‘Quality songs, witty one-liners and exuberant performances’
bbc.co.uk (about Taboo – the Boy George musical by Mark Davies Markham)

It’s Bolton, 1952. The year that rationing ended. Marie works with Joe in her domineering father’s café, Fat Franks. She imagines one day eloping and becoming a singer in a jazz band. Joe daydreams of another life in a better place. Marie loves Joe and he loves her, but they dare not show it.

But Joe’s parallel worlds are more than just escapist fantasy. Joe is suffering flashbacks. He’s traumatised from his time as a soldier in World War II. To escape, he imagines Fat Franks is Frankie’s Bar and Grill in New Orleans. The gumbo boils, he’s the ladies’ favourite and he’s in the hometown of his idol, Louis Prima. And just like Louis, Joe plays the trumpet in Frankie’s Bar and Grill. But Joe’s flashbacks are getting worse. Torn between fantasy and reality he confesses all to Marie. She leaves to find fame and fortune in New Orleans. Joe follows. Will love conquer all? Will Marie and Joe make sweet music together in New Orleans?

Mark Davies Markham, best known for Taboo – the Boy George musical (nominated for 4 Laurence Olivier Awards including Best Musical, 2004), has written Just A Gigolo especially for The Octagon Theatre’s 40th Anniversary Season. This new musical takes you on a wild journey through the backstreets of Bolton to the downtown magic of New Orleans. Love, romance and voodoo entwine with the infectious rhythm and jazz of classic jump, jive and swing.

Following the Octagon’s previous summer smashes, Eight Miles High (2005), Blonde Bombshells of 1943 (2006) and Song of Singapore (2007), Just A Gigolo promises another unique musical odyssey through fifties Bolton and New Orleans.

Booking Information: