‘Oscar’: wildly unsuccessful
Like the career of its subject, London’s latest musical began in a blaze of publicity, set tongues wagging and ended, prematurely, in disgrace.
Written, produced and directed by Mike Read, a radio DJ whose fame peaked in the 1980s, “Oscar Wilde” set out, according to its publicity material, to chart Wilde’s “tragic descent from idolization to isolation.” The script was written entirely in rhyming couplets.
It opened Tuesday at the 500-seat Shaw Theatre. It closed the next day after receiving excoriating reviews and selling just five tickets for its second performance.
Read, undeterred, is working on a new musical -- a tribute to the campy 1970s disco act the Village People.
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