguing that O'Donnell had a passion for the project. She blames the media for the failure of Taboo, but should really be looking inward at the poor decisions she made. Refusing to discount early on (a widely used strategy to build a core audience), choosing artwork for the show that was crude (a man using a urinal), and boasting, something that did Mel Brooks in last season, about the show in such a grandiose fashion. This all was happening during O'Donnell's magazine lawsuit.

Taboo should have been able to find an audience. But that audience was never targeted correctly. O'Donnell's aggressive presence turned many theatergoers off. Any media backlash should be blamed on O'Donnel's actions. The public was also confused by O'Donnell's swift transition from "The Queen of Nice" to "The Queen of Mean".

And it's a shame. I still feel that Taboo is one of the greatest scores in, at least, the last ten years. The book is flawed. It was in London and it was on Broadway. But Boy George's soaring, melodic, poetic score is an absolute triumph. The performance were all top notch. The designs, especially the costumes, extraordinary. This show could have easily received raves from audiences and critics if O'Donnell had kept her trap shut and stayed in the shadows.
Updated On: 1/16/09 at 04:53 AM

[ken8631]

Posted: 1/16/09 at 8:12am

I agree - it was Rosie.

Saw it twice and really liked it. Score was brilliant. The problem with discounts, wrong size house, advertising, all Rosie problems.

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 1/16/09 at 10:07am

Im a huge fan of this show and watched it in London 3 times, Broadway twice and on its UK tour twice

It was not just rosie what messed up the show, her choices to cut certain things were very smart.

The problem was 2 many people with 2 many opinions and Boy George just seemed to roll over on every decision.
The Broadway version had many problems.

1.The book was very unfocused, the London book was far better at balancing the Boy George/Leigh Bowery stories as well as giving the supports characters such as Josie, Billy, Kim, Marilyn etc well fleshed out characters.
The Broadway production book didn't give you enough time with each character to get connected with them, and it ended up been a boy George musical in Act 1 and a Leigh Bowery musical in act 2.

2. The advertising for the Broadway production was horrid, it made the show seem almost un human, something to back away from. The London one kept it simple.

3. The show became to BIG, the Plymouth theatre is huge compared to the Venue where it played in London.Taboo was an intimate piece that was thrown on to a huge stage and lost its impact, it became TO broadway.

4. The set was also ugly as hell

5. The gossip of Michael Ridell did not help the show either, it became less about the show and more about the lies.

6. Handing songs like Safe In The City to a female character did not work, sometimes it just felt uncomfortable that songs from London had been rejigged around and given to another character, normally one of the opposite sex.

The Broadway one did have some great things about it though

1.The orchestrations were well done for the most part if not a little over done.

2. The cast were great, especially Raul (though his speaking voice was annoying)

3. The new songs 'The Fame Game', Sexual Confusion and Come On In From The Outside were brilliant additions.

I never thought Taboo would work on Broadway and sadly it proved right, it's a shame that its failure in the US has hampered future productions in the UK where it was very much appreciated

[ken8631]

Posted: 1/16/09 at 10:33am

"Petrified" was amazing.....

[Gothampc]

Posted: 1/16/09 at 10:37am

Bobby Bubby is right. The main reason for the failure of the show is Rosie O'Donnell. Her producer decisions were bad.

Any experienced producer should know (and many hardcore theater fans) that when your house is running at 30%, release tickets to the papering organizations. I'm sure it was demoralizing to the actors to perform in a house that was only 1/3 full.

She should have also discounted the tickets and run major publicity about "making Broadway affordable". And why wasn't she tapping into the Rent audiences? (Present your Rent ticket stub at the box office and receive a Taboo discount).

Let's face it, Taboo was not a family fare show. It couldn't be sold as an option for bus tours of senior citizens from the Midwest.

Rosie should have taken the show off-Broadway for a few months and built a cult following. She could have played around with the performance time (years ago people used to trek down to the village to see Patti LuPone at Les Mouches) A 10pm show on Friday or Saturday night might have been interesting.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 1/16/09 at 10:41am

to
too
two

They mean different things.

Never saw the Broadway production. Didn't care for the London show. The book was wildly unfocused and didn't seem to know what or who it was about. Then it just suddenly ended with a rather limp fizzle. I didn't see what all the fuss was about other than Boy George's involvement and his rather talented celebrity imposter who played his character.

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 1/16/09 at 11:22am

and the fact that its a genuinely brilliant score

[MamasDoin'Fine]

Posted: 1/16/09 at 11:23am

Boy George just got sent to prison for 15 months for the false imprisonment of a male hooker!

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 1/16/09 at 11:46am

They only problem was opening in the dead of a crappy winter.

A problem. Far from the only problem. I adored this show. LOVED it. It's one of my favorite scores. But it had a lot of things wrong with it. Its failure was a compendium of problems both on the inside and the outside -- the PR mistakes, the media sabotage, yes, but the piece itself was deeply flawed.

Updated On: 1/16/09 at 11:46 AM

[fbueller]

Posted: 1/16/09 at 12:22pm

Has Rosie brought anything good to a project since her daytime talk show ended?

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 1/16/09 at 12:40pm

she did a lot of good with Taboo, like i said they were just to many people wanting to take control

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 1/16/09 at 12:51pm

She had AMAZING intentions. I don't doubt her love for the show, or that her heart was in the right place for a second. But she didn't know what she was doing, and she didn't know her limits as a producer.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 1/16/09 at 1:02pm

What exactly was the issue between Rosie and Raul...?

Or am I making something up? I thought there was some kind of blowup between the two of them. I'm assuming it was because he didn't agree with her handling of the show?

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 1/16/09 at 1:38pm

What was happening with the show as that too many people were tugging it in too many different ways -- all these different influences felt they knew what was best, and the show was just veering off-course. I guess she wanted to cut something that he didn't feel made sense, and would have hurt the continuity of the story down the line, so she made a comment about how maybe another performer could do it better, and he stormed out of rehearsal.

[amoni]

Posted: 1/16/09 at 2:15pm

Anyone can be a Monday Morning Quarterback. The fact is "The Rocky Horror Show", a London smash played only 45 performances on Broadway with most of the same cast. Even the movie flopped but when audiences finally saw it it blossomed and has now been performed all over the world. "Taboo" too, will live again.

[monkeybutt]

Posted: 6/2/09 at 10:55pm

this is actually all wrong. The true story is that during one of the final rehersals, Rosie told the cast that we have 3 days to get it right so lets do it from the beginning with no stops. But, Raúl Esparza stoped not once, not twice but three times. Roise told him he couldn't do it anymore and that upset Raul so he ripped off his costume, threw it at Rosie, quit, and walked out of the theatre.!