The Company of La Cage aux Folles. Photo Johan PerssonBased on the 1973 French play by Jean Poiret, Harvey Fierstein’s book was given the musical treatment by Jerry Herman and ran for more than four years, winning a clutch of Tony awards into the bargain. Now, forming part of the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre’s summer season, audiences can once again enjoy the frenzied antics of Georges and Albin the owners of a cabaret drag bar in St Tropez whose son returns home to announce he is engaged to the daughter of a local politician whose stated ambition is to close such venues as head of the Tradition, Family and Morality Party. Cover-ups, disguises and general misdirection ensue, with honesty and openness finally being deemed the best policy for all concerned. As a plot, it hardly stretches anything — save perhaps, a little credulity — but that was always its charm, and thankfully this incarnation has lost none of it.
To be wholly successful, any production of La Cage… depends on a director possessed of a thorough understanding of French farce together with the skills of an exceptional choreographer — thankfully here, the venue’s artistic director Tim Sheader (enjoying a swan song before moving over to the Donmar Warehouse) clearly has some understanding and has sensibly leaned on the ever-dependable Stephen Mear to bring the vital choreographic elements to life.
As you would imagine, The Open Air venue is a magical setting in which to stage work, but also presents its own set of very specific environmental challenges particularly in relation to sound (passing helicopters) and lighting (which invariably attracts the odd moth… or many) and in the case of the first press night on Tuesday, the weather. Whilst that show was abandoned after a fair chunk of the first half had been concluded, this reviewer was able to return last evening where the whole glorious spectacle was revealed with markedly less performance reservation (slippery surfaces can be hell to tackle with confidence in heels)!
With the splash of strong northern accents peppered throughout the cast, the staging feels closer to Betty Legs Diamond’s Blackpool home, but none of that matters when drama, passion and the sound of an accordion holds sway on a stage bathed in riviera lighting. The songs are old fashioned and sweetly romantic in the loveliest way possible with the exception of I Am What I Am, which in the context of the show is a stand-out powerhouse torch song to end the first half, and in this particular production taps a level of heartbreaking defiance in the face of unnecessary cruelty, which literally takes the breath away.
The production doesn’t attempt to compete with the original’s 80s glamour, but in many ways, its slightly faded seaside kitsch feels closer to Poiret’s original intentions. And yes, some minor characters are over-played, but if you can’t allow a little lee-way in a show which celebrates sequins, feathers, wigs and corsets, then when can you?
Nowadays with RuPaul’s Drag Race beamed in everyone’s living room and mainstream shows like Kinky Boots, Everyone’s Talking About Jamie and others, it would be easy to think of La Cage… as twee, dated and wholly of its time. In reality, this show is as far from a tired warhorse as it is possible to get and despite tapping into a nostalgic naïveté (especially given the dangers faced by openly gay men of the time) it will stir profound memories for many and provide others with laugh out loud moments and a joyous celebration of the performance arts in general. The Best of Times is a rousing company number which never fails to bring a lump to the throat and a desire to sing and sway along (at least in one’s head).
The company are universally ebullient and talented, but special mention has to go to Billy Carter as Georges, Carl Mullaney as Albin (aka Zsa Zsa) and Ben Culleton as Jean-Michel.
