CURTAIN GOING UP

By: Paul Hager

THEATRE REVIEW: ETC’S LA CAGE DELIGHTS SOLD-OUT AUDIENCES

LaCage aux Folles - a landmark musical with music and lyrics by Jerry Herman and a book by Harvey Fierstein - opened on Broadway in 1983, breaking barriers for gay representation by becoming the first hit Broadway musical centered on a homosexual relationship. The show was an unequivocal ‘smash’ that ran for more than four years (1,761 performances), bagged six Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Score, and Best Book, went on to score 5 more in its revivals, and is playing at ETC Theatre to SRO standing ovation audiences through April 8.

The show has a very interesting journey from ‘page to stage’ beginning with the 1973 French play of the same name which became the hit 1978 French film La Cage aux Folles. The French version with English subtitles [also billed as Birds of a Feather] initially came to the US with limited runs in small arthouse cinemas [that’s where I first saw it!] and went on to become one of the highest-grossing foreign-language films ever released in the United States. It won the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film and was nominated for three Oscars: Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Costume Design.

Allan Carr, who had produced the successful film adaptation of Grease in 1978, was eager to work in theatre and thought a musical version of the hit 1978 film La Cage aux Folles would be an ideal vehicle for his Broadway debut. However, he was unable to secure the rights to the film and was forced to settle for the rights to the original play only. Carr hired Jay Presson Allen to write the book and Maury Yeston to compose the score for The Queen of Basin Street, an Americanized version set in New Orleans. With Mike Nichols set to direct and Tommy Tune on board as choreographer, Carr searched for executive producers and found them in Fritz Holt and Barry Brown, who immediately fired the entire creative team that Carr had assembled. Holt and Brown had produced the 1974 revival of Gypsy directed by Arthur Laurents, and they approached him with an offer to direct their new venture. Laurents was not a fan of drag or camp entertainment and thought Holt and Brown never would find enough investors to finance a gay-themed project at a time when, during the early years of the AIDS epidemic, homophobia was more intense than ever. He agreed only because Holt and Brown were close friends and he wanted them to remain on Carr’s payroll as long as possible, but his interest grew when he learned Harvey Fierstein and Jerry Herman had committed to the project.

According to Laurents, when he met with Fierstein and Herman for the first time, they had restored both the title and locale of the original play but had neither a script nor even an outline for the plot. All they had was the Herman song “I Am What I Am”, and Laurents immediately envisioned it as an emotional outburst sung at the close of the first act. Laurents further claims that when he explained his concept to Fierstein and Herman, he inspired the direction they took in writing the musical. Herman tells a very different story in an interview included in the original cast CD. He claims that they were well into the collaboration when Fierstein arrived one day with an emotional fiery scene he had written for the end of Act I that included the words “I am what I am”. Delighted, Herman asked to use the five words, boasting he would have a song by morning, which he did. With gay-activist Fierstein and the political Laurents on board, the show could have “become a polemic diatribe on gay rights.” However, Herman was a moderating influence. Having suffered a series of disappointments with darker-themed shows since 1969, he was eager to score a hit with a mainstream, emotional, optimistic song-and-dance entertainment that middle-class audiences would enjoy. The team opted to create “a charming, colorful, great-looking musical comedy - an old-fashioned piece of entertainment,” as Herman recalled in his memoir Showtune. By “delivering their sentiments in a sweetly entertaining manner”, the team was able to convey their gay-themed message with more impact than they could have with a more aggressive approach.

Fierstein, Herman, and Laurents met daily in Herman’s Manhattan townhouse to work on the musical. Because they were limited to using only the Poiret play as a source, they were unable to include the character of Jean-Michel’s birth mother, who had been created for the film. They focused the plot on the fact that the relationship between Georges and Albin seems so natural that the boy is able to accept a man as his “mother”. The three men agreed that Albin needed to be as glamorous an entertainer as possible, and Theoni V. Aldredge was hired as costume designer to achieve their goal.

The producers agreed to a Boston tryout, and just before the second preview (the first was canceled due to problems with the mechanized set), Herman had a panic attack prompted by his fear that the city probably was too conservative to embrace a gay-themed musical, albeit one designed for a mainstream audience. The Boston crowds gave the show an enthusiastic standing ovation reception. The rest - so they say - is history, including as ETC notes in its publicity for their production: “Famously known as The Birdcage.” This refers to the 1996 English-language remake of the 1978 film that starred Robin Williams and Nathan Lane. An in-depth look at the musical-to-movie narrative may be found by checking out Matt Baume’s channel on YouTube and watching his segment entitled THE BIRDCAGE and LA CAGE AUX FOLLES: The Inside Story. It is also probably how most mainstream audiences became familiar with the plot.

