Welcome to the world of Taboo, the club that everyone wants to be a part of.

I honestly don’t know much about art. I do know that to me, “Taboo” (the musical written by Boy George and funded by Rosie O’Donnell—it was a huge joke back in 2003) is the greatest musical I’ve ever heard. Sadly, I never got to actually see it; it closed before I could get to New York City in time to see it. However, I have listened to and memorized all of the music on the original Broadway cast album (as well as watched its original London incarnation on a DVD I specially ordered from the UK).
My mom brought it home with a slew of other OBC (original broadway cast) albums to check out, since I sometimes am way into showtunes. It was the first and only one I picked up, and the one I’ve taken with me every day since.
Boy George of the 80’s-90’s pop band Culture Club wrote all the music and lyrics to this musical. Some songs were taken from his 1996 solo album “Cheapness and Beauty” (I know this because I have the album), but there are a few original songs he penned himself. The cast includes Euan Morton as Boy George, Boy George himself as Leigh Bowery, and my absolute favorite musical theatre actor of all time, Raul Esparza as Philip Sallon.
I don’t know what makes it innovative. I think, though, that it’s one of the first non-jukebox musicals with a pop/rock feel that isn’t condescending in tone or overdone (definitely paving the way for the extremely popular Spring Awakening). Technically, it is a jukebox musical, which is a hot commodity nowadays, but at the same time, it’s not.
The songs are written by the former lead singer of an 80’s pop band, but they still have so much heart and feeling. It must not just be me who feels this, but I know this musical practically reached cult status by the beginning of 2004. People who were truly touched by this, who felt the character of George’s pain. Regardless of the fact it only ran for 100 performances, the fact that people from all over the country, even the world, came to see this musical… well, that must mean something.
As for me, I don’t know much about art. I know that this touched me in a way I couldn’t describe before. The culture, the life, the music. Raul Esparza is an actor who can show us the intensity of everything he does just by opening his mouth. Listening to the first video I’ve posted, you can hear how good he is and how well he can take the character on. (The task of becoming these characters is also quite a hard one, seeing as most of the characters are still alive today.)
I don’t feel much when I hear or see musicals, except a bit of envy. For “Taboo”, I felt something, an entire gamut of emotions—lovestruck, alone, depressed, accepted, loved—that still pop up every time I hear this musical on my iPod. My only regret is I never got to see it performed onstage. I can only hope that someday there is a revival, and the original cast comes back to perform in it.
p.s. that’s totally never happening.



two different videos, because i couldn't choose just one:
http://www.euanmorton.com/multimedia/video/taboolastshowstranger.htm