Broadway maven and former talk-show host Rosie O'Donnell hopes to bring Boy George's hit London musical, Taboo, to Broadway.
O'Donnell told New York Daily News columnists Rush and Molloy, "I know it'll be a huge hit. It's got heart, humor and art — all the things I love." O'Donnell has appeared on The Great White Way in Grease! and Seussical, but this would mark her first stint as producer.
Taboo mixes fact with fiction as it tells a love story against a backdrop of the gallery of characters who helped make the 1980's London club scene the most exciting in the world. Among these were Steve Strange, Leigh Bowery, Marilyn and Philip Sallon and Boy George himself. The show at The Venue — a converted church hall off Leicester Square — is directed by award-winning West End and Broadway director Christopher Renshaw. For tickets and further information, call the box office at 011 44 870 899 3335.
In related news, O'Donnell is also at work on a new play with John McDaniel, the musical director for her now-ended talk-show "The Rosie O'Donnell Show." In an earlier interview for Playbill On-Line, McDaniel explained that the new play is based on O'Donnell's best-selling book, "Find Me." "[Rosie is] so wildly talented in so many ways," McDaniel said, "and how she expresses herself [in the book] is so unique, and it's a great story."
The play will be a two character piece starring O'Donnell and an actress who has yet to be cast. "The other actress will play the smaller parts and will do the majority of the singing," McDaniel revealed, "since, as Ro says, 'At 90 dollars a seat, you don't want to just hear me sing.' [Laughs.] But it's going to be fun. I'm creating it, collaborating on it with her . . . We've explored a lot of different directions, [but we] don't know exactly where it will wind up, but it's a fun process." When asked about the time frame for the mounting of the work, McDaniel said, "We had initially shot for the fall, but I think that was just too much pressure too soon. It could be the spring, or possibly the following fall." —By Andrew Gans
and Theatrenow
