[NEohioPAL] Review of "La Cage Aux Folles" at PlayhouseSquare

[Bob Abelman]

'La Cage' on tour is a bit of a drag

 

Bob Abelman

 

News-Herald, Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times,

The Morning Journal, Geauga Times Courier

Member, American Theatre Critics Association 

 

This review will appear in the News-Herald on 11/11/11

 

One would think that the allure of a Broadway show would be enough to fill a local theater when the show goes on national tour.   Yet, a rising and disturbing trend is the artificial sweetening of these traveling productions with minor celebrities to help inspire ticket sales.  

 

Cameo appearances that have recently come through PlayhouseSquare include Taylor Hicks in Grease, Tom Wopat in Chicago and Richard Chamberlin in Spamalot.  The national tour of Legally Blond featured two performers who earned their spots by competing in an eight-episode reality show on MTV. and being runners up.

 

The pseudo-celebrity du jour in the national tour of La Cage Aux Folles, which hit the road just last month and is currently on stage at the Palace Theatre, is septuagenarian TV and film star George Hamilton.   

 

The risk of putting people famous for something other than musical theater into musical theater is that there is often little left once the novelty wears off.  Such was the case with Hicks, Wopat and, to a lesser degree, Chamberlin.  Such is certainly the case with Hamilton.

 

Tan and toothy only go so far, for Hamilton is limited vocally, physically and emotionally in comparison to professional theater standards.  Although suave, dapper and full of good intentions, which places the audience firmly in his corner and hoping for the best, his presence almost immediately becomes a distraction and his lack of stage presence and wherewithal slowly sucks the energy out of an otherwise fine production.

La Cage Aux Folles tells the story of Georges, played by Hamilton, who is the owner of a glitzy, drag queen nightclub in Saint-Tropez. His business and romantic partner Albin, played by Broadway veteran Christopher Sieber, is also the club's star attraction.  

Much of the show's comedy, written by Harvey Fierstein and directed by Terry Johnson, and most of the charming songs, written by Jerry Herman and directed by Joey Chancey, are in response to a surprise visit from Georges' son from a previous relationship, his son's fiancée, and the fiancée's ultra-conservative parents.

Like the Tony Award-winning production of La Cage in 1983, its Tony Award-winning revival in 2004 and its Tony Award-winning scaled-down revival in 2010, this touring rendition is part drag show with elaborate production numbers and part backstage comedy.  Unlike its premier production, however, the gaggle of very talented transvestites that frequent the stage and the casual, persistent and humorous references to homosexuality are no longer shocking.

 

In lieu of shock, what is left is the show's inherent playfulness.  From Lynne Page's purposefully tacky choreography to Matthew Wright's flamboyant costuming, Nick Riching's nightclub-inspired lighting design, and Tim Shortall's appropriately gaudy set design and color scheme, this production is built for lighthearted and slightly mischievous entertainment.

 

The problem is that Hamilton fails to come across as particularly playful and performers like Jeigh Madjus, as Georges and Albin's flaming butler, and Gay Marshal, as restaurant owner Jacqueline, overcompensate with feckless abandon.  Fortunately Sieber, as plus-sized chanteuse Albin, is wonderful. 

 

Sieber's superb singing voice and larger than life persona sells the gay anthem "I Am What I Am" at the end of Act 1, carries the delightful and poignant "The Best of Times" in Act 2, and essentially carries this production.  His tenderness and charm make it plausible that Albin and Georges have a loving and long-term relationship, which is so central to the story and its rather dated revelation that family comes in many forms. 

 

La Cage Aux Folles is a feel-good musical, but the artificial sweetener added to an already saccharine production makes it difficult for the audience to muster that emotion.   After the sugar-rush, all that's left is the malaise.

 

La Cage Aux Folles continues through November 20 at PlayhouseSquare's Palace Theatre.  For tickets, which range from $10 to $70, visit www.playhousesquare.com.
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