50 Favourite Musicals: 16: TABOO (2002) (Boy George, Kevan Frost, John Themis, Richie Stevens / Boy George)

The 50 shows that have stood out down the years and, as we get up among the paint cards, the shows that have become the cast recording of my life:

 First performed: 2002, Venue Theatre

First seen by me: as above

Productions seen: one

Score: Boy George, Kevan Frost, John Themis, Richie Stevens
Book: Mark Davies

Plot: The fictional Billy James leaves his drab suburban life for the excitement of Soho and London in the early 1980s, where he witnesses the rivalry between underground club icons Leigh Bowery and Philip Salon and the birth of a pop icon as George O'Dowd becomes Boy George...

Five memorable numbers: PETRIFIED, STRANGER IN THIS WORLD, TALK AMONG YOURSELVES, LOVE IS A QUESTION MARK, OUT OF FASHION

There hopefully comes a moment when you are seeing a new musical when you realize the show really has won you over and you can just RELAX - the show is working and you have heard enough of the score to know it will be a keeper.  With Boy George's TABOO that magical moment happened about a third of the way in when two of the fictional characters in the show, Billy and Kim, realize that their verbal fencing is hiding the fact that they are in love but are too scared to give in to these feelings.  There are bigger numbers in the show but "Love Is A Question Mark" was so well-placed and winningly performed by Lucy Newton and Luke Evans that it hit that new musical sweet spot.  It also confirmed that rather than just a jukebox show squeezing in any Culture Club song to fit a plot moment, Boy George had written an excellent musical theatre score - I had already heard scene-setting ensemble numbers, an 'I want' number, an introspective solo and a comedy duet - and there was more to come!  My Saturday matinee ticket came through my Flashbanks shop customer Adam Longworth who was on that afternoon playing the larger-than-life club legend and designer Leigh Bowery and he was excellent in the role.  But the show was packed with vital performances that spilled off the split-level stage and filled the intimate space of The Venue off Leicester Square.

In the two main roles Euan Morton was sensational as the mouthy young George O'Dowd finding fame but not happiness as Boy George and Paul Baker was on Olivier Award-winning form as the eccentric Philip Sallon.  Lyn Paul was surprisingly good as Josie, Billy's put-upon mother who also discovers liberation in Soho, David Burt gave two contrasting examples of toxic masculinity, John Partridge was a charismatic Marilyn and Drew Jaymson as Steve Strange was marvellous in the "Out Of Fashion" quartet.  In later visits to Christopher Renshaw's production, we saw Declan Bennett as Billy, Jackie Clune and Mari Wilson as contrasting Josies, and finally we saw Boy George himself as Leigh Bowery, an extraordinary and dangerous performance - it was a terrifying experience when he came into the audience during ICH BIN KUNST, his ad-libs were toxic but delicious!  US star Rosie O'Donnell saw the show and personally produced it on Broadway - TABOO ran for nearly a year and a half in London but on Broadway it ran for only three unhappy months.  TABOO was re-written for New York with new characters and songs added and in the melee of all this, the theatre columnist for The New York Post Michael Reidel took aim at Rosie O'Donnell and put out bad publicity on a regular basis about the show and despite a devoted audience following it was not enough to survive.  Despite all this, it achieved four Tony Award nominations including a deserved nod for Boy George's excellent score.  The Broadway production also won Euan Morton a Theatre World Award and Raul Esparza won a Drama Desk Award for his performance as Philip Sallon.  TABOO's Broadway life is wonderfully covered in Dori Berinstein's documentary film SHOWBUSINESS: THE ROAD TO BROADWAY but more wonderful than that, the original London production was filmed and released on DVD and while it would never win any awards for filming, it does capture the excitement of being in that theatre for that show.  Another reason TABOO is very special show for me as it was Owen and I's first Christmas theatre trip.

So... what to choose to illustrate this fabulous show?  Here is Euan Morton as George and his spine-chilling rendition of STRANGER IN THIS WORLD with contributions from Luke Evans and Lyn Paul

but I have to include the Boy himself so here he is singing ICH BIN KUNST, recreating Leigh Bowery's 1988 'residency' in the windows of the Anthony d'Offay gallery in Bond Street...