When Raúl Esparza stepped out on the stage of the Plymouth Theatre on Sunday, February 8, for the final performance of Taboo, the sold-out crowd of supporters and industry insiders roared with appreciation. Although many were simply cheering the start of the show, it seemed somehow specific that it was Esparza who stood alone on the stage receiving the applause. After all, Esparza entering stage right as still-alive artist Philip Sallon symbolizes so many of the driving forces of the 100-performance run of the show--the level of talent the project attracted, the heated debates that sometimes tore the team apart, the real-life people and stories that struck a chord with a pack of young theatergoers... Although Esparza was visibly moved by the attention, he kept it together and kicked off a kick-ass final blowout at the Club Taboo.

The cheers actually started a few minutes earlier, when producer Rosie O'Donnell walked to her orchestra seat a couple of rows behind me, receiving a standing ovation. After she silenced the crowd, O'Donnell pleaded with them to register to vote (she wore an anti-George Bush button on her lapel) and promised that her beleaguered show would be back. It was the most upbeat O'Donnell proved to be at the show--when I caught her eye at intermission, her face was wet with tears and onlookers say she was distraught for most of the performance. (Similarly distraught was musical theater icon Stephen Sondheim, who engaged in a shouting match with a sassy usher over the proper way to line up for the men's room during intermission. When I asked her later in the evening if she knew who she was yelling at, she said, "Stephen who?" and told me she was tempted to "push him down the stairs." Oy!)

It was my third time seeing Taboo, after previous visits on Halloween and at the same press performance that was attended by all of the major New York critics, most of whom wound up ripping apart the show, mentioning O'Donnell as much as possible. My feelings about Taboo were pretty much consistent throughout--although I never warmed to the Sallon and Big Sue storytelling device, I found the first act to be pretty damn fun, even if the second half meandered a bit with the Behind the Music treatment of Boy George's out-of-control life and an overabundance of ballads. (But don't ask me which one to cut--I love them all!)

If it wasn't the strongest performance vocally, the final Taboo showed off the musical in its best possible form. Although I found Esparza a bit over-the-top in the show's early performances, he'd relaxed into the role by the end of the run, offering a more touching take on his character's eccentricities. Of course, he once again nailed the Act Two solo "Petrified," (despite some awkwardly-applied fake blood), which earned him key-change applause from the worshipping crowd. Also getting the clap for their powerhouse solos were Liz McCartney (who got the biggest laughs of the night when announcing that Big Sue works in an unemployment office--"Ironic, isn't it?") and Sarah Uriarte Berry. I don't really feel the need to tell you once again that Jeffrey Carlson and Euan Morton were spot-on as Marilyn and Boy George. Let's hope the Tony nominating committee doesn't blank on the talents of Taboo.

Sure to get a Tony nomination is Boy George himself, who surprised the skeptic in me by providing a knockout score for his Broadway debut. When he made his entrance from a bathroom stall on Sunday night, the audience went wild, leaping to its feet in appreciation. George didn't milk the moment, however. Instead, he offered a touching farewell during Leigh's final song, "Ich Bin Kunst," taking to the lip of the stage to thank Rosie and his fans (and even throw in a timely Janet Jackson boobie joke) and to tell us all that he felt fabulous and lucky to have the experience of the show. Then he simply reentered his glass exhibition case, did a "wipe" with his hand and went right back into the character, letting old friend Leigh die with dignity one last time. Classy boy that George is!

As for O'Donnell's promise of a comeback, I hear it may be sooner than anyone is expecting and most likely off-Broadway, where many felt it should have gone in the first place. At the small, low-key closing party at Barrymore's across the street from the Plymouth (a mozzarella sticks and beer bottles sort of affair), O'Donnell talked script rewrite ideas with book writer Charles Busch and cast members while her ever-present documentary cameras rolled. It's hard to say who would be able to do the show if it was revived in the near future. Many of the Taboo leads have jobs lined up and some others seem to have just moved on. Still, I say go for it, Rosie. Strike while the iron is hot!