The story is simple. We meet Georges (Lucio Nieto), the manager of a Saint-Tropez nightclub featuring drag entertainment, and Albin (Kyle Crawford), his romantic partner AKA ZaZa - the club’s star attraction. After twenty years of unwedded bliss, they are somewhat shocked when their son, John Michel (Matt Poole) announces his plan to get married to the daughter of a narrow-minded politician, Eduardo Dindon (Alex Petty). Jean Michel wants Anne’s (Lauren Eastin) family to meet his family. A family with normal parents. One with a mother and a father. Jacob (Justin Gonzalez) is the family’s butler [although he prefers to be called the maid] who is quite happy to help with the complications. This leads to a completely complex comedy as Georges, Jean Michel, and Albin attempt to create a non-homosexual family. The show is full of musical numbers that range from beautiful ballads to zany production numbers involving the full cast including The Cagelles, [performers at the drag club] portrayed by Max Bailey, Josh Figueroa, Samuel Gorashko, Chris Monteith, Trevor Moresco, and TJ Webb. Trying to keep the girls in line is Francis (Patrick Olfers), the stage manager who has a huge crush on one of the performers. Also stepping into this craziness are Jacqueline (Love Fillius) and Marie Dindon (Erin Kate).

As my husband and I took our seats for the final matinee performance, there was a quite festive mood in the air as the audience was largely made up of folks from the Galveston LBGTQ+ community - many of which [like us and Albin and Georges] were long-time same-sex couples and good friends of ours. We knew they would love the show, but I, like Herman, Firestein, and Laurents at the Boston preview, was curious to see how the ‘mainstream’ members of the audience would react.

I broke my thesaurus trying to find words to describe how ‘absolutely fabulous’ this production was. Seeing it was like an old-home week for me as I counted sixteen artists in the program that I have had the privilege to work with before. Singling out individual performances could be a moot point as the cast worked together so perfectly as a well-oiled machine, however; top honors in the cast must go to Kyle Crawford as Albin/ZaZa. His portrayal of this complex character - from hilarious high camp hijinks to beautifully poignant romantic moments - was flawless. His rendition of the show’s signature act one finale “I Am What I Am” [which received praise as a “gay anthem” and has been widely recorded] left not a dry eye in the house; present company included! Not far behind was Justin Gonzalez as butler/maid Jacob who minced to beat [The Boys in The] band, especially when enacting Jacob’s I-Love-Lucy-esque “I wanna be in the show” scenes. And the lavish production numbers featuring the ensemble - The Cagelles - had the audience hooting with glee.

Director Kim Mytelka does it again [How does she always manage to top herself?] with her focused and snappy direction. Jennifer Daugherty’s infectiously energetic choreography - always a pleasure to watchcreated beautiful stage pictures on Thomas D. Boone’s cleverly transitioning unit set. Kudos as well to Musical Director Robert Lewis, who also conducted The La Cage Aux Folles Orchestra and performed with live musicians Kerri Elwood,

Michael Kasinger, Clayton Duncan, and Richard Bourk.

One last personal noteWhile watching the show, there were many times my husband and I simultaneously reached out to emotionally take each other’s hand, most often during the scenes and songs that personified Albin and George’s intimate relationship as they mirrored many of our own experiences as a couple. For anyonegay or straight - the musical’s message is universal. As Johnny Trlica - another islander reviewer; he for the Montrose Star - put it “It’s a bright, loud, romantic, outrageous, and defiant celebration of living your life as you are, and not what others say you should be. Given today’s political climate, it is just as relevant at present as when it was first performed 50 years ago.” And I challenge anyone to not be uplifted by master lyricist Jerry Herman’s edict in the song “The Best of Times is Now”:

So hold this moment fast And live and love as hard as you know how And make this moment last

Because the best of times is now, is now, is NOW!

Listings

ON THE BOARDS [Currently playing]

ISLAND ETC [East-End Theatre Company]

LA CAGE AUX FOLLIES

Music & Lyrics by Jerry Herman Book by Harvey Fierstein

Based on the play by Jean Poiret

March 10 - April 8, 2023 – 8:00 PM (Sunday matinees March 19 & 26) https://www.islandetc.org/

COM THEATRE [College of the Mainland Community Theatre]

DONKEY by John Patrick Bray

April 20 – May 7, 2023 https://www.com.edu/community-theatre/

THE GRAND 1894 OPERA HOUSE

GALVESTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA:

Masterworks IV – Mozart and Ravel

April 2, 2023 – 4:00 PM

SEONG-JIN CHO, PIANIST

April 14, 2023 – 8:00 PM

AN EVENING WITH RENÉE ELISE GOLDSBERRY

April 15, 2023 – 8:00PM

THREE BILLY GOATS GRUFF

April 27, 2023 – 10:00 AM http://www.thegrand.com/

PURPLE BOX THEATRE

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST by Oscar Wilde

April 14 – 22, 2023 – 7:30 PM http://www.thepurpleboxtheater.com/

IN THE WINGS [Opening Soon]

ISLAND ETC [East-End Theatre Company]

LEADING LADIES

By Ken Ludwig

May 12 - May 27, 2023

Sunday matinees May 14 & May 21 https://www.islandetc.org/

THE GRAND 1894 OPERA HOUSE

FIDDLER ON THE ROOF

Music by Jerry Bock Lyrics by Sheldon Harnick

Book by Joseph Stein

May 6 and 7, 2023 – Various curtain times

GALVESTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: Masterworks V

May 20, 2023 – 4:00 PM

STEVE TYRELL

May 20, 2023 – 8:00 PM http://www.thegrand.com/

CLEAR CREEK COMMUNITY THEATRE

AVENUE Q

Music and Lyrics by Jeff Marx and Robert Lopez

Book by Jeff Whitty

May 2023 – Dates and Times TBA