Boy George made headlines last week when he withdrew from the West End production of Jesus Christ Superstar.  He was supposed to appear as King Herod from August 2^nd through the 15^th as part of an alternating cast.  His departure was related to his latest song, called “We Will Dance Again”, about the Hamas attacks on Israel in which he refers to pro-Palestine supporters as “sheep”.  Of course, the timing couldn’t be worse – for him to play the man who condemned Christ to death was a bit too art-imitating-life-imitating-the-Bible!  But some insiders from rehearsals for the show claim he withdrew because producers questioned if he could get through the show.  Of course, Boy has other theatre credits, including playing Harold Zidler in the Broadway production of Moulin Rouge!  The Musical earlier this spring.  Even that has come into question via a post from Patrick Clanton, a member of that show’s ensemble (and an occasional Zidler himself): “Y’know, I used to defend his performance in our show, but fuck it.  He was a terrible performer and I was embarrassed to be in the show with him.  Boy, Bye!”

Not a good week for UK theatre.  Ariana Grande has suddenly dropped out of her planned reunion with Jonathan Bailey in next summer’s West End revival of Sunday in the Park with George.  According to her reps, “Ariana will be taking a step back from visibility after she completes the Eternal Sunshine Tour.  She looks forward to finishing the tour and ending it on a high note, both healthily and happily, and then taking a much-deserved break from public-facing work and appearances, which has led to endless, ongoing public scrutiny.”  It won’t be much of a break.  She stars in Focker-in-Law, which opens the day before Thanksgiving and will undoubtedly require weeks of “public-facing appearances” leading up to its release.  No rest for the wicked, I guess.

Since I took a week off from Provincetown, I missed running into my old WeHo neighbor, Jonathan Bennett.  And what did he do in Ptown?  Went to see Jamie Morris’ hysterical Golden Mean Girls, naturally!  I’m told he really enjoyed the show and was laughing heartily.  Afterwards, he stopped to take photos with the cast, saying that he’s seen lots of Mean Girl parodies, but nothing as clever and unique.  I can attest to that!  Catch it at the Post Office Café and Cabaret (PostOfficeCafe.net).  Of course, a photo of him and the cast can be seen on BillyMasters.com.