Boy George, photo by Ken Tsang
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Boy George Debuts in Taboo But With No Late Nights

As reported in last month's News, pop star Boy George makes his stage acting debut this week at The Venue, Leicester Square. From tonight, 7 May 2002, and for six weeks only, he will play his late friend and outrageous 1980s performance artist Leigh Bowery in his self-penned musical Taboo.

In a change to the published schedule, however, the show will not be playing late nights on Friday. Taboo, which has frequently experimented with its performance times, has had to scrap its plans for a second Friday night performance at 10.30pm after running foul of licensing laws. The revised schedule is now set as Monday to Saturday evening performances at 8.00pm, Wednesday matinees at 2.30pm and Saturday matinees at 3.00pm.

Boy George (pictured at the recent Whatsonstage.com Group Outing to Taboo) takes over from Matt Lucas in the Bowery role. From 17 June, he'll be succeeded by former Neighbours and Big Breakfast star Mark Little, previously seen in the West End in the hit one-man show Defending the Caveman. Also new to the cast is former New Seekers' singer and Blood Brothers star Lyn Paul, who takes over from Gemma Craven as Josie. Other cast members - including Luke Evans, Mark McGee and Euan Morton who plays the young Boy George - will remain with the show, now booking up to 14 September 2002.

Boy George was one of Britain's biggest stars in the 1980s and it's from that decade that he takes his inspiration for Taboo. It's the story of Billy, a naïve young man who launches himself onto London's vibrant club scene during the "decadent" decade and finds romance in the process. Many of the era's most notorious personalities - including Marilyn, Steve Strange, Leigh Bowery, Philip Sallon and George himself - appear as supporting characters on Billy's journey.

While Taboo includes snippets of some Culture Club classics, George has written an original score with all-new songs including "Ode to Attention Seekers", "Stranger in this World", "Love Is a Question Mark", "Guttersnipe", "Touched by the Hand of Cool", "Out of Fashion" and "Pie in the Sky". The musical has a book by This Life writer Mark Davies, with designs by Tim Goodchild, lighting by Chris Ellis and choreography by Les Childs. It’s directed by Christopher Renshaw, who's also directing the Queen-Ben Elton musical We Will Rock You, and is produced by Adam Kenwright.

- by Terri Paddock

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