Boy George as Leigh Bowery in Taboo
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Concert Returns Boy George to Taboo Birthplace

Boy George will return to the West End this winter – to the theatre from which he launched his cult hit musical Taboo nearly eight years ago – with his new live concert. Boy George in Concert Up Close and Personal runs at the Leicester Square Theatre for ten nights only from 20 to 30 December 2009.

As part of Culture Club, Boy George was one of Britain's biggest stars in the 1980s, and it was from that decade that he took his inspiration for Taboo, which premiered on 29 January 2002 (previews from 11 January) at Leicester Square, then called The Venue. The theatre space was specially created for the production in the crypt of a church. After the show closed, following a 15-month run, the venue remained; it has since been rebranded and renovated and was relaunched last year as the Leicester Square Theatre.

Taboo told the story of a young photographer named Billy who launched himself onto the Eighties club scene in London and meeting along the way many of the era’s most notorious personalities, including Leigh Bowery, Marilyn, Steve Strange, Philip Sallon and George himself.

While Taboo included snippets of some Culture Club classics, George wrote 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". Post-opening, George went on to join the cast and made his stage acting debut playing performance artist Leigh Bowery, a part he reprised when Taboo transferred to Broadway, where it was Tony nominated.

His musical writing debut was one of many of Boy George’s reinventions since his Culture Club heyday. While his personal life has sometimes propelled him back into the headlines, he has had professional successes as a DJ, artist, photographer and fashion designer as well as a singer-songwriter. In 2008, he returned to singing live after a ten-year absence.

In Boy George in Concert Up Close and Personal, he sings his biggest Culture Club hits as well as songs from his solo career, new pieces and cover versions. The dates at the 400-seat Leicester Square Theatre precede a 2010 European tour.

- by Terri Paddock

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