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Feb. 14th, 2008 @ 11:43 pm Theatre review: La Cage Aux Folles
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In the last two years the Menier Chocolate Factory has had three productions transfer to the West End and they're obviously gunning for another with Terry Johnson's production of Jerry Herman and Harvey Fierstein's musical La Cage Aux Folles. Set on the French Riviera in the '70s, Georges runs the titular drag club where his boyfriend Albin aka Zsa Zsa is the star turn. Together they have raised Jean-Michel, Georges' son from a one-night stand, but when Jean-Michel meets Anne and wants to marry her, he betrays his parents: Anne's father is a right-wing politician, and to get his approval for the wedding he must pretend to have a a traditional family, which means Albin can't be there. But when Jean-Michel's unreliable biological mother doesn't show up, Albin drags up and pretends to be her.

In David Farley's set design the studio theatre becomes the club (the first couple of rows sit at tables) and the evening plays like a mixture of theatre and cabaret. This is probably a wise move as it makes for a very entertaining evening, even when some of the more emotional scenes don't come across too strongly. The production's been plagued by illness, and leading man Douglas Hodge was off again tonight. Not that you'd know: Spencer Stafford as Albin is terrific, absolutely hilarious and a showstopper. Opposite him Philip Quast as Georges provides a gentler, moving counterpoint, and there's real tenderness between them. The show's most famous song is "I Am What I Am," which takes on added pathos in context, as it's Albin re-writing the words to the chorus' big number, which starts the show - "We are what we are, and what are is an illusion." The theme of illusion is followed through in an interesting way - of the six drag queens in the chorus of "Les Cagettes," only five are actually played by men, leading to a bit of a game of "spot-the-real-woman" for the audience.

All the actors do well, with Jason Pennycooke chewing the scenery as the camp butler Jacob, but really despite the large cast this may as well be a two-hander. In fact, after Georges and Albin it's Les Cagettes who are the most memorable, with Matthew Wright's costume design and Lynne Page's athletic choreography worthy of awards. Alicia Davies has some good comic timing in the underwritten role of Anne, and I've got to mention Una Stubbs in another small part as her mother, simply because she's Una Stubbs. Una Stubbs! There's no sign so far of the wished-for West End transfer, and I'm not sure how well the production would fare if it lost the intimacy of its current venue, but as it stands it's a great showcase for a talented cast and some great tunes, even if some of the attempts to explore the play's serious side don't work.

La Cage Aux Folles by Jerry Herman and Harvey Fierstein is booking until the 8th of March at the Menier Chocolate Factory (but has been totally sold out for some time now.)