Fred Applegate Joins Cast of LA CAGE AUX FOLLES
By: Robert Diamond Feb. 25, 2010
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Fred Applegate has joined the cast of the critically-acclaimed, Olivier Award-winning Menier Chocolate Factory production of LA CAGE AUX FOLLES, playing the roles of Edouard Dindon, the rigidly conservative head of the Tradition, Family and Morality Party and café owner M. Renaud. LA CAGE AUX FOLLES, starring five-time Emmy Award winner Kelsey Grammer and Olivier Award-winner Douglas Hodge, goes into rehearsal in New York on Monday, March 1.
Applegate has starred on Broadway in The Sound of Music, The Producers and Young Frankenstein. Other recent credits include Happiness at Lincoln Center and Fanny at Encores! (as husband to Elena Shaddow, who will play his daughter in LA CAGE AUX FOLLES). His credits also include the LA company of Beauty and the Beast and the first national tour of The Producers. His regional credits include roles at the Mark Taper Forum, Geffen Playhouse, Old Globe, St. Louis Rep and Falcon Theatre. He was a member of the Resident Acting Company of the Guthrie Theatre for three years. His TV credits include "Newhart," "FM," "Life...and Stuff," "Woops," "Nine to Five"; recurring roles on "Cosby," "Night Court" and "Growing Pains" and many guest-starring roles, more than 150 episodes in all.
LA CAGE AUX FOLLES stars five-time Emmy Award-winner Kelsey Grammer as Georges and Olivier Award-winner Douglas Hodge as Albin, with A.J. Shively, a recent University of Michigan graduate, making his Broadway debut as Jean-Michel; Fred Applegate (The Producers, Young Frankenstein) as Edouard Dindon/M. Renaud; Tony nominee Veanne Cox (Company, Caroline, or Change) as Mme. Dindon/Mme. Renaud; Tony-nominee Robin de Jesús (In the Heights) as Jacob; two-time Tony nominee Christine Andreas (My Fair Lady, Oklahoma!, On Your Toes) as Jacqueline; Elena Shaddow (Fiddler on the Roof, Fanny at Encores!) as Anne; Chris Hoch (Beauty and the Beast, Spamalot, Shrek the Musical) as Francis; Heather Lindell (Hairspray) as Colette; Bill Nolte (The Producers, 1776) as Tabarro and David Nathan Perlow (White Noise) as Etienne.
Also starring as the notorious and dangerous Cagelles will be Nick Adams (A Chorus Line, Guys and Dolls, Chicago), Nicholas Cunningham (La Cage aux Folles/West End), Sean Patrick Doyle (Fiddler on the Roof national tour, Wig Out!), Yurel Echezarreta (West Side Story), Terry Lavell (Hairspray/Las Vegas, Smokey Joe's Café/national tour) and Logan Keslar (West Side Story/West End, On the Town/Paper Mill Playhouse). The production also features Christophe Caballero, Todd Lattimore, Dale Hensley and Cheryl Stern.
Douglas Hodge and Nicholas Cunningham are appearing with the permission of Actors' Equity Association. The producers gratefully acknowledge Actors' Equity Association for its assistance to this production.
LA CAGE AUX FOLLES begins previews on Tuesday, April 6 and opens on Sunday, April 18 at Broadway's Longacre Theatre (220 West 48th Street). The production is now on sale through Telecharge.com at 212-239-6200 or at www.telecharge.com/lacage. Also visit www.lacage.com for a special video introduction from Kelsey Grammer and the Cagelles.
LA CAGE AUX FOLLES features music and lyrics by Jerry Herman and book by Harvey Fierstein, based on the play by Jean Poiret. This freshly reconceived production is choreographed by Lynne Page and directed by Terry Johnson.
Georges (Kelsey Grammer) is the suave owner of a glitzy drag club on the French Riviera. Partnered romantically with his high-strung star performer, Albin (Douglas Hodge), the pair live a charmed life-until Georges' son announces his engagement to the daughter of a conservative right-wing politician who's coming to dinner.
The original production of LA CAGE AUX FOLLES was one of Broadway's biggest hits of the 1980s. It opened August 21, 1983 at the Palace Theatre, where it played for over four years and 1,761 performances. The show won six Tony Awards in 1984, including Best Musical, Best Score (Jerry Herman) and Best Book (Harvey Fierstein).
The new production of LA CAGE AUX FOLLES played from November 23, 2007 to March 8, 2008 at the Menier Chocolate Factory, earning across the board raves and moving to the West End's Playhouse Theatre on October 30, 2008, where it was nominated for seven 2009 Olivier Awards, winning for Best Musical Revival and Best Actor in a Musical for Douglas Hodge and won the 2009 Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Best Musical.
The production features set design by Tim Shortall, costume design by Matthew Wright, lighting design by Nick Richings and wig and makeup design by Richard Mawbey. Orchestrations and Musical Supervision are by Jason Carr.
LA CAGE AUX FOLLES will be produced by Sonia Friedman Productions, David Babani, Fran and Barry Weissler and Edwin W. Schloss, Robert G. Bartner, Broadway Across America, Matthew Mitchell, Raise the Roof 4, Richard Winkler/Bensinger Taylor/Laudenslager Bergère, Jerry Frankel, Independent Presenters Network, Olympus Theatricals, Allen Spivak.
Tickets ($132.50 - $36.50; Premium $251.50) are currently on sale through Telecharge.com at 212-239-6200 or online at www.telecharge.com/lacage. The Longacre box office opens on March 16. Performances will be Tuesday through Saturday at 8:00 PM, Sunday at 7:00 PM, with matinees Wednesday and Saturday at 2:30 PM.
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