Not Safe in the City: Taboo Will Close on February 8

The Broadway production of Taboo will be closing on Sunday, February 8, according to a production representative. The show, which is playing at the Plymouth Theatre, opened on November 13; at the time of its closing, it will have played 16 previews and 100 performances.

Produced by Rosie O’Donnell and directed by Christopher Renshaw, Taboo chronicles the London club scene in the early 1980s and focuses on the intertwining stories of pop icon Boy George’s rise to popularity and the life and death of performance artist Leigh Bowery. The musical features a score by Boy George, who also stars as Bowery. The cast includes Euan Morton (playing the young Boy George), Raúl Esparza, Liz McCartney, Jeffrey Carlson, Sarah Uriarte Berry, and Cary Shields.

A press release concerning the show’s closing contained the following quote from O’Donnell: “Taboo was by far the most fulfilling experience of my career. Many lessons were learned, and so it goes. For this experience I am profoundly grateful and have no regrets.”

In his review of Taboo for TheaterMania, David Finkle wrote: “Sequences in the show that involve the pursuit of notoriety, unfulfilling homosexual liaisons, AIDS deaths, and composite boyfriends are pale echos of the already pale echos in recent gay-themed musicals that have failed to break through the bar of mediocrity.” Finkle also opined that, “At their best, Leigh Bowery and Boy George may have been Art with a capital ‘A,’ but too much of Taboo is commerce with a small ‘c.'”