Five-time Emmy Award® winner Kelsey Grammer makes his Broadway musical debut alongside Olivier winner Douglas Hodge in this funny and touching tale of one family's struggle to stay together... stay fabulous... and above all else, stay true to themselves. La Cage aux Folles, the splashy, high-kicking musical comedy, comes to Broadway this spring in a gloriously reconceived production that took London by storm. La Cage features Jerry Herman’s Tony Award-winning score, with such fabulous songs as "I Am What I Am," "The Best of Times" and "Song on the Sand," and a Tony Award-winning book by Harvey Fierstein.
The original production was all brassy orchestration, sparkly costumes, and shallow characterizations. As I remember it, the director of that staging, Arthur Laurents, tipped it in the direction of the Dindons—the thrust of the show was Georges and Albin’s need for the Dindons’ approval, and hence the straight world drove the events onstage. Johnson goes a different route; he focusses, instead, on the heart of the material—whether Georges and Albin’s relationship will survive the emotional and political rupture that their son has instigated. Like John Doyle, in his direction of Stephen Sondheim’s “Sweeney Todd” and “Company” a few years ago, Johnson strips the Broadway from “La Cage aux Folles” and gives the text, and the actors, a new dimension. His production is not the heterosexual’s fantasia of gay life; it’s something real, felt, and deep.
'La Cage,' Jerry Herman and Harvey Fierstein's old-fashioned musical comedy about a middle-aged gay male couple that runs a notorious drag club, is not strong enough on its own terms to survive this low-budget, slowly-paced and unevenly-acted production. I love much of the score, including the anthems 'I Am What I Am' and 'The Best of Times is Now,' the romantic ballad 'Song on the Sand,' and the hauntingly poignant 'Look Over There.' But some of the score admittedly consists of second- or even third-rate showtunes. And much of Fierstein's book is irritatingly slow and even amateurish.
1983 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
1986 | West End |
London Production West End |
1987 | US Tour |
National Tour US Tour |
2004 | Broadway |
Broadway Revival Broadway |
2006 | US Tour |
National Tour US Tour |
2008 | West End |
West End Transfer West End |
2010 | Broadway |
Broadway Transfer Broadway |
2011 | US Tour |
National Tour US Tour |
2023 | West End |
West End |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2010 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Actor in a Musical | Douglas Hodge |
2010 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Choreography | Lynne Page |
2010 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Costume Design | Matthew Wright |
2010 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Director of a Musical | Terry Johnson |
2010 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical | Robin De Jesus |
2010 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Revival of a Musical | La Cage Aux Folles |
2010 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Sound Design in a Musical | Jonathan Deans |
2010 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Actor in a Musical | Douglas Hodge |
2010 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Costume Design | Matthew Wright |
2010 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Director of a Musical | Terry Johnson |
2010 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Revival of a Musical | 0 |
2010 | Tony Awards | Best Choreography | Lynne Page |
2010 | Tony Awards | Best Costume Design of a Musical | Matthew Wright |
2010 | Tony Awards | Best Direction of a Musical | Terry Johnson |
2010 | Tony Awards | Best Lighting Design of a Musical | Nick Richings |
2010 | Tony Awards | Best Orchestrations | Jason Carr |
2010 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical | Robin De Jesus |
2010 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical | Douglas Hodge |
2010 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical | Kelsey Grammer |
2010 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Musical | Barry and Fran Weissler |
2010 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Musical | Sonia Friedman Productions |
2010 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Musical | Menier Chocolate Factory |
2010 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Musical | Harvey Weinstein |
2010 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Musical | Nederlander Presentations, Inc |
2010 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Musical | Jerry Frankel/Bat-Barry Productions |
2010 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Musical | Allen Spivak |
2010 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Musical | Olympus Theatricals |
2010 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Musical | Independent Presenters Network |
2010 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Musical | Arlene Scanlan/John O'Boyle |
2010 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Musical | Raise the Roof 4 |
2010 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Musical | Richard Winkler/Bensinger Taylor/Laudenslager Bergère |
2010 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Musical | Matthew Mitchell |
2010 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Musical | Broadway Across America |
2010 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Musical | Bob Bartner/Norman Tulchin |
2010 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Musical | Edwin W. Schloss |
2010 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Musical | David Babani |
2010 | Tony Awards | Best Scenic Design of a Musical | Tim Shortall |
2010 | Tony Awards | Best Sound Design of a Musical | Jonathan Deans |
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