The first show I will be reviewing is the Boy George epic, “Taboo.” I bought tickets the day of with my old student ID (thanks to the lack of an expiration date) for half-price. They were 50 bucks a piece which is still pretty steep, but not for Broadway. I was accompanied by my lovely boyfriend Chris, who was probably one of ten heterosexual men in the audience. The night we went was a special benefit performance for people that had given money to Rosie O’Donnell’s Broadway Kids Program. Say what you want about her, she’s the only celebrity using her power and money to try to save the theatre and educate kids about it. Specifically New York Public School Kids, who have had the arts cut completely from their curriculum. So all the kids in her program got to perform a number from “Pippin” before theactual show started. It was super cute, those kids were great. They go through a ten-week program where they learn about all aspects of the theatre; technical, performance, and production. At the end of the ten weeks, they get to perform on a Broadway stage as well as see a show. How wonderful for these kids that live next door to these theatres and never have a chance to experience any of it. So yes, she may be an intolerable shrew, but she’s made Broadway cool and accessible to a lot of people. If you have extra money lying around, please give to the program.
Anyway, back to “Taboo.” It was the final week of previews. I wonder how long the run will last. I would say overall that the show was “good.” Boy George should really stick to pop and dance music. He’s just not a musical theatre composer. The songs are lacking in complexity. They are trying to be catchy pop tunes but the characters singing them lack the depth to pull that off. The music is usually not necessary to the plot, which weakens the show. My main issue with the music is the concept that each of the major characters had to have his or her huge musical moment. This means that act two is full of high drama ballads. They are sung marvelously, but they are unnecessary and over the top in most cases.
The book, by Charles Busch, while seemingly true to history, is again, far too simple. Not much happens, really. Boy leaves home, boy goes to club, boy records record, boy becomes pop star, boy becomes drug addict, boy recovers. The end. I wish they had added some more plot twists, true or not.
The performances are very strong overall. Boy George himself can’t act. But it was great to see him on stage in something like this. You can tell he’s having the time of his life. Raul Esparza, one of my favorite stage actors, is strong and funny. And what a raw powerful rock scream he has. I love him. His role of the narrator/friend is flat, but his comic timing made it good. The actor that plays the character of Boy George, Euan Morton, is phenominal. Acting, dancing, singing, all top notch. And sounds and looks identical to the Boy himself in his heyday. It is ingenious casting. Liz McCartney is also notable as Big Sue, mother fag-hag diva supreme.
What I appreciated quite a bit is that the female lead is obese. And it has nothing to do really with her character. Between this and “Hairspray,” there are starting to be roles for big girls on Bway for the first time in History! Finally. And her size has nothing to do with her character, which is even better.
The show took quite a few risks, which I appreciated. There was a fat chick, gay love scenes, and full on herion use on stage. These are things you don’t see, ever, on stage. All the time in film, but never on stage. Which is why the show will be unpopular with tourists from the Midwest and Japan that wanted to see happy dance numbers.
Finally, I must give a huge nod to Ms. Christine Bateman (Hair and Makeup) and Mike Nichols and Bobby Pearce (Costume Design). These people are creative geniuses. Each of the ensemble members had seemingly endless “looks,” as the action of the play moved from club to club and year to year. From punk to rock to glam to goth, the costumes and makeup were works of art. They must be seen to be believed. What I couldn’t understand is how Boy George would be on stage, color saturating each pore of his face, he would leave, and come back 5 minutes later in a totally different getup with different makeup! How do they do that!!! The show is worth seeing just for the visual aspects. I just wish the play itself were better.
Thats all!
