"La Cage Aux Folles' on Broadway

The current Broadway production of La Cage Aux Folles won the 2010 Tony for best revival of a musical, and Terry Johnson won the Tony for best director of a musical, to boot. Indeed, all the critics on both sides of the Atlantic (it's a British import) have had nothing but praise for this edition of Cage.

So why did I sit so restlessly through this show, not only unmoved but also totally bored and uninterested, periodically checking my watch, and relieved when the extravaganza finally ended after an agonizing (for me) two hours and 40 minutes?

As the packed house rose as one to applaud and clap in tune with the actors on stage, I wondered what was wrong with me. I felt the same way when I saw Lend Me a Tenor earlier this year. In both cases I seemed to be the only one in the audience who didn't find these farces riotously funny.

Show-stoppers (literally)

For me, at least, this Cage lacks subtlety and sophistication. With the exception of "I Am What I Am" (or "We Are What We Are"), the music and lyrics by Jerry Herman aren't particularly sharp or memorable. In fact, every time the cast broke into song, the show came to a grinding halt. The action on stage is certainly lively, when the dancers are dancing. But otherwise, the story unfolds too leisurely.

The acting struck me as uneven as well. To be sure, the TV actor Kelsey Grammer, of "Frasier" fame, certainly demonstrated that he can sing. In the principal role of Georges he was certainly debonair and pleasant, but too bland. The British actor Douglas Hodge makes a credible drag queen as Georges' lover Albin, but I didn't find his performance particularly funny or moving (notwithstanding his Tony Award as best actor in a musical).

Tower of babble

I love a great ensemble cast, but in this case, none of the principals seemed to be related to one another, or to speak with similar accents. Hodge plays Albin with a Cockney accent; Grammer plays Georges with an American accent, while A.J. Shively, who plays their son Jean-Michel, sounds like a generic American sans charm.

His fiancée and her Parisian parents, for their part, seem neither French nor particularly sophisticated. The veteran actor Fred Applegate plays the conservative would-be father-in-law with heavy-handed buffoonery, while his wife, played by Veanne Cox, speaks with a fake French accent.

Clueless in South Beach

Most irritating to me was the maid/butler—the role played to perfection by Hank Azaria in the 1996 movie adaptation of the play, The Birdcage. And herein lies the source of my overwhelming disappointment with this production of La Cage.

In my view, The Birdcage is one of the funniest and most satisfying comedies ever made. Its perfect screen cast features Robin Williams and Nathan Lane, Gene Hackman and Dianne Wiest, with a screenplay by Elaine May and direction by Mike Nichols. But it is Azaria as Agador who steals the movie. The cluelessness of the Republican guests who confuse South Beach with Palm Beach, is integral to the plot. The dinner party is a hilarious comedy of errors.

Where's Mom?

A major difference in the screenplay is the introduction of the boy's birth mother, played with dash by Christine Baranski. The suspense of the movie revolves around the question of her entrance: When will she appear, thereby exposing Albert as a drag queen? In the musical, however, we're told that the mother won't be able to attend the dinner, eliminating all surprise from the proceedings.

Perhaps it's unfair to compare a play with a movie. But for my money (and luckily I obtained a discount ticket online), I'll stay home and watch my DVD of The Birdcage one more time.♦


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