It was a sweaty, 83-degree day when I went to Revival Theatre Company’s staging of La Cage Aux Folles. This was perfect weather to be spirited away to Saint-Tropez on the French Riviera and into a packed theater full of cheering, clapping and the best show I’ve seen this year.
The musical is a reworking of a very successful (but non-musical) French play of the early ’70s, later made into a (still non-musical) film, that was a big success (for a French film) in the U.S. in the late ’70s. The movie’s success inspired a Broadway producer to buy the rights to La Cage Aux Folies and adapt it into a musical that premiered in 1983. There’s also an Americanized version of the non-musical film called The Birdcage from 1996 starring Robin Williams and Nathan Lane.
La Cage Aux Folles — which opened on May 30, shows running through Sunday, June 8 — is the story of Georges (played by Greg Smith) and Albin (played by Casey Prince), two lovers in a 20-year relationship who own La Cage Aux Folles, a drag night club where Albin is the star attraction, performing under the nom de drag “Zaza.” Georges’ son Jean-Michel throws a monkey wrench into the domestic bliss when he comes home to tell his father that he’s getting married, and his fiancée’s father, Monsieur Dindon, is the head of the “Tradition, Family, and Morality” party, crusading to rid Saint-Tropez of drag bars. And, bonus, they’re coming to dinner to meet Jean-Michel’s parents. Georges reluctantly concedes to put up a facade of heterosexuality for the night, and the preparations for the dinner unspool into chaos.
It’s a play that deals with real issues that can feel painfully relevant in the current political climate, but it treads the balance well between the screwball comedy and the more earnest moments. Albin’s sorrowful performance of “I Am What I Am” at the end of Act One is searing and painful, without a joke to lighten it.
Smith’s Georges is a delight to watch — he plays the emcee’s role to perfection, with a wicked charm and showman’s charisma, while never falling into the trap of smarminess or hamminess. Smith is the straight man (comedically, if not literally) to Prince’s Albin, but he fills the role with his own understated charm. He’s a man who truly loves his family — watching him in his interactions with his son, even through his nervy remonstrations, Smith radiates Georges’ paternal love.
Prince’s Albin is a neurotic, preening queen, but there’s a real person underneath the silliness, a man who loyally fulfils his role as “mother” to Jean-Michel, a performer par excellence and a loving partner. In his performance as Zaza, he fills the room with his presence and stunningly versatile voice, a commanding vision in a corset and a dizzying array of wigs and costumes. His muscular frame flows and moves with such balletic grace that it’s intoxicating — you feel as if you want to spring from your seat and join in the dance under the force of his charisma.
And yet it’s in the moments where he’s out of drag — inasmuch as a man wearing a corset throughout the show can be out of drag — where Prince lends Albin his humanity. He’s sensitive and flamboyant, with moments of delicious physical comedy — his attempts at aping John Wayne-esque masculinity, legs a mile wide, finger guns to groin, are screamingly funny to watch — and true chemistry with Georges, swooning at the romance even after all the years together.
Together Albin and Georges’ relationship feels real and deep, as if they’ve been having the same arguments for the 20 years they’ve been together. Georges transforms when he’s alone with Albin, a dashing romantic who makes it easy to understand why Albin loves him, and Albin, despite the occasional dramatic plunge into theatrical despair, is besotted anew each time. Their relationship is the foundation on which the play is built, and Smith and Price build a rock-solid foundation together.
The rest of the cast is also fantastic — Brandon Burkhardt’s Jean-Michel feels as if he’s picked up a smattering of Albin’s neurotic, fluttering energy, though his resolutely heterosexual carriage and distant-Kennedy-relation good looks make his romance with Anne charming and believable. His relationship with his parents feels strained and testy, but in a way that’s understandable for a 24-year-old under a comical amount of stress.
Briant Duffy’s Jacob, Georges and Albin’s relentlessly un-servile butler/maid, is a perfectly ridiculous comic note, swishing through scenes on tottering heels to snap out sass and steadfastly refuse to buttle.
The only critiques I’d level are that in the dinner party scene, Steve Rezabek’s M. Dindon, a sharp, misogynist prude, struggled slightly to gel with the rest of the cast in the high-energy, fast-paced dialogue, though he recovered quickly as he dropped the stuffed-shirt act and was swept away by the chaos.
The ensemble is a blast to watch — the genuine feats of athleticism as they slink and flirt and kick and tap and damn near everything else under the sun across the stage are jaw-dropping. Every cabaret scene was a treat to watch, with impeccable choreography and excellent musical performances from the cast and live band.
The costume design particularly stands out — all the outfits are well-suited to their characters, from Georges’ old-time showman vibes to Albin’s over-the-top bright suits and Jean-Michel’s all-American football jock style. It’s hard to list off all the costumes if only because there are so many — quick changes abound throughout the play, and the moment your eye moves away you’ll look back to a new outfit. The stage design by Rob Sunderman is impeccable, as well. A few well-thought-out props transform the space from breezy outdoor cafes to a private boudoir to a truly fantastic set piece involving — what else — a massive birdcage in the center of the stage.
If you want to feel like Broadway’s been swept out of New York, Wizard of Oz-style, and dropped into the CSPS building in Cedar Rapids, you wouldn’t go amiss checking out La Cage Aux Folles before it closes on June 8. Bring extra cash (or your checkbook) when you go — Revival Theatre Company is taking a page out of Broadway’s playbook and collecting donations for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, one of the nation’s leading industry-based, nonprofit AIDS fundraising and grant-making organizations.