19TH (CENTURY) NERVOUS BREAKDOWN
I don't care what the critics or my disgruntled colleagues who sat around me on opening night said about Paul Rudnick's latest, Valhalla at New York Theatre Workshop--I thought it was quite an accomplishment. Weaving together the stories of two gay men way ahead of their times--Ludwig II, the 19th century "Mad King of Bavaria" and James, a fictional teen wildly comfortable in his outcast skin in 1930s Texas--the show overcomes some forced first act comedy to become genuinely touching in its fantastical resolution.

The cast and crew packed into NYU hangout Fuel at Phoebe's for a candlelit opening night party. I caught up with Rudnick, who was clearly exhausted by the last six months, which brought the critical drubbing of the long-delayed flick Marci X, the stressful shoot of his remake of The Stepford Wives (in theaters May 11) and the birth of Valhalla, undoubtedly his most challenging play to date. What's next for Rudnick? "Complete nervous collapse," he quipped, only half-kidding.

Rudnick said he's long been fascinated by Ludwig, who is regarded for the castles he built during his lifetime, one of which inspired the Snow White castle at the Disney theme parks. "I visited his castles," Rudnick explained. "They're built like stage sets and they're still in perfect condition." When I asked if Ludwig's palaces felt gay (a description one of Valhalla's character uses), Rudnick retorted: "They feel gay, but they go beyond all gender preference categories. They're for anyone who's ever sent a valentine, read a fairy tale, seen a movie… There's something cinematic and sweeping about them."

Speaking of cinema, Rudnick says he's thrilled with The Stepford Wives, but still hurt by his experiences on Marci X, which underwent extreme edits during its long delay. "It was kind of the worst experience of my life," he said point blank. "It was sad. The final film bears absolutely no resemblance to my script, so it was kind of disheartening." Since I had his attention, I pumped Rudnick for info about a rumored lost scene from the film which had Broadway babies Veanne Cox, Jane Krakowski and Sherie Rene Scott singing a Titanic spoof called "My Heart Will Explode (Love Theme from Hindenberg)." "You're a cult of one," he shrieked, in shock over my inside knowledge of a film that only grossed $1.5 million. "Yes, it was an absolutely wonderful number that after 9/11 became horribly unfunny."

While we're on the subject of misbegotten movies I adore, Valhalla features Peter Frechette as Ludwig. Frechette, who, no matter how many acclaimed stage roles he nails, will to me always be Louis DiMucci, the horny teen he played in 1982's Grease 2. "Go ahead!" he said when I sheepishly asked if I could talk about the flick, a milestone of my childhood. "I'm totally proud of Grease 2! I still get recognized from it all the time, even though I made it 22-and-a-half years ago!" Lapsing into fan mode, I asked him whether he's sung his Grease 2 seduction song, "Let's Do It For Our Country" anytime recently. Shockingly he said yes, revealing that he was basically forced into doing it at the Williamstown Cabaret while he starred in Once in a Lifetime in the summer of 2002. "You know what?" he said, getting downright misty at the memory. "It was one of the high points of my entire life! It was like going back to something that had been sleeping in me for 20 years. It was just amazing."

Does Frechette share my dream of a stage production of the underrated movie musical? "Sure," he answered. "I don't know why the Weisslers don't just throw it together and get all of us that were in it to play the teachers!" YESSS! Barry and Fran, are you listening?!?

GREEK TO ME
Satisfied after receiving a pat on the back for my Grease 2 obsession from Louis DiMucci himself, I taxied from East Village to West. The destination? Waverly Place, where Greek gal Olympia Dukakis was leading a Greek-style conga line through Gus Theordoro's charming restaurant, Gus' Place, in celebration of the start of performances for the Aquila Theatre Company production of the Greek tragedy, Agememnon. Greek, Greek, Greek! It was so much to take in for a (mostly) Polish boy like myself!

Heading to the bar, I ran into Dukakis' husband of 40+ years, Louis Zorich, who is starring as Agamemnon to her Clytemnestra. Zorich was thrilled with the audience reaction to the show in New York compared to the audiences at SUNY-Purchase, where Agamennon started. "They laughed at a lot of the funny parts tonight," he boasted. "The audiences at Purchase did not laugh at all. So we decided right away that these people knew the play and that was great!" Zorich told me that he and Dukakis became interested in working with Aquila after catching their hit Turkish-flavored 2002 production of Comedy of Errors. Said Zorich: "I have never laughed so hard... And I'm not lying. Most actors are full of shit... I never laughed so hard at a Shakespeare comedy. I said, 'Who are these Aquila people?!'"

Although Dukakis immediately got pulled into doing work on Agememnon, Zorich was more or less duped into taking on the title role. "One day I said to Olympia, 'What are you doing?' And she said, 'We're doing a workshop. You're coming to watch.'" When he got to the rehearsal space, he sat in the audience watching a member of the chorus read the part of Agamemnon. "At one point," he recalled. "[Director] Robert Richmond said, 'Why don't you just read it? Just for us.'" As you may have guessed, Zorich found himself cast in the role by week's end, whether he liked it or not! (Just kidding--he likes it, he likes it!)

"Let's get away from the fire," Dukakis said to me, as she pulled me away from the blazing fireplace and into the next room. Looking like a hip downtown actress in black leather and swirling a tequila on the rocks, she looked years younger than she did in her last appearance on the New York stage in Rose, which I loved at London's National Theatre but missed during a brief Broadway run. "Wasn't it great?" she cooed. "It got trashed! [New York Times critic] Bruce Weber trashed it. It was a wonderful play, so deserving to be in the repertory and for people to see it." No wonder Rose playwright Martin Sherman chartered safer territories for his Broadway follow-up, The Boy from Oz, which is helping pay his rent no matter what the Times said!

I had to ask Dukakis what she thought about the in-the-works musical version of Moonstruck, the film that won her a mantle-ful of prizes: an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, a BAFTA prize and honors from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and the National Board of Review. "They're doing it without me, I'm afraid," she said. "Without me!" Well, in that case, who did she think should play her role? "I don't know," she replied. "Donna Murphy? I think Donna Murphy can do everything! What can't she do?" Hell, sounds good to me. Donna? You in?

REVISITING: THE LION KING
Continuing with my series of revisiting some of Broadway's old chestnuts, I decided to pay a second visit to The Lion King, the Disney hit that's been running for six and a half years at the New Amsterdam Theatre. It's with great sadness that I write this just days after learning about the suicide of original Simba, Jason Raize, whose engaging performance burned in my mind the entire time I watched the show last week. Even though he'd left the role in 2000, Raize's spirit is definitely present at The Lion King, even today.

I haven't been back to The Lion King since my initial visit simply because it's not one of my favorite shows. That's not to say that I don't think director/costume designer Julie Taymor is a genius--because she is. In adapting the hit animated film, she took Disney down a higher road than its more literal Beauty and the Beast, and created a one-of-a-kind world for the show, filled with magic and artistry. The opening number, were all of the animals of the kingdom come together onstage remains a jaw-dropper.

Even if it took on a whole new life as a stage piece, I have to say that something essential was lost in The Lion King's transition from screen to stage. I believe it's mostly in the length--the compact 89-minute film has been fleshed out in unnecessary ways, adding an hour to the running time yet not to the plot. Instead, we get a series of long modern dance scenes by Tony winner Garth Fagan that threaten to make the show feel like--to quote one of its songs--an "Endless Night."

My other quibble is in the acting style of the performers in the show, many of whom are asked to sound like film counterparts such as Nathan Lane and Whoopi Goldberg. Still, even if they don't provide fresh takes on their roles, the company boasts a number of notable performances--especially Patrick Page as Scar, Josh Tower as Simba, Alton Fitzgerald White as Mufasa, Kissy Simmons as Nala, Mpume Sikakane as Rifiki and Danny Rutigliano and Tom Alan Robbins, original cast members who continue to delight audiences as Timon and Pumbaa.

Despite my reservations with the show, you can't deny the power of Taymor's stage magic and many of the Elton John/Tim Rice songs. Beth Stevens, Broadway.com's Managing Editor, who accompanied me, perhaps said it best as we were leaving the theater scanning the mostly foreign tourist crowd: "I think they feel like they're getting their money's worth." Indeed. And hey--there's nothing wrong with that.

Next Week: Mamma Mia!

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That's it for now. Talk to you next week. Please e-mail me any of your questions, comments or critiques!

Paul Wontorek
Editor-in-Chief

For an archive of old Stage Note columns, click here.