- Bad Boy Johnny and the Prophets of Doom
"Bad Boy Johnny and the Prophets of Doom" is a highly controversial stage musical written by
Daniel Abineri and is asatire on religion and rock'n'roll.It premiered in
Melbourne in1989 and featured a youngRussell Crowe in the title role. "Bad Boy Johnny" enjoyed a six-month run inMelbourne andSydney , won twoInternational Pater Award s for bestlibretto and score, and spawned a cast album onWEA Records and a top ten single "Enemy The Sun".In
1994 "Bad Boy Johnny" was re-mounted at The Union Chapel inIslington London , starringCraig Ferguson andThen Jerico frontman Mark Shaw. The production became a cause celebre and made front page news when an order of iratenun s, the London arm ofOpus Dei , "The Daily Telegraph "'s theatre criticCharles Spencer and theChurch Council of Great Britain complained that it was "offensive and blasphemous." After a spate ofbomb threat s the production closed down after just nine performances.ynopsis
Born on the wrong side of the tracks to a single mother and part time
prostitute called Mary, Johnny steals his firstguitar and forms a band, The Prophets Of Doom. He is discovered and managed by his evil parish priest Father Maclean.Booked onto an Idol-type show called "Have Your Say", Johnny is voted by the public as the person the world would like to see as the new
Pontiff . However, the current incumbent, the obese Pope Liberty III, is not going to step down. Enter Johnny’s number one fan Desire who, disguised as a nun, tries to seduce Liberty, leading him to die of a massive heart attack.So Johnny is ordained as the peoples’ Pope. However, he learns that Maclean
rape d his mother in theconfessional box when she was just sixteen and that he is in fact Johnny’s father. Things get even worse for Johnny when it then transpires that Maclean murdered Mary in order to get his hands on Johnny. Johnny swears revenge, so Maclean plans to have his client assassinated live on his TV show ‘The Vatican Tonite’. After all there’s more profit in a dead prophet.External links
http://www.badboyjohnny.com website about the musical
* [http://www.iht.com/articles/1994/02/02/london.php International Herald Tribute referencing play]
* [http://www.myspace.com/johnnyandtheprophets Myspace entry]
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