I reviewed Taboo, the new Rosie O’Donnell-produced musical about Boy George, and The Caretaker, the Roundabout Theatre Company’s revival of Harold Pinter’s 1960 play, in this morning’s Wall Street Journal.
Taboo was terrible:
Rumors about the mind-boggling awfulness of “Taboo,” which opened last night, have been circulating for weeks. I wish I could say I ignored them, but such whispers often turn out to be all too true, and once again, the whisperers were right on the money. Not since “Urban Cowboy” has Broadway been littered with so much smoldering wreckage. If Max Bialystock and Leo Bloom had produced “Taboo” instead of “Springtime for Hitler,” they’d have stayed out of jail….
The Caretaker was really good:
Don’t be put off by Mr. Pinter’s reputation for inaccessibility (or the whiny anti-Americanism of his post-9/11 public statements). His school-of-Beckett style may have hardened into mannerism long ago, but “The Caretaker” is still fresh and fine, and this production, well acted by all three players and directed with deceptive clarity by David Jones, is a superior piece of work….
No link (gnashing of teeth), so to read the whole thing, including shorter reviews of two new off-Broadway shows, Fame on 42nd Street and Bright Ideas, do the usual. Extract dollar (A) from wallet (B), proceed to the nearest newsstand, buy today’s Journal, turn to the “Weekend Journal” section (on whose front page you’ll find me), and revel in the rest of our excellent arts coverage. Got that? Good.